Letters to the Editor
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Better yet
Call in a fucking air strike and kill everyone. I think I heard several hundred NRA members climax.
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John Derbyshire
Hero.
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Ignorance of firearms
Caused these unfortunate, petrified victims to wait for a bullet rather than attack the assailant. I'd rather take one in the face than in the back of the head.
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God Bless
God, Allah, Buddha bless the conservatives for they actually think they know what they say. As the parent of a child wounded in the Simon's Rock shooting in 1994 (in which two died), does anyone really believe that more guns would result in less violence. I know, guns don't kill people, people kill people. But if there were no freely available guns, how many might not have died, how many might not have been wounded, how many families (including the shooters') might not have been torn apart yesterday or on December 14, 1994 (or Columbine or the ever growing list)? We have now offered up 33 more in sacrifice to what some claim is a constitutional right. Count me as one who values life higher than that.
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To Be Honest
When I first heard the body count, I was sure a full-auto or gas-powered semi-auto was involved. 33 is a high fatality number for a shooting like this, even with automatic weapons. I expected a high-caliber weapon at the least, because of the high fatality-to-injury ratio, and was pretty sure it was an assault rifle. I am also guilty of wondering- after having found out the weapons involved- how this guy could fire that many bullets without challenge. The tone of that commenter is obviously cold, arrogant, lacking all empathy- but that doesn't mean that his ideas/reactions are completely wrong-headed.
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The lesson from such advice
An Israeli prof, a holocaust survivor, took Derbyshire's advice and rushed the student. He's one of the fatalaties. Those he saved he saved by blocking the classroom door so they could escape. I guess "one in the face" can be just as fatal as one in the "back of the head."
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Before I Get Gang-Flamed
I fully support stringent gun-control laws and bans on all weapons not used for sport- especially assault rifles.
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Yeah, MOST 20-year-olds with no military/police training are this brave
In the first news conference yesterday with the Tech president, one of the questions came from an off-camera voice that sounded remarkably like a reporter for the college paper or radio station, saying much the same thing as Derbyshire: I think I would have been brave enough to rush the guy, or words to that effect. When I heard it, my first reaction was, this kid's been watching too many Bruce Willis movies.
Same reaction to Derbyshire's remarks, except presumably he's old enough to know better.
I mean, seriously, what the hell is WRONG with people like Derbyshire? Didn't he get a big enough body count yesterday? He wanted some college kid whose most pressing problem that morning was whether he was gonna get laid this weekend to actually take note of the caliber and documented accuracy of the shooter's weapons, count the shots, figure out when he was reloading, and then take the guy out?
There are none so bloodthirsty as those who are using other people's blood.
Yeah, General. John Derbyshire: hero.
Not.
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I agree
I have wondered the same. As a smallish female I can tell you that many times in my life I have chosen to wade in when reason might argue to sit still. To the point of stupidity.
I was surprised that no one made a run at him, in a rush of anger and adrenaline.
I suppose it says something about the training we give our young people these days (don't get involved and wait for an authority figure to solve the problem) that NOT ONE of these big strong healthy young people tried to take the guy out.
The most courageous act I have read about was the holocaust survivor (lets see 2007-1945=62, so how old must he have been?) who bought students time to flee.
I don't mean to lay a guilt trip on the kids, just surprised that none of them had the same reaction I generally have when threatened.
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John Derbyshire
John needs to ask why no one rushed the shooter in Salt Lake City in February. Utah has one of the loosest concealed carry laws in the country; everyone packs there. Yet a guy opens fire in a shopping mall and everyone scurried like rats.
The shooter was killed by an off duty cop, but not before he shot at least 15 people.
Gee, didn't all those shoppers who were pakcing know they could just pull out their piece and put a cap in his *ss?
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Derbs
Derbyshire....
Someone ought to rush that dumb limey cracker.
I think I would have ran screaming like an infant.
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Journalism School
The AP reports the comment as such: "'People who have never met you are praying for you,' Bush said."
So, kids, can you spot the difference between journalists do and what Tim Grieve does?
See if you don't like someone, even if they're the President, then instead of following normal journalistic protocol, you write his comments as if they're in dialect. You write "prayin'" and not "praying." That way, everyone can know you think the President is a yokel and an idiot.
Now, the key thing is to only do this to politicians you dislike. If someone wrote Al Sharpton's words out in dialect, it would be a horrible affront and probably racist.
To avoid this, we generally standardize people's speech. So, for example, despite being well educated myself, I still retain something of a NJ/NY accent and have been noun to ask for a cup of 'cawfee' in the morning and to enjoy taking my 'dawg' out for a walk. Yet, a reporter quoting me would undoubtedly render my words as 'coffee' and 'dog'. I have colleagues from all over: Europe, Israel, India, the south, the midwest. We all pronounce things differently including sometimes dropping the 'g' the end of a word or pronouncing t's as d's in the middle of words, yet we all have the common courtesy to standardize the spelling.
You know, the sad thing is that since W. is clearly the worst president of the last century or so, it shouldn't be hard to attack him for substantial issues without resorting to pandering to northern prejudices by writing his words in dialect. Either do it for everyone, or do it for no one.