Posted on 04/25/2007 3:18:36 PM PDT by dmh191
During the immediate aftermath of the massacre at Virginia Tech one week ago, the University President, Charles Steger, quickly mobilized a campaign to save his career.
Within hours, shock and mourning were quickly replaced with a full-scale public relations stint. Unfortunately, President Steger was not the only one aiming to capitalize from mass murder: bloggers and commentators across the nation began advocating for a change in gun control policy - either fewer restrictions or tighter control.
Wounds cannot be healed if they are not felt. The administrators at Virginia Tech played down the destruction for their personal gain and at the expense of mitigating the worst mass murder in contemporary American history.
Less than 24 hours after the final gunshot was fired, President Steger went on Diane Sawyer's "Good Morning America." On the nationally syndicated show, Steger defended his response to the first round of murders by claiming that he believed that the shooter had fled campus.
Steger was sincere in his interview, but his intentions seemed to be political. Instead of waiting for the smoke to clear from the fire, Steger sought to quiet the calls for his resignation.
Similarly, Wendell Flinchum, the Virginia Tech campus police chief, held a news conference prior to the confirmation of any facts in order to defend his actions. But how could either of the administrators be so certain that they had acted correctly when nobody even knew what had happened?
To my knowledge, Steger and Flinchum did all they could to ensure the safety of the Virginia Tech students. There was no way either of them could have anticipated the killing spree and the two-hour gap between the first and second shootings.
My disappointment lies with the widespread public relations stints when all thoughts and prayers should clearly have been on the victims and their families.
Instead of mourning the loss of 32 slain students, the self-interest of many overwhelmed the newscasts. Pure speculation aided only by rumor was enough for commentators to ask for a change in gun control policy.
No one knew the details of the event, yet folks across the nation demanded that people be able to carry guns on campus or that there be greater restrictions when purchasing firearms.
Within hours, opinion pieces across the Internet argued for both sides of the gun debate, but with really no knowledge or genuine sympathy towards the victims.
Events, both horrid and honorable, should be considered when making public policy, but legislators should act cautiously in the wake of brutal murder.
Policies should be calculated and thought out, not whimsical. Instead of trying to capitalize on shock, policy wonks should rely on reason. In a similar manner, university policy for all institutions should be reviewed and reevaluated, but not changed in the heat of the moment.
It is thoroughly disgusting to see mass murder being turned into a full-scale political battle. Unfortunately, the killer, Cho Seung-Hui, got his wish. His videos have aired on network television and his message has been heard by millions.
The innocent students will forever be missed, but Cho will be the one person who will go down in infamy. Though he does not fit the normative profile, Cho is a terrorist.
Cho committed the most atrocious deed by taking 32 innocent lives with his own will.
On the other hand, the governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine, and President George W. Bush both acted honorably by motioning to mourn the devastating loss - Kaine by declaring last Friday a statewide day of mourning and Bush by visiting the campus and offering his condolences to the families of the victims. The nation was shocked and our leaders were able to correctly express this sentiment.
The Virginia Tech slayings displayed the best and worst in mankind. The worst obviously is Cho, while the best are the heroic actions taken in response. The 76-year-old professor, Liviu Librescu, survived the Holocaust only to be slain on the day of Yom Hashoah, (Holocaust Remembrance Day) barricading the door to his classroom with his own body.
He received fatal gunshot wounds, but not before members of his class were able to escape by jumping out the second floor windows.
Politicalization and murder are certainly not on the same playing field. What the President of Virginia Tech and the gun lobbyists (either pro or anti) tried to achieve was unfortunate, but not evil. Cho's actions were evil and a moment should be taken to remember those slain.
Yep....let the media get ahold of it and they’ll start blaming the President of the school rather than the guy that committed the crime.
The VT President could be seen to have behaved as he did because he was being accused of failing to act. And was then acting out of self interest.
In a large part I blame our fictional media. TV and movies present the appearance of either hyper-competance or selfish corruption among people in positions of power.
The great unwashed who have no real contact with such jobs and responsibilities come to believe this manufactured image.
The Powers That Be are assumed to be responsible for knowing the unknowable and predicting the future accordingly. If they do not do so, it must be due to incompetence or corruption.
From this, many people shape their world-view. Then they vote.....
Just my fevered thought....
Part of the job of a university president, and of the staff under him, is to protect the school (and in the case the taxpayers) from devastating financial liability. Our screwed up legal system is responsible for both the fact that a patently insane young man was permitted to stay on campus pretending to be a student for years until he snapped, and for the fact that it would be professionally irresponsible for any member of the university’s administration to admit to having made any mistakes that could have contributed to the carnage, no matter how much they might like say what mistakes they made and how sorry they are for having made them.
A sad state of affairs, I say.
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