What the Killers Want

Everyone seems to have some sort of obligatory post about the VT shootings. This is mine. The title of this post is linked to an article on the Washington post (I can't recall if the site required registration, but if so it's free). Here's a brief quote:

"Even more than these gruesomely gratuitous incidents themselves, I have come to dread the campus shooting's ritual media aftermath -- a secondary wave of atrocity, all conducted under the guise of grief, soul-searching concern and an ostensible determination to ensure that no demented loner ever opens fire on his classmates again. Yet the bloated photographs on front pages, the repeating loops of interviews on cable news, the postings of warped creative writing assignments on the Web, and perhaps above all the airing of Cho's self-pitying, quasi-messianic video clips on every network all help ensure that similar incidents will indeed recur -- and soon."

I know; it ironic to write an editorial criticisizing the promotion of a by-product of the editorial, itself. But I still think Shrivers is justified in his piece. Anyways, that's all I'm going to say about the issue.