A Moment of Retraction is Humbling

So this little tirade I went on yesterday... I wake up this morning and the new story is that the gunman sent a tape to NBC between his first and second murderous rampage. And my first thought is, "oh, crap." And I just asked if people thought that because my classroom was noisily ignorant of the campus-wide moment of silence, that the people of VT's feelings might have been hurt. Maybe I shouldn't have said that last thing. Boing Boing is calling it Cho's "Multimedia Manifesto".

I still think Obama should have given the people who contributed to his campaign what they paid for on Monday, that hasn't changed. But my vitriol seemed to spill over in an unseemly sort of way and for that I'm sorry. Somehow this package story makes everything feel so much worse. It adds a dimension of vanity that's currently making me queasy.

Thusly, I would like to retract the following statements:

1. "Barack Obama ruthlessly soldiered on in his campaign of terror despite the horrors of this morning's events"



2. But I will always fail to see how "observing a moment of silence" or stopping whatever you're doing in order to appear solemn and in solidarity makes very much difference at all to the people suffering on the other side of the country.



3. the president of the college requested that we observe one of these "moments of silence", I was in class at the time and there was no silence at all in there. Do you think the people of Virginia Tech were hurt?

Please forgive me my moment of obnoxiousness, when I get a on yarn sometimes I follow it a little too far. As I did manage to mention I feel for the people who are currently directly suffering under the weight of Monday's events. And light of the recent development I would like to deepen that sentiment and extend my deepest condolences and my heartfelt sympathy.