…and this is a 
Contemptible ghoul
Category: Evil
Posted on: April 16, 2007 6:36 PM, by PZ Myers
First commentator to tie the Virginia Tech shootings to Muslims, without a lick of evidence: Debbie Schlussel. And if it isn't connected in any way to Islamic terrorism?
Even if it does not turn out that the shooter is Muslim, this is a demonstration to Muslim jihadists all over that it is extremely easy to shoot and kill multiple American college students.
She'll connect it anyway.
The killer was Chinese. With the anticipated satisfaction, Schlussel sees that as a vindication — kick out all the foreign students!
Comments
People will jump at any excuse to discuss their talking points.
Posted by: Caledonian | April 16, 2007 6:42 PM
Right. If all you have is a hammer (and a bad one at that), everything looks like a nail.
Posted by: Madam Pomfrey | April 16, 2007 6:51 PM
Well I'll be hornswaggled!
Ann Coulter can reproduce, after all!
Posted by: Stanton | April 16, 2007 6:51 PM
This is the same woman of Paula Zahn NOW infamy. I can hardly believe she found a way to sink lower.
Posted by: Michael | April 16, 2007 6:53 PM
I'm ashamed to see she's a University of Michigan graduate. Ugh.
Posted by: Shelley | April 16, 2007 6:54 PM
Disgusting. And unlike Don Imus, she will get away with this shameful nonsense.
Posted by: dzd | April 16, 2007 6:54 PM
Yes, I'm sure that the terrorists who hadn't figured out that it's easy to shoot unarmed flocks of people are now much, much more dangerous than they were yesterday.
Oh my god. I hope they don't figure out that it's also easy to blow up people riding city busses and hanging around in public places either. That would be terrible.
Posted by: Leni | April 16, 2007 6:58 PM
What is so hard about waiting for evidence ? This is despicable. No good can possibly come from doing this.
Posted by: The Sci Phi Show | April 16, 2007 6:59 PM
I remember seeing Debbie Schlussel on Politically Incorrect ( before Bill Maher got canned by the simpering weenies at ABC). I was utterly baffled at how a person could be so consistently stupid and clueless on every single point. You'd be better off consulting the Bush Twins on matters of social and political analysis.
Posted by: Gene | April 16, 2007 7:08 PM
Is she complaining that American students aren't as well armed as those attending Baghdad U? That Muslim students in general carry their AKs with them to class? The stupid hurts so bad...
Posted by: Keith | April 16, 2007 7:16 PM
I am flabbergasted, disgusted, sickened, shocked...
Dang, some of my own family members are "young Asian males;" some of them weren't even born in this country (GASP!).
You can safely assume that, even given the chance, I won't invite Debbie to coffee one day.
(I'm a 48 year old not-Asian male. We don't all think like Debbie.)
Posted by: MikeM | April 16, 2007 7:16 PM
Disgusting.
This seems to be a priority amongst a section of the right wing. Establish a Muslim/immigrant connection and then call for punitive measures against brown people.
Posted by: Christian Burnham | April 16, 2007 7:24 PM
Last I checked "Asian" meant "Japanese or Chinese" to most people's minds in the US. I think if the shooter had been identifiably Arabian or Pakistani, he would have been identified as such. Certainly not as "Asian".
What an utterly useless waste of $15 worth of chemicals. Both the shooter and Debbie Schlussel.
Posted by: Warren | April 16, 2007 7:29 PM
The first ad on the side-bar of the google ads on her website is for dog stress relievers - very apropos for this twatwaffle.
Posted by: Rev M | April 16, 2007 7:32 PM
The sad thing is, if the shooter DOES turn out to be Muslim, there'll be no convincing her that her initial response was not justified.
Hmm, now that I think about it, there'll be no convincing her of that either way.
Posted by: Mark | April 16, 2007 7:36 PM
Ergh. In using the word 'Asian' as a descriptive adjective I don't think that the officers were trying to infer anything regarding the nature of the motive or the persons religions affiliations. Making that assumption is outrageous. Implications like that should be left up to FOX News and FOX News only... duh...
