Posted on 12/08/2007 4:56:59 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
All it took were a couple of pictures posted on the Internet. Mere hours after a Virginia television station reported that Penn State students had uploaded pictures of Halloween partygoers dressing as Virginia Tech shooting victims, criticism exploded from both campuses, with one Facebook.com group denouncing the costumes reaching 4,100 members as of 2 a.m. this morning.
The only publicly accessible picture, uploaded after Halloween, shows a woman wearing an orange Virginia Tech T-shirt smeared with blood and a bullet wound, posing jauntily. According to television station WSLS in Roanoke, Va., several other pictures showed a similarly attired man.
For Virginia Tech students still shaken by a tragedy not yet a year old, the pictures are a slap in the face from students of a university they once lauded for its sensitivity and compassion in the wake of their loss.
University spokesman Bill Mahon, who released a statement to the Blacksburg, Va. campus, said he was shocked by the pictures.
"I certainly find it appalling, as most Penn Staters would find it appalling," he said. He said he believes it happened "off campus, in a private party."
Caitlin Beckett, a sophomore majoring in finance at Virginia Tech, agreed. Learning of the pictures several hours before she was interviewed, she said it was too painful to join the group protesting against it. Her friend, Mary Read, then 19, died in the shootings.
"I just didn't want to think about it -- it's just kind of sickening," she said. "You would think that people, after what happened, would have more respect than that ... even if it happened after five years, it wouldn't be OK."
Virginia Tech freshman Krista Silano wasn't a student at the university when Cho Seung Hui shot and killed 32 students last April, but she remembers the wave of loss and grief that struck the town.
She attended a memorial service with her high school lacrosse team.
"It's going to affect everyone who was affected or even just goes here," she said. "I didn't think that would ever happen from any community. I didn't think anyone would make light of the subject."
Penn State football player Evan Royster said he feels the same anger. He knew two of the shooting victims from his Chantilly, Va. high school -- also attended by Cho -- and played below the maroon-and-orange "VT Section" students organized for the Blue and White football game last year.
"It just kind of makes me mad," the running back said. "I don't get why somebody would make a mockery out of something like this."
But, he said, he hopes Blacksburg residents will realize that the actions of the photographed students do not represent the whole university.
Erin Carroll (sophomore-sociology) is in a similar situation -- a 10-year Blacksburg resident, she said she's caught between feeling the same outrage and defending her new home of State College.
"That's horrible to do. Really insensitive," she said. "When [the shooting] did happen, we did the dressing for the Blue and White game. I sent a lot of the pictures home, and they were incredibly touched and moved; it was a very big deal to them.
"For the same college to turn around and turn their back on that," she continued, "it would be very, very hurtful."
Other Penn State students reacted with similar shock and revulsion when shown the available picture.
Cameron Wade (freshman-supply chain and information systems) held a print of the photograph closer, and then passed it away, disgusted.
"Anyone associated with Virginia Tech should be angered by that. It's like joking about the Holocaust," he said. "College students drink a lot of alcohol, and I'm sure they thought it was funny at the time. But that's not a thing to joke about."
The Virginia Tech athletics department wrote in a letter last week that "no group showed more support for Virginia Tech students than the student body of Penn State."
Josh Valentine (sophomore-recreation, park and tourism management) summed up what probably is the worst fear for a university that prided itself on extending a helping hand to a sister institution in need.
"If I was at Virginia Tech, I would hate Penn State for life," he said.
It seems like once a month some college stunt or party makes the news.
Hey - after Jones took all his followers with him in mass suicide we had a “Drink the KoolAid” party. Had a great time.
I wonder how many of the “Offended” ever did something, dress like something, etc, to offend some other group or people?
The television station that reported this is the closest city to Virginia Tech. I’m sure they feel differently about self-absorbed children who mock the slaughter of their neighbors.
It was a private party. I would have no objection to someone who lost a friend or loved one punching one of these idiots in the snout or holding them up to public ridicule (publish the pics on the web)or just general tut tutting but, other than that, ignore it. I mean, if these kids had just, say, worshiped the devil or something, no one would care.
Nothing good can come of this. I would say that college age students should know better but then . . . depending on their upbringing and maturity maybe not.
College age students are like ten year olds today compared to when I was that age.
Maybe you'd get a little more excited if you had known people in the line of fire. Or if you had watched your own child frantically calling and texting all day long to find out if his friends were okay.
I would...cause its not how you handle it. We are stronger than idiots and we are better than fools, but we constantly find ourselves as a society and nation, going down the path of weakness to the point of being offended in everything and justifying curtailing speech or other things (violence) to stop the offense. I would say you have the teddy bear flap to point to if you want to see how far it will go left unchecked. Now THOSE are some real idiots. Willing to murder a teacher because school children named a Teddy Bear Mohammad.
If it is so that we should act on this offense then why not march enmasse on a myriad of things like:
Jesus in urine,
Mary with a fecal wreath,
Porn using the faces of GOP leaders,
The NEA and their Anti-American anti-Parent crap,
and on, and on, and on
I am greatly offended at the loss of what our country was clearly founded upon. And these Penn State scum are just that, scum, they will reap the benefit of their actions unless we do nothing to malign them...which we are doing.
Good grief. Lighten up.
People lacking a sense of humor also lack a sense of proportion and should never be placed in leadership positions.
I've seen the two pictures Drudge has openly displayed and they are repulsive.
People are dead, and these two jerks are mocking what happened.
Has our society lost even a semblance of sensitivity, respect and decorum!
What a disgusting bunch of young people.
We did too... Tried to end up passed out in piles, but our organizational skills were shot by then.
Sorry, it’s gallows humor and I’m not offended. I just wish all the “victims” had added a slogan to their shirts along the lines of “I went to school in a Gun Free Zone and all I got was this lousy shirt.”
“People are dead, and these two jerks are mocking what happened.”
Kinda’ like people who dress up as the beheaded King and Queen of France at a Halloween Party?
Maybe we can get congress to pass a law banning “Bad taste”.
Maybe because anyone with a remote connection to VT, like you, is donning the Sacred Cloak of the Perpetual Mourner. Get over yourselves.
I got another one. Dress up in a military uniform and make it look like half your head is blown off. Put something on your shirt along the lines of, “I got hit by an IED and I had to pay back my lousy enlistment bonus!”
Wow. Another example of Ivy League immaturity. Why is anyone surprised? The IQ of Ivy League students has been plummeting due to political correctness. I’m sure they all thought they were just being soooo clever. Offensive? Of course. Nothing is sacred or immune to obnoxious kids.
College students engaging in tasteless humor. The very idea! I’m shocked! SHOCKED, I say!
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