Waaaagh!

So here i sit in china... another day I'm asleep at midnight and up at 4... but in my beleagered and exhausted state i still find time to find amusement in the insipid reactionary chaos inspired by the Cho 'rampage'. So - turn up your 'insensitivity filters' if you're going to continue...

still here?...

ok. So this guy who came to America, didnt get integrated, got made fun of, beat up, treated as a pariah and an outcast, turned to weapons - an anti-pretty-people manifesto, bought a gun online, and proceeded to shoot up a school. Why, exactly, are we supposed to be surprised? Of course, the gun-control forces came to the table immediately (i'd say there was blood in the water, but from accounts there was blood pretty much everywhere) - which was NOT the right time to pull that trigger (so to speak). They could have waited - and i'm sure many did - but the media sensing the opportunity to create scandal (and lacking a good Dannielynn or real update to the 'how much hair does Brit have today' story) were very much into making as much noise on the subject as possible (they'd rather talk about this than, oh, things like Albert Gonzales being a grade-a f*ckwipe and *why* those prosecutors got fired (gee... turns out there IS something they have in common... but i dont suppose we should be reporting on that stuff, it might upset certain powerful plutocratic entities) -- but that's a whole other story). So we talk about gun control... jackasses like Ted Nugent are trotted with 'rational arguments' on one side of the equation - and for some reason America doesn't find this unbelievably funny. We listen to them say things like 'this wouldnt have happened if MORE people had guns'... or 'this wouldnt have happened if those strange people that dont fit in were locked up because, god forbid, they fit the profile of a killer!!!' You know... i dislike emo as much as the next guy... but that doesnt mean I want to see Jared Leto in a 5x5 cell with Big Ed (ok... maybe i do... but that's just because i have a latent anti-social streak - ack - no i dont - please dont lock me up too).

Dont get me wrong. I have no sympathy for a vicious murderer. If I'd had a gun and been in the room I'd have shot the SOB without a seconds hesitation - and I'd sleep well at night. The world doesnt need asshats like him - but damn if America doesnt MAKE them awfully well.

We need to look at the elements that cause this sort of thing - and they need to be dealt with... that or we need to accept that America is just a freakshow violent society where the percentage of guns to the percentage of violent acts is beyond impressive. Without guns - America would STILL be a place where violence solving problems is far closer to the norm than it should be in a nation built from Hobbsian roots. The rest of the world should take note - America does some things right - but at the core there's a viral violent undercurrent that you need to prevent getting into your culture at all costs. You might want to shy away from that whole 'american dream' thing till we get a handle on it - or someone figures out how to innoculate against it.

Cho is not an isolated incident. Why? Hmmm... well... lotta factors to muck up that question - but between the terrible treatment at the hands of assholes in his formative school years to the oodles of anti-depressants he was on - i think it's just too hard to say. No easy answers (and in a nation where Pi can be rounded to 3, we pretty much redefined the idea of easy answers). So how do we as a society react? Calls for more guns (great... gonna make going to airports a lot more fun again...), calls for less guns (good luck with that one), calls for liberalizing the 'lock up people who act funny' laws (very Minority Report of them - and without the psychics no less)... and then the wild reactions - from South Korea's president taking it as a personal afront, to Freepers 'how come the MSM didnt report he was a minority right away!!!!', to the one that takes the cake for me... Yale banning stage weapons in theatrical productions...

I leave it at this...

Enter Tybalt.
Tyb. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee Benvolio! look upon thy death.
Ben. I do but keep the peace. Put up thy banana, Or manage it to part these men with me.
Tyb. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward!
They fight.
Enter an officer, and three or four Citizens with fresh fruit or bananas.
Officer. Raspberries, bananas, and grapes! Strike! beat them down!
Citizens. Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!
Enter Old Capulet in his gown, and his Wife.
Cap. What noise is this? Give me my banana, ho!
Wife. A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a banana?
Cap. My banana, I say! Old Montague is come And flourishes his fruit in spite of me.
Enter Old Montague and his Wife.
Mon. Thou villain Capulet!- Hold me not, let me go.
M. Wife. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.
Enter Prince Escalus, with his Train.
Prince. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stained fruit- Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage With purple fountains issuing from your veins! On pain of torture with comfy chairs, from those bloody hands Throw your misripened fruit to the ground And hear the sentence of your moved prince. Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets And made Verona's ancient citizens Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments To wield old raspberries, in hands as old, Cank'red with peace, to part your cank'red hate. If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time all the rest depart away. You, Capulet, shall go along with me; And, Montague, come you this afternoon, To know our farther pleasure in this case, To old Freetown, our common judgment place. Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

Yale... like Boston... has become a bastion of pussification. Grow the hell up.