The Daily Gut

BLAMEWATCH, DAY 4

The comments to yesterday's post on the Virginia Tech shooting have hit the 100 limit, so if any more people want to talk about the gritty combat experiences they've had via the wondrous power of imagination, have at it here.

P.S. I did not say that "running away is the New Bravery" or anything like it. I said that no matter how powerful your imagination, how vividly you can put yourself in those students' shoes and save the day in your own private action movie, it doesn't mean a thing when something like that happens to you and you're about to die. Maybe you'll run. Maybe you'll freeze up. Maybe you'll fight back and win. Maybe you'll fight back and lose. You just don't know, because another part of you takes over that you just don't experience in your day-to-day. (If you're one of the people saying this stuff and you do experience life-threatening danger on a daily basis, please let me know.)

All I'm doing is asking you to put off condemning these students as a bunch of yellow cowards, at least until the bodies are buried. I mean, would you point to a dead U.S. soldier and say, "What a pussy. If that was me, I totally woulda killed that terrorist first!" Well, if you're blaming these students for being dead, that's what you're doing.

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