where were you/what were you doing/what were you feeling/when?

[sabotabby]

It's perversely fascinating reading LJ several days after a tragic newsworthy event. Most people on my friends list, for example, are aware at some level that 35,000 children die every day from preventable diseases, and this is a tragedy, but none of us blog every day about the 35,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases. It's usually the unexpected mass deaths that fire up the collective imagination.

Well, we don't know those children. But most of us don't know anyone who went to Virginia Tech either, but a lot of us are overwhelmingly upset and touched by the lives and deaths of people we never met. I'm disinclined to say anything cynical about that; I mean, I have that same reaction. (And check out the spike in the numbers of LJers who were "sad" or "shocked" over the past few days.)

At any rate, I have a theory that a lot of us react to high-profile tragedies in bizarre ways that we tend not to talk about. Accordingly, a poll:


[Poll #969519]

Comments

[king-felix.livejournal.com]

Did something else that, in hindsight, feels a bit strange

--I started laughing, it is usually what I do as a first response to any event like this.

My second response is I usually want to call one of my friends who I associate all evil with (Dave) and congratulate him on a job well done.

I hope the shooter wasn't [insert ethnicity here].

The opposite reaction, actually. Knowing that he was AZN, I immediately wished he was South Korean. I knew everyone in the world US was going to be an idiot over this case, I at least wanted to have some fun in conversation by claiming that Starcraft made him do it.

[sabotabby]

...what is Starcraft?

[king-felix.livejournal.com]

StarCraft.

An article from The Korean Times on StarCraft.

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

It's like Warcraft in space. You and the computer/other humans command armies of beasties shooting at each other while prospecting for resources and building structures, basically. It's not even a First Person Shooter!

[king-felix.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should explain... Usually when the person who snaps played video games, they find games like DOOM and GTA to point fingers at, partly because it's just so obvious. The StarCraft thing is me both playing to racist notions (it's popular in the country of origin, so he must have loved it!) and also being a dick about making direct claims of influence. StarCraft just isn't the kind of game that most people would traditionally associate with influencing a spree.

I mean, seriously, it looks like this:



Although, it'll be even better when we get the first killer who compulsively played The Sims.

[sabotabby]

Although, it'll be even better when we get the first killer who compulsively played The Sims.

Presumably, he or she would barbecue babies and drown adolescents in swimming pools. Also, there would be a bunny involved. I don't think anyone I know who plays the Sims plays it properly.

[king-felix.livejournal.com]

After The Sims enter the public domain, I'll make a few changes and release The Sims: Ultimate Murder Simulation Edition.

It'll be a huge hit with the kids.

After that I: sit back. Profit.

[threeliesforone.livejournal.com]

I at least wanted to have some fun in conversation by claiming that Starcraft made him do it.


...which is the first thing me & my partner said when we heard he was from south korea [in jest, of course]. i'm glad we're not the only ones.