I’m disappointed. I was hoping that in light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, America might have had the collective integrity to come together and focus on remembering the victims, appreciating their lives and doing much-needed self-reflection on any mistakes that may have been made and how better to insure that this will not be replayed in copy-cat attacks, in the way Columbine was.

However, now when I turn on the television, I’m confronted with photo upon photo of the murderer ‘ not of the victims. I’m confronted with the fact that almost every leading story on television and in the news now is about the killer: about his diatribes, his rants, his beliefs and his life. He has gotten what he wanted and the media has fed it to him on a silver platter. The only consolation I have is that he isn’t around to revel in it.

I’m disgusted with a substantial amount of the media coverage, and even public discussion, about the events. Most of the people I’ve talked to have wanted to know just as much, if not more, about the gory details of what happened than anything else, or to express their views on the way it was handled. In the meantime, I fear the victims are not being given the respect they deserve.

Why do we end up listening to ‘pseudo-experts’ who will stand on a soapbox and blame American culture, rap music or violent video games for such a loss of human life instead of focusing on the human realities and pain of the events? I’m beginning to feel that anything given to network news nowadays loses every scrap of its decency, and I’m getting sick of it. I expect this kind of flaunting and posturing from stations like FOX News, but not CNN or NBC.

So now I am left with a sad realization: barring some sort of miracle, the fact that Cho Seung-Hui was given such ‘recognition’ and attention for such a despicable act will only serve to reinforce other maladjusted and attention-seeking loners’ beliefs that, if they do something drastic enough, they will get what they want. Admittedly, Cho Seung-Hui has forced himself, his ideas and his image into the forefront of current events.

As long as we handle stories of violence with such sensational irresponsibility, I fear for the possibilities our future holds. I hope that, instead of buying into the sensationalism, we can all act humbly and be supportive and respectful to Virginia Tech and to the victims in every way we can because, as I’ve heard repeatedly in the last two days, ‘it could have happened here.’