Posted by: Andrew | April 16, 2007 7:44 PM
One news report this morning said it was this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morva
...and Wikipedia agreed briefly, but they both dropped it pretty quickly.
If that pans out, do we put all the white loners in concentration camps?
Posted by: Ralph Dosser | April 16, 2007 7:46 PM
My fellow man makes me embarrassed for my gender when he pees allover the restroom toilet seat.
My fellow Mmerrikkan embarrasses me with their 9th century Dark Ages reactionary caveman retardedness.
I'm surprised I can keep food down, these last 8 years.
Posted by: Will Von Wizzlepig | April 16, 2007 7:49 PM
She has her timing down pat. Now's the only time she can safely speculate. If she waits any longer, they might reveal it was some pasty white guy. And if it turns out to be a muslim, he voice will get lost in the following shitstorm.
They're already sharpening both talking point. If it was a white-bread american, it means nothing at all and it's Hollywood's fault. If it wasa muslim, they're all subhuman muderers and interment camps is too good for tem!!
Posted by: F.Jardim | April 16, 2007 7:52 PM
Firstly I would like to extend my sympathies to the families and students who are suffering as a result of this action.
Secondly, it didn't even occur to me that the shooter would be a specific religion or that the actions would be either politically or religiously motivated.
I was a bit shocked that the media would automatically go for the most controversial explanation possible, but then, the media, whores that they are, never fail to disappoint me.
Posted by: beepbeepitsme | April 16, 2007 7:55 PM
Whatever you do, don't read the comments on Schlussel's site. Your brain will explode.
Posted by: Johnny Vector | April 16, 2007 7:55 PM
Nicely played, though--heads, she wins; tails, we lose.
Posted by: RavenT | April 16, 2007 7:58 PM
As A Virginia resident I hope its an American psycho but after the last few years, Langley(3 dead), 911(the pentagon), DC Snipers, our state is simply waiting for the next muslim linked attack. The latest report is the guy was asian. Whatever that may mean. Virginia killers usually are poor stupid frustrated men and women who loose it. Mass murder here is rare and usually committed by the government in connection with coal mining or civil unrest. William Morva was an escaped killer whom murdered two people this spring.
Posted by: charlie | April 16, 2007 8:02 PM
I made the mistake of flipping through the AM dial to listen to the press conference with the campus police chief. What I got instead was Michael Savage blaming what he called a slow police response on the hands-tying rules of engagement crafted by "liberal ACLU vermin."
Posted by: Jim Anderson | April 16, 2007 8:03 PM
I don't know about this post it seems to give an ignorant bloger an aweful lot publicity. It is not like she is the new york times or something. Yes what she says is stupid and dispicable, and shows how totally myopic these rightwingers are, but should PZ really give her all this fame?
The idea that Pakistanis are called Asian is laughable, and just shows how inward looking the US is. There has been at least one shooting incident with an Asian before (if it turns out to be an Asian) the suggestion then was that a significant number of Asian parents really drive their kids hard educationally, some crack.
Posted by: Sailor | April 16, 2007 8:13 PM
appalling!
Wait and see - next time there's a major hit & run incident perpetrated by someone of vaguely asian/arab descent they'll be flagging that as a 'sign to jihadists of another way to kill innocent American commuters'
I'd like to say I'm astounded by this... but sadly, I'm not!
Tony
Posted by: tony | April 16, 2007 8:13 PM
Well, well, well...I am not surprised anymore by a person who wrote that being a Michael Jackson or a soccer fan! implies that one "hates America and loves terror"
Posted by: JJ | April 16, 2007 8:17 PM
I would never usually give her site any more time than necessary, but I just had to comment on there about her use of the word "Paki". In the UK this is considered extremely racist - is this also the case in the US? I know Bush used it in a speech but that's hardly an indicator.
Posted by: VancouverBrit | April 16, 2007 8:18 PM
You just know that Ann Coulter's fuming mad about someone getting out ahead of her hatred. Probably Rush, O'Reilly and the savage Wiener too. Of course not all the evidense is in and there's plenty of new opportunuty for the truly twisted.
How long before one of the hate parade grand marshals link this with John Edward's hair, Hillary's Arkansas Drug & Slave Trade Mafia connections and/or the mad atheists.
