Shock

The tail-end of the trip to Mexico City was spent watching CNN and hearing about the Virginia Tech tragedy. Like viewers all of over the world, we knew very little about the details and we were unfortunately left with media commentary spin to provide reasons that would warrant such abhorrent behavior. The first article we read was quick to mention that local officials did not think this was terrorist-related. My initial thought was, “why would anybody think this is terrorist-related?” but Natalia accurately pointed out that this reveals the times in which we are currently living.

With only my mind’s eye to paint the picture of how the scene went down, the two images my mind created was that of the assailant as a white guy, probably with longish hair and an Adam Morrison straggly moustache. Past tragedies including Columbine, the Oklahoma City bombing and numerous fictional movies and television shows have created this depiction over and over again and must have steeped into my subconscious. (Note: As I type this, I realize that I am guilty of profiling in this regard as any other irrational American. For some reason, profiling a Caucasian person is seen as less reprehensible within the mainstream or at least in my circles.)

Thinking about it more on the flight back to SFO, I was sure of two things about the VA Tech killer. A) the killer was NOT a woman and b) the killer was NOT Asian. I was shocked to later learn that the prime suspect was indeed an Asian man of South Korean descent thus turning all of my aforementioned preconceptions on its head.

I wonder how much attention will be made to this fact over the next days or weeks. The myth or opinions generated about Asians as the “model minority” would seemingly be under some scrutiny based on yesterday's events. This morning, a radio jock (Adam Carolla) mentioned that all of the Anna-Nicole news and the Don Imus controversy recently were indicators that the recent months have lacked any “real” news, as these two subjects took over all of the headlines. While this is perhaps debatable, I do agree with his point that the events of yesterday mark far more significant news and I find it interesting to see how the events of this story will play out, particularly the racial element if at all. Stay tuned.