Is anyone else struck by the fact that we obsess over Va Tech as a national trauma, but fewer people died?

Question

at Va. Tech than on the average day in Iraq? If this is a national trauma for us, what must be happening to the psyches and spirits of Iraqis, who face much worse than this every single day?

Dove's answer unintentionally reveals what Americans really think - the Va. Tech shootings are different because American lives matter more than the lives of mere foreigners. (Iraq is just a "foreign policy issue.") How pathetic.

Answer 1

Two negatives don't make a positive. Va Tech is traumatic because of what it involves, what set it off, the sickness there is behind it..

Iraq, tragic in the same way in human terms, is not a society problem - rather a foregin policy issue gone wrong very weird. Any decent human would equally be suffering for the Iraquis.

Two extremes of two very sick situations.

Answer 2

The incident at Va. Tech is a national tragedy.
Its demonstrates how small a country America really is.
Every few weeks we have either a domestic or international issue to face.
I imagine the Post-Traumatic-Stress in Iraq is high not only for our servicemembers, but for the citizens also.
I believe that, this is only the beginning.
There are already reports of "copy-cat" threats from around the country.
The loss experienced during :Katrina" is old news(?).
As a nation America has withstood quite a bit. Listen, I empathize for the Iraqi's and I know that, "W" got us in this mess. But, America has some serious healing to do also.
Our nation is at a crossroads--we need to choose the path of least resistance as we step forward.
Yes, I value American lives more than any other.
Go and serve in our military or live as an ex-patriot for awhile and see how others view Americans and the way of life we have in the U.S.A.

Answer 3

You cannot compare a massacre at VT to the tragedies of war. I'm not trying to be insensitive, as the loss of human life is always a tragedy. But the two incidents are very different.

And it is very difficult to 'sympathize' with the Iraqi tragedies when we do not see them in such a bombardment as we have with VT. We have seen pictures of innocent, fresh faces, and the futures they will never have. We don't see that kind of thing coming from Iraq everyday. If we did, perhaps we would find the tragedy in all of it...

Answer 4

The people of Iraq have had three years of occupation and forty years of Saddam Hussein, including ten years of brutal war with Iran to harden them against the horrible realities of life in the Middle East. We are much less used to real violence here in the states, we see it in the movies and on TV, but that really isn't the same thing, now is it?

Answer 5

Yes but the Iraqis are fighting against the American occupation of their country; those school kids were the completely unnecessary victims of an idiotic system that allows maniacs as many guns and as much ammo as they can carry to do what they want with.

Answer 6

I understand your question and your reasons.

I do not think people are just obess or the Va Tech but shocked, confused and sad it happened.

Your right 1000 die in Iraq, our troops who we sent over there. The difference, they are fighting for our country (whether we agree or not) and the Va Tech are students fighting to get ahead in life.

When people sign up to go to the army, navy, etc. They are trained for war and they understand and know what the outcome is.

When people sign up to go to school, they train for jobs not war and don't expect to be shot.

All deaths are sad, and its a shame whats this world is comming to.

Answer 7

The people of Iraq are just ordinary people that are also trying to just ‘survive’ and get ahead in life. However their whole world is filled with crazy gunmen with automatic weapons and an endless amount of bullets.
I think that it is all equally wrong. Unfortunately through our controlled media we are trained to believe that it is somehow different.

“Same **** Different Pile”

Answer 8

i agree with you. plight of the Iraqis are definitley of a lrger scale and an example of american hypocricy. but the focus this va tech massacre is getting is for a good reason, american society needs some seious introspection.

Answer 9

The innocent young people in Iraq are not our innocent young people. The distance between the lands and the xenophobia in the U.S. make people in North America less sensitive to the suffering overseas in ...Iraq, Darfur, Somalia....the list is endless.

Answer 10

Except when you go to a college campus, you don't expect to be gunned down in the classrooms by some loner type who never fit in well.