What fucktwits.
Posted by: jimmiraybob | April 16, 2007 8:22 PM
You know it's amazing how many people want to jump on racial profiling... until it comes to this. No doubt that's because STATISTICALLY the individual who goes into a school or business and starts shooting is a young white (Anglo-Saxon) male.
Oddly, that's a profile that never gets made... when it's a "white American" doing the shooting, then things are merely "unpredictable".
Posted by: dorid | April 16, 2007 8:27 PM
Man, if I was her kid, I'd be shooting places up left and right just to vent my anger at having such a retarded mother.
Posted by: Chinchillazilla | April 16, 2007 8:29 PM
Well spotted VancouverBrit #27
In the UK, 'paki' is about on a par with using the N-word. If it were just short for Pakistani it might not be that troubling- but 'paki' is used for just about anyone of Asian descent in a derogatory manner.
Posted by: Christian Burnham | April 16, 2007 8:32 PM
What's the betting that the denizens of Uncommon Descent and the DI are looking for some reason to tag this guy as a 'Darwinist' and atheist?
Posted by: Ian H Spedding FCD | April 16, 2007 8:41 PM
I like the commenter who was claiming proof of a conspiracy by the fact that cops would be able to tell whether or not he was a Muslim instantly in spite of his wounds.
Posted by: JU | April 16, 2007 8:45 PM
WHEN U R READING THIS DONT STOP OR SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN MY NAME IS SUMMER I AM 15 YEARS OLD i have BLONDE HAIR , SCARS no NOSE OR EARS I AM DEAD IF U DONT COPY THIS JUS LIKE FROM THE RING COPY N POST THIS ON 5 MORE SITES OR I WILL APPEAR ONE CREEPY NIGHT WEN UR NOT ExPECTING IT BY YOUR BED WITH A NIFE AND KILL U THIS IS NO JOKE SUMMET ING GOOD WILL HAPPEN TO U IF YOU POST THIS ON 5 MORE FLASH BOXES
Posted by: S.Blank | April 16, 2007 8:46 PM
The word "Paki" is also on par with the N-word in Canada.
Posted by: brad the impaler | April 16, 2007 8:55 PM
Just to put her "paki" quote in context.
From her blog
"* The murderer has been identified by law enforcement and media reports as "a young Asian male."
* The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan (per terrorism investigator Bill Warner).
* Pakis are considered "Asian.""
It doesnt look any better, does it ?
As a couple of posts earlier pointed out, to call someone a "Paki" in the UK or Ireland is equivalent to using the N-word to describe a black person.
Anyone doing so in public would be disgraced.
Isn't this woman that silly anti-atheist bigot "I think they should just shut up" from CNN a few weeks back ?
Posted by: MartinC | April 16, 2007 9:02 PM
Ah, but at least it's a foreigner! Can't trust that lot; they should never have let any of us in, apparently. Because it's not like an American would shoot anyone.
The whole thing's just sad, but Schlussel reminds us that nothing too unfortunate for reactionaries to try to make it worse.
She can't wait for evidence because the liberal media will merely hide it all, of course. That's one of the oddest things that I've found whenever I come to America. In the same nation where Fox is huge, Rush Limbaugh's on radio all over the place, and Coulter's despicable vitriol is successful, the media is not to be trusted because it's too liberal, even when it's telling you that liberals are traitors.
Posted by: wrg | April 16, 2007 9:12 PM
A Symptom of our "Chain Letter Society"?
Read an analysis of the influences in our "Chain Letter Society" that may be precipitating events like the tragedy at Virginia Tech and how our focus on winning and being number one may be fostering a generation of children with fully inadequate coping skills who have a misguided sense of self-worth...here:
www.thoughttheater.com
Posted by: Daniel DiRito | April 16, 2007 9:15 PM
In Australia we had a shooting just like this. What did we do, well we band all guns that could fire more then a few shots without reloading. We made it harder to own fire arms and we made strong laws about their storage. We even made laws that a persons firearms can be held if they are thought to be dangerous. That was ten years ago we have not had any shooting like it since. Gun death in Australia have dropped like a stone. I wonder what your fed gov will do?
