I remained silent yesterday on the events on the Virginia Tech campus.

I wanted to have facts at my command before saying anything, and in my quest to find them I found that I am in the minority in this desire. The major media outlets I went to were rife with speculation, conjecture and the worst sort of information-starved rehashing imaginable.

For several days preceding yesterday, I'd been going through a bit of a mental crisis about how I feel I've allowed my disillusionment with the fourth estate to keep me from doing anything to make it better, which makes me part of the problem, in addition to wasting skills and convictions I feel very strongly about.

Yesterday's coverage made my blood boil enough to take the first step out of that hole.

It took less than 8 hours from the initial, and still potentially unconnected dorm shooting for television pundits to try and connect the larger Norris Hall massacre to everything from movies to video games.

I'd like to present a little tableau here, if I may, that illustrates my utter rage and resentment for what I witnessed.

What Actually Happened (Paraphrased):

ANCHOR: ..continuing our breaking coverage of the tragic events of this morning at Virginia Tech...yes, I understand we have a new set of motion graphics that will help package the scant bits of information we have been repeating ad nauseum for the last several hours.

While we get those set up, I'd like to introduce our panelists, who we have assembled in an effort to connect this story to as many different interest groups and intellectually dishonest angles as possible. We've worked hard to bring together a sense of balance between viewpoints, or at least fill the desk with people who will disagree in a manner so unruly and shocking that it will generate ratings for us.

After the introductions, I will ask a lot of speculative and leading questions that will allow our panelists to grind their various political axes and cast aspersions on whatever they choose, all under the guise of exploring the topic further and filling our airtime with something other than the facts that we either willingly acknowledge do not exist, or are too lazy to discover for ourselves. We have already budgeted the rest of the afternoon for this story alone, and our producer assures us it is reasonable to assume that there is nothing else of note happening in the world that might have actual new information surfacing.

Oh! I've just got word we will have to delay the panelists for a moment, as we're also going to show you a montage of various political leaders offering their thoughts and prayers to the victims' families in a hideous game of oneupsmanship and theater.

What Should Have Happened:

ANCHOR:
Reports coming out of Virginia Tech this morning indicate two mass shootings - one at the West Ambler Johnston student dormitory, and another at Norris Hall, the university's engineering science and mechanics building.

At least twenty are confirmed dead, with over 17 in medical care at the moment. Authorities have not released the name of a suspect, nor confirmed a link between the two shootings, as of yet. Motivation has not been established, and police believe the Norris Hall shooter to have committed suicide, so it may never be conclusively known why this unprecedented loss of life took place.

Police are expected to release a suspect's name soon, and indicate whether this was a lone act or whether the shooter may have had accomplices. Ballistics may prove valuable in linking the two shootings together, but for the moment this cannot be confirmed.

A terrible loss of life, and many, many questions without answers.

We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available.

These tragic and senseless local deaths come alongside news of the death of three US soldiers, today: two in Baghdad and one in the province of Anbar, bringing this month's losses over 50. This comes as Congress debates new legislation proposing continued funding of the war, while providing for the return home of many soldiers, a withdrawal scenario the President has said he will veto...

I began writing a post on journalistic ethics yesterday that just seems pathetic and inadequate now. Over and over yesterday the phrase "Culture of Violence" was bandied about as pundits attempted to glom onto the origin of this tragedy by sheer brute force speculation. We have a culture of violence in America, they say. Who's responsible for creating it? How can we stem the tide? Who will think of the children?

The talking heads seem to think it could come from video games in which characters in World War II, you know, shoot each other, to those damn primal urges brought forth by the sexy gyrations of shampoo commercial models. It must be those things that influence how we solve our problems - it must be those things that create a culture where the go-to option is violence.

I'd like to suggest an alternative, and it will appear brazenly politically biased. These are simply the first things to come to my mind when I think of what may be spurring the uniquely American notion that violence solves all problems, and I welcome any similar comments from left-leaning people - cultural icons, politicians, etc - that fit with the theme.

