{ Wednesday, April 18, 2007 }
On the radio today a guidance counselor from the University of Virginia was being interviewed about how something like the grisly Virginia Tech murders could be prevented in the future, and he said while there are some ways that you can gauge whether or not someone is a threat, it is art, not science, and there is no formula, and never could be. Then he said something that really struck me. He said that we like to pretend that the world is safe, that we have complete control over everything and that was can go through our lives without anything terrible ever happening to us, but it's just not true. Bad things happen, danger exists, madmen are at large in the world.
LINK | 9:56 PM | TB
Hi Caterina,
I mentioned this post here: Infidel Links 2
hmmm..a fork in the road.either everybody's armed or everybody's not to be armed.
bzkajo | April 20, 2007 1:05 AMUh, no, Bzkajo. That kind of binary view is unrealistic and not useful.
Here is a model for you: Sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves. Wolves and sheep both see that sheepdogs have teeth.
Wolves respond to sheepdogs with teeth (armed!) by staying away. Sheep respond by trying to vote the sheepdogs out of the flock. Sheep have difficulty seeing the difference between sheepdogs and wolves; all the sheep can see is teeth. The sheep see a binary world where they are either surrounded by sheep or surrounded by wolves.
If the sheep succeed then the wolves, who still have their teeth, see a defenseless flock. Predictable results follow.
Michael | April 23, 2007 2:08 PM{ Post a comment }
I'm not sure what "we" that counselor meant when he talked about pretending to be in control. Maybe it's what psychologists call projection.
Virgina has a lot of sportsmen with guns and it is also one of the states that issues concealed carry permits. Mr. Hinchner has written the rules for students to create a campus without guns. The Virginia Tech campus is an island of total gun control within the state of Virginia. Adult students with concealed carry permits can't bring their guns to the campus. Hunters can't have their guns in the dorm. Mr. Hinchner is in control.
Mr. Hinhcner is still pretending he is in control. I think he is an accessory to murder.
Michael | April 19, 2007 12:29 AM