The Daily Gut

BLAMEWATCH, DAY 3

On Monday night, Geraldo was all over Fox News saying we have to accept that, in this horrible world we live in, our "children" need to be "protected."

Point one: They're not "children." The students at Virginia Tech were grown women and - if you'll forgive the expression - men. They would be regarded as adults by any other society in the history of our planet...

I have always believed America is different [than Canada, because of their reaction to the Montreal Massacre]. Certainly on September 11th we understood. The only good news of the day came from the passengers who didn't meekly follow the obsolescent 1970s hijack procedures but who used their wits and acted as free-born individuals. And a few months later as Richard Reid bent down and tried to light his shoe in that critical split-second even the French guys leapt up and pounded the bejasus out of him.

We do our children a disservice to raise them to entrust all to officialdom's security blanket. Geraldo-like "protection" is a delusion: when something goes awry - whether on a September morning flight out of Logan or on a peaceful college campus - the state won't be there to protect you. You'll be the fellow on the scene who has to make the decision. As my distinguished compatriot Kathy Shaidle says:

When we say "we don't know what we'd do under the same circumstances", we make cowardice the default position.

Mark Steyn

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I like Steyn and Shaidle, and I agree with the point about not infantilizing these students. But I really think it's wrong to blame the students for any part of this, and it's possibly even a disgraceful thing to say.

Compare it to 9/11 all you want, but it's nothing like that. Tactically, I mean. If somebody hijacks a plane, there's no way to escape and nowhere to hide. And, post-9/11, a lot less chance that you're going to land safely. You're trapped in a metal tube with kind of a steep drop underneath, so your choices are very limited. If you know there's no chance of getting out of it alive if you don't fight back, the decision's been made for you.

This is so different, and putting down the students for not being fearless action heroes is crap. ("Women and -- if you'll forgive the expression -- men." Ugh. Okay, Sgt. Rock.) The guy had two guns and who knows how much ammo, and he was shooting everyone in sight. They were unarmed. What were they supposed to do, fashion crude weapons out of available materials, form a battle plan, and charge him? That's a lot to ask on a Monday morning. I'd try getting the hell out first. There's no way they could have known he'd blocked off the exits. But hey, I guess I'm just yella.

It saddens me that I even have to say it, but: That murderer is solely to blame for this atrocity. Those students weren't cowards, he was. If we're going to call for personal responsibility, how about holding somebody personally responsible once in a while?

P.S. We shouldn't let that murdering piece of garbage off the hook because of whatever mental illness or childhood trauma he was suffering from. He had it together enough to plan and carry this out, complete with press packet sent to Brian Williams. Not just NBC... Brian Williams! If this monster premeditated his acts to the point of picking which network news anchor he wanted to give the scoop, he can take the blame for those acts. Update: I misspoke about the recipient. It wasn't Williams, but NBC News President Steve Capus. Which is not only even creepier, but more to the point: The package actually went over Williams' head. But then, what doesn't.

P.P.S. Sean Collins e-mails: "Oh, it's definitely a disgraceful thing to say. The reason the United 93 passengers attacked the hijackers wasn't because, unlike the sheeplike, dare I say French-seeming passengers on the other planes, they Cowboyed Up, or whatever bizarre fantasy [Steyn]'s concocted when he's not dreaming about Strangelovian breeding programs for white dudes. It was because their relatives told them what had already happened to the other three planes. Everyone, everyone would have done the same thing as the passengers on the other three planes absent any other information, because decades of history had taught us that you just go along with the hijackers and eventually you get off the plane and live."

P.P.P.S. In the comments, Texas Bob says: "I've got some experience in this area, having served 3 tours in Iraq so far. You just don't know how you'll act when the rounds are coming your way. Every dipstick I heard popping off 'If I'd have been there, I'd have...' or 'Why didn't those guys just...' literally either pissed their pants or curled up in the fetal position and cried for mama while under fire. AND they were armed. You cannot judge or say what you'd do under similar circumstances. It is utterly ridiculous to think that you can."

P.P.P.P.S. Another thought that just occurred to me (and please tell me if somebody's answered this already): At this point, how do we know none of them fought back? Maybe some did but got killed anyway, since he had guns and they didn't. A bullet is a bullet, whether you're running toward it or away from it. Which isn't to say they shouldn't have tried if they could, but I'm not sure we know one way or another yet, and it's just another reason it's not fair to jump to the conclusion that they were cowards.

Last freaking postscript: The comments are full, so if you've got more to say, go here.

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