Saturday, April 21, 2007

The Tech link compendium

Trillions of electrons have been devoted to coverage and discussion of the Virginia Tech shooting since Monday. Here's a recap of a few of the most remarkable pieces:
  • The Washington Post published the definitive account of the tragedy Thursday in a haunting narrative that reveals the chaos and horror of those deadly few hours.
  • Also from The Post is a look at the world's reaction to the shootings. Particularly notable are Iraqis' questions why Americans are so shocked about 33 deaths when the death toll in Iraq has hovered around three times that much lately. The answer is twofold. First is the proximity factor: Humans tend to be more interested in events that occur in their countries than in events involving people and places half a world away. Second is the "man bites dog" principle: Iraq is a war zone where people (sadly) have grown to expect mass casualties; Blacksburg isn't.
  • Author Stephen King examines the links between violent writing and violent behavior and finds few reliable ways to forecast when someone may cross that line.
  • Doug at Hey Jenny Slater has the most moving blog post I've read about the massacre and the public reaction to it.
  • ACG at Practically Harmless lays the smack down, with authority, on some appalling attempts to pin some blame on shooting victims for their split-second responses.
Any other valuable links I missed?