"And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin' her fist
...
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you'll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way"

Ignoring the fact that a woman with "Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command" bolted onto her is unlikely to shake her fist in anger, this song hit #25 on Billboard's hot 100 list for the US. Non-crossover genres like country and rap very seldom do this well. See, solving problems with violence is the American way. Toby Keith said so. He was a character in Grand Theft Auto, right?

"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
...
But the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows."

While I may not think a pacifist solution will work well against terrorism, this is a national address in which the leader of the entire nation says the only solution to our problem is violence, and anyone who suggests otherwise is part of the problem.

There are DOZENS more possible quotations from all points on the political spectrum that could be placed here. I single out 2 republicans because they are fresh in my mind. Democrats, independents, apoliticial anarchists - they are all guilty of the same. These are our cultural icons. These are our leaders.

And I think they carry a lot more weight in contributing to a "Culture of Violence" than a historical simulation where you shoot Germans.

It must be Hollywood brainwashing us. It must be video games neutralizing our children's brains. It must be unashamed sexual attitudes that allow this sort of behavior. It must be something beyond our control, because there's no way we'd elect officials that continue to ingrain the notion that violence solves all our problems, right? There's no way we'd re-elect representatives who stick to that notion while hiding the coffins it produces, right? There's no way we'd sing along at concerts with that notion, buy the CD and the t-shirt, right?

Right?

We wouldn't do that, if we could prevent it. So it must be something beyond our control. Let's get a panel of people who disagree via caustic screeds and shouting together and speculate what that something could be for a couple hours. I'm sure there's nothing else going on.

I'll tell you how we can stem the tide of the "Culture of Violence," we can stand up against the abhorrent stewardship the bulk of the nation's journalists have provided for the last 10 years of media consolidation and profit-minded laziness. We can stop giving the people who are in elected office and positions of massive influence a free pass to continue their twisting of the "American Way" of doing things. In short, we can have a group of people whose job it is to call out those who twist the public interest to their own aims, to ask tough questions and not cave or be intimidated into not pursuing the answers, and most of all right now, to demand an answer when our leaders and icons suggest to our children that the solution to every problem is violence. We once had a group of people like that. We can again.

I know, I'm probably late to this party. I turned my back on the estate because I was disgusted by this bottom-line and ratings/circulation focused laziness, and the buyouts of anyone who took a principled stand against it. I wanted no part of it. I didn't want to dedicate my life to a principle only to have it bought up with money Rupert Murdoch found in the victorian couch in his jet or George Soros shook out of his socks. I was a fool. And I'd like to think this will be my first step off the bench, but I have made far too many promises of that nature.

To the pundits who were probably well paid for their recycling of the misery of many of Virginia's residents yesterday, I'd like to say this: there are no reasons. What reason do you need to be shown?

There's nothing that will make sense of this. There's no reason that will excuse it. So, you continue to speculate on why this happened, while you celebrate theater over facts, shouting prepared statements over debate, and violence as the immediate solution to any problem.

I hate that I've been sitting out the game because I don't like the way it's played any more. The fact that it took the deaths of over 30 people to bring me back is absolutely shameful. However shameful it may be, though, it was an important solidification of something nebulous that was troubling me.

I don't know where I will go from here, but I have absolutely had it with these hacks. Jon Stewart (a liberal icon I tried in vain to find a comment attributed to supporting violence as a go-to option - kudos to him) once said to all journalists, via Ken Auletta, "Come work for us again."

I want to, man. I want to. It's just so saddening to see something you revered in such tatters.

Over 30 people were killed by gunfire yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus. Police suspect 23-year-old Cho Seung-hui, an English major at the university, as the lone gunman. No motive is known or likely will be.

Virginia Tech will be holding a Convocation at 2pm Eastern Tuesday.

[i don't like mondays]