We Mourn Virginia Tech

The terrible shootings in Virginia have shocked me, and reminded me of my thankful enculturation. Anthropologically, an observer is much more successful if they can effectively ignore their intellectual and moral upbringing and observe objectively. However, we are human, and it serves to remain so. It's important to maintain the thoughts and feelings at your core of existence as well. These might get in the way if you can't separate them at will, but they are still important to have. That is, their existence is crucial, lest you fall into sociopathy, but being able to compartmentalize gains you a skill in helping you become a useful observer.

This last week I've mourned the victims at Virginia Tech. The heartbreak, the loss of innocence - I've been left speechless. Here's a fair essay about it. Last night I heard that the previous day was the most violent in Iraq to date. It's also important to remain objective. 300 lives in Baghdad is a larger number than 33 in Virginia. They are both atrocities. They both need to be stopped.

Note: It wasn't an American bomb that destroyed the marketplace in Baghdad (although the CIA certainly has been training the use of these explosives for decades.) It was our actions in this war that created the anarchic situation in Iraq however, and it is our responsibility to put an end to it.