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Understanding the Virginia Tech Tragedy Philip V. Brennan I‘ll Tell You Why In the wake of the horrific massacre of 32 students and the wounding of many others at Virginia Tech last Monday, the chattering class once again chorused the question they pose whenever some tragedy that is beyond explanation or understanding takes place in America: Why? How could such a thing happen in this age of liberal enlightenment? Their answer is almost universally the same: We live in a culture of violence exemplified by the public's toleration of the prevalence of guns in our society, as if weapons are capable of acting on their own, without the aid of a human finger on the trigger. Then there is the matter of the prevalence of violence to which youngsters are constantly exposed. According to a study by Parents TV, an affiliate of the Media Research Council, it is estimated that by the time an average child leaves elementary school, he or she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and over 100,000 other acts of violence. By the time that child is 18 years of age, he or she will witness 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders. One 17-year longitudinal study concluded that teens who watched more than one hour of TV a day were almost four times as likely as other teens to commit aggressive acts in adulthood. Television, PTV states, "can be profoundly influential in shaping an impressionable child or adolescent's values, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors. [It] reaches children at a younger age and for more time than any other socializing influence, except family. The average child spends 25 hours a week watching television, more time than they spend in school or engaged in any other activity except sleep. Is it any wonder then that children so readily absorb the messages that are presented to them? "PTV asks what the cumulative impact of 25 hours of television a week is upon the youngsters exposed to all that violence. "The facts are undeniable — kids are exposed to an incredible number and variety of violent acts. That, however, does not explain why some — a small number — react to what they see by embracing extreme violence themselves." According to a March 220 story in the Christian Science Monitor "Clearly, with more exposure [to media violence, children] do become desensitized, they do copy what they see, and their values are shaped by it," says Susan Villani, a Baltimore, Md., psychiatrist who has reviewed the past 10 years of study on the subject."
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The key word there is "desensitized" — rendered immune from understanding that what they see is unacceptable behavior. When children are exposed to an epidemic of measles or some other disease, they are inoculated with a vaccine that protects them from the epidemic. They are immune from the effects. Children exposed to an epidemic of violence also need to be inoculated by the spiritual vaccine we know as morality. Instead, our secular society attempts to counter the effects of children's overwhelming exposure to violence as portrayed on TV and the movies with such human devised substitutes for morals as "ethics," or "values" — modes of thought tailored to fit the ever changeable passions of the times.
Morality is a religious concept. You cannot have a moral society when the dominant intellectual class denies the existence of God, the author of all morality. And until children are brought up by parents who fulfill their responsibility by teaching by word and example the need for behavior based on morals, those children will be desensitized to the violence they see all around them and some of them tempted to imitate it.
This is what we see when we read of teenagers brutalizing homeless men until they require hospitalization. We see it in the videos that show children, both boys and girls, mercilessly ganging up and beating other defenseless children. When the late Pope John Paul II coined the term "Culture of Death" he specifically singled out the crime of abortion — the murder of innocent unborn children in their mothers' wombs. It is one of those things that desensitize youngsters to the violence they see all around them. If mothers can kill the unborn human beings in their wombs with the sanction of the state, how can the value of human life not be degraded in the minds of our young? Pope Benedict has added his voice, decrying the "culture of relativity" that has so afflicted modern life. In that culture nothing is certain and everything is subject to change at the whim and caprice of society which creates its own values and ethics to suit its convenience of the moment. If it feels good, do it. Finally, the attempt to deprive people of the right to bear arms to protect themselves has seriously impeded our rights to self-protection. A case in point. In January of this year, the Virginia state Legislature killed a bill that would have allowed the possession of handguns on college campuses as they are allowed throughout the state. According to the Roanoke Times on Jan. 31, 2007, "Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public universities from making 'rules or regulations limiting or abridging the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun permit ... from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun.'" The defeat of the bill was hailed by none other than Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker who said he was happy to hear the bill was defeated. He told the Times, "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty, and visitors feel safe on our campus." He should note that had just one student or professor present in the classrooms at Virginia Tech targeted by the gunman been carrying a handgun and had used it, most, if not all, of the dead would be alive today. Phil Brennan is a veteran journalist who writes for NewsMax.com. He is editor and publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com) and was Washington columnist for National Review magazine in the 1960s. He also served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee and helped handle the Washington public relations operation for the Alaska Statehood Committee which won statehood for Alaska. He is also a trustee of the Lincoln Heritage Institute and a member of the Association For Intelligence Officers. He can be reached at pvb@pvbr.com.
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