Posted by: Kenny Gee | April 16, 2007 9:19 PM
From DS's webpage
**** UPDATE #2: The shooter has now been identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa. Lovely. Yet another reason to stop letting in so many foreign students. ****
I hope today's racist remarks from DS haunt her for the rest of her career. Let's not forget this person.
Posted by: Christian Burnham | April 16, 2007 9:19 PM
MartinC #36
Yes she was-
and for all who don't remember DS's appearance discussing atheism on CNN
http://baconeatingatheistjew.blogspot.com/2007/02/debbie-schlussel-you-ignorant-slu.html
I hate to admit that it gives me something of a warm glow to discover that this innocent little religionist who defends her faith on CNN against the nasty old atheists is in fact revealed to be a racist fascist. Who knew?
Posted by: Christian Burnham | April 16, 2007 9:26 PM
I have long thought that Ann Coulter is a very deliberate performer, amoral and fully aware of little inflammatory gesture she makes; it's the job she's chosen and the rubes pay her well for it. Debbie Schussel, however, is Coulter without the evil brain. Schussel is just amoeba-stupid and her manner is completely uncalculated because 1 + 1 is beyond her. When Schussel says something idiotic (which is absolutely all the time), it is the 24-carat genuine item.
Posted by: Zeno | April 16, 2007 9:32 PM
When I first heard of this earlier today, it was on one of the cable news channels, probably CNN, and they were interviewing one of the wounded, a student in a class who was shot in one biceps. He saw a number of classmates shot, some very badly and some like him, and his teacher shot in the head. He and others somehow managed to shut the classroom door on the gunman and hold the door shut despite the gunman shooting through the door. He described the shooter as a male, probably Asian, and maybe in his 20's. He didn't recognize him. Like Warren I read the word "Asian" meaning someone of East Asian descent--Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or possibly Vietnamese. People whose ancestry lies in the Indian subcontinent or in Indonesia would almost certainly elicit a different adjective.
As for Schlussel, she's rather be first than right with her analysis, and she'd much rather the explanation fit her preconceptions, e.g., a Muslim from the Middle East who snuck into the US illegally with a smuggled gun to attack the students at Virginia Tech in the name of Jihad.
I suspect the truth, based partly on that one witness I heard who described his assailant as Asian, is much more likely to be an American by choice who, having experienced some kind of devestating (to him at least) personal disaster, went out and bought one or two 9mm pistols with clips (it's perfectly legal in Virginia) and sought to solve his problems through a hopelessly disconnected view of retribution. In other words the event is no more likely to be of foreign origin than Columbine.
Posted by: Keanus | April 16, 2007 9:33 PM
I would note that the Oklahoma bombing was also on what we here in Massachusetts call Patriot's Day, so that was my first thought.
But no matter what, Wingnuttia will be in full dudgeon. Lucky we.
Posted by: vertalio | April 16, 2007 9:36 PM
That P. Zizzy guy who's obsessed with squids has also written about Debbie Schlussel here:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/02/debbie_schlussel_might_become.php
Posted by: Christian Burnham | April 16, 2007 9:37 PM
Debbie Schlussel is a contemptible troll.
"Yet another reason to stop letting in so many foreign students."
Of course. Let's restrict the number of them, and make sure they'll never go on homicidal rampages. Right-O, Debbie.
Posted by: notthedroids | April 16, 2007 9:50 PM
My heart aches for all those who lost their lives today at Virginia Tech, and for all the families whose loss today has to be excruciating. Insanity. No religion, no nationality holds a monopoly on insanity. I am grieving for those caught up in the madness of the killer's life today. I am not grieving for Debbie S., however. She makes her own cesspool of hatred and deserves to swim in it. If she drowns in it, I will feel no remorse.
Posted by: dieselrain | April 16, 2007 10:02 PM
Stern used to have her on the show.
But I think she's become so boringly predictable, it's not worth it even for the comedic value.
