Professional VBCs

21 Feb 08

I talked with a friend today who is directly involved with the investigation of the recent shooting episode at NIU. Actually, as he pointed out, there is not much to investigate. The Case is closed! All details subsequently discovered only serve to assist CNN in finding something to jam between male-impotence-drug ads. That is also the sole function of "surveillance" cameras.

As part of the investigation, my friend attended interminable meetings with members of the campus administration. Here is what he was treated to, and his responses:

"... its about 'incident-management' and the 'mental-health crisis'.." (How is any of that psycho-babble going to keep YOU from being murdered, today?)

"We need to improve our ability to respond to and mitigate these events" (How much "better" do you think it is ever going to get?)

"... statistically, there is still only a small chance any one individual will be harmed" (However, when that "one individual" is YOU, all those statistics become so much BS, don't they?)

"... what we need is strict enforcement and maximum jail time for those who commit felonies with weapons" (Don't you idiots think we're already doing that?).

"...I am personally against guns. Hopefully I'll never be forced to own one for my own protection. (By the time you honestly confront your own self-deception, Bud, it will be too late. You'll be dead, and you'll no longer have to worry about any of this, eh?)

"... Those identified as 'mentally ill' (whatever that means) need to be closely monitored..." (You're describing half the population! What are you going to do? Herd them all into gulags?)

A noted sociologist became visibly irritated with me and my smart-ass responses to their predictably, knee-jerk drivel. She finally said, "So, you're telling me there is nothing substantive we can do to prevent something like this from happening again, tomorrow?

I responded, "There is nothing you, nor any of us, can do to 'save' what victims there may be. There is something you can do to save yourself."

"... and what would that be?"

"Get a gun!"

Comment: I'm a simple soldier. As such, like my friend in the foregoing exchange, I see things simply... apparently far too simply for my academically-sophisticated brethren.

However, I'm unsophisticated enough to plainly see that the omnipresent culprit with all these incidents is cowardice... personal, intellectual cowardice. I wish there were a more polite way to put it.

These people have no sense of duty to themselves, their Art, their families, nor their nation. They would rather face certain death than be compelled to candidly confront their own (professed) principles, ie: admit they're wrong.

Like my friend, I can have neither personal nor professional respect for any of them. They're Victims, by Choice. They're not just "part of the problem." They ARE the problem!

/John