I am glad someone as thoughtful as you commented here, thank you. I really wasn’t sure if posting about this issue is in and of itself exploitative. I hope not, and with your sharp compassion something akin to hope begins to emerge from fear, doubt, and uncertainty.

The very idea that we are talking about this terrible event in some fashion seems reassuring and important. But as your comment points out trying to talk about this shooting in anyway other than through some kind of pre-existing ideological and political agenda seems quite difficult. Your ability to underscore the importance of the humanity of the victims as we even begin to try and understand this event is crucial.

I dont pretend to suggest the video has any answers and I think the it is remarkable not so much for its essential value, but because it approaches the importance of narrative in dealing with trauma in a medium and fashion that is both controversial and strikingly different from the dehumanization that the mass media all too often enagges in with horrific events like that one at Virginia Tech.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, and giving me an opportunity to keep reflecting on why this is all so uncomfortable for all of us.

The victims of the VT massacre were humans. They danced,laughed cried, sang…and when they died they were frightened. They all left behind people who loved them, people that mourn their loss everyday, people who are left to ask the question-Why?

Even Cho, believe it or not, was a person. A very sick person. He left behind a familty, too. A family that is struggling to find answer to the questions they have about their son, brother.

Yes, the community itself was also victimized here. Blacksburg loves VT. They support the school and students. The sense of loss there is still huge and probably will be for a while.

I know the video was done for a school project on criminal justice. I don’t know about how sensitive even giving an assignment like this is, much less posting it on YouTube.