Posted by: notthedroids | April 16, 2007 10:02 PM
Yeah, get rid of all those #$&*& foreigners, like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Sadly, the sheer idiocy of people like Debbie Schlussel no longer shocks me. Fortunately, their baldfaced, ferocious cruelty still does shock me. I say "fortunately", because the day that her level of cruelty fails to shock me any more, I'll know I've lost my own humanity for keeps.
Posted by: Julie Stahlhut | April 16, 2007 10:06 PM
Posted by: RavenT | April 16, 2007 10:24 PM
There are a number of Muslim Chinese, among minority ethnic groups. I don't say this for any reason other than to screw with the stereotypes, Chinese=Buddhist+Confucian, Middle Eastern=Muslim, that sort of nonsense. I don't expect the shooter to turn out to have been Muslim, but wouldn't Schlussel crow if he turned out to be.
But anyway she's enormously patronizing in her stereotyping. Gee, I bet the Islamic jihadists didn't know that it would be easy to kill a number of students, not having learned anything from home-grown terrorists like Whitman, Harris, and Klebold (btw, I wouldn't bring this up except against some raging anti-Muslim bigot, but Klebold had some Jewish ancestry and reportedly disliked both his Jewish and Xian religious training. Which means nothing that I can see (Klebold perhaps was a sort of anti-Semite in a way), any more than the fact that Harris was raised Catholic, except, I hope to Schussel, who wishes to blame Muslims for any and all violence). Anyway, 9-11 was rather more "successful" than even this more recent carnage.
And no, I don't wish to ignore the violent tendencies in Islam. What I don't see is any real peacefulness in any of the Abrahamic religions (not to blame the adherents, many of whom are good and decent folk, with some sects of all of those religions being quite pacific), so that the desire to blame the one of these religions which has suffered the most from invasions and colonization, including the Mongols and recent Europeans, is hardly worthy or at all helpful to the cause of peace.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/35s39o
Posted by: Glen Davidson | April 16, 2007 10:33 PM
Unfortunately, unlike Don Imus, there's nobody we can really write to here to place pressure. She seems to be more or less self-employed as a blogger, and the only organisations that seem to support her are other right-wingers who won't respond to a write-in campaign.
However, the next time she appears on a news program somewhere, I think it would be a great idea to write to the network complaining about their support for such a despicable, open racist.
Posted by: Joshua | April 16, 2007 10:34 PM
In Australia we had a shooting just like this. What did we do, well we band all guns that could fire more then a few shots without reloading. We made it harder to own fire arms and we made strong laws about their storage. We even made laws that a persons firearms can be held if they are thought to be dangerous. That was ten years ago we have not had any shooting like it since. Gun death in Australia have dropped like a stone. I wonder what your fed gov will do?
Anyone who tries anything like that will have earned killing.
Kill the god damn gun-grabbers.
Posted by: McVeigh was a Patriot | April 16, 2007 10:48 PM
You really can't win with the Columbine shootings. People try as hard as they can to avoid the obvious conclusion (i.e., that it was two seriously fucked up and pissed off kids living out a revenge fantasy) and instead blame it on something. Video games, music, evolution, atheism, psychiatric drugs, gothicism, capitalism, etc. It has a curious tendency to coincide with the political agenda of those placing the blame.
I suspect we'll see the exact same thing here, for quite a while.
Posted by: Tyler DiPietro | April 16, 2007 11:01 PM
... right after we get rid of all the Americans for producing home-grown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and whoever sent the anthrax powder.
Posted by: Monado | April 16, 2007 11:02 PM
I thought the snippet you quoted actually represented the one sliver of sanity in a moronic post: in principle a terrorist group (presumably, though not necessarily muslim) could decide from this incident that suicide attacks on college campuses are effective, nearly unstoppable and create disproportionate amounts of publicity.
Posted by: D | April 16, 2007 11:03 PM
McVeigh, hopefully you are practicing satire.
If not, as a law abiding owner of firearms, I humbly request that you check yourself into the nearest mental institution.
Posted by: Christian | April 16, 2007 11:08 PM
I call troll on #54. I'm not seeing any leeway for satire, either. Expecting a disemvowelment any moment...
Posted by: Millimeter Wave | April 16, 2007 11:24 PM
She could have pointed out that this is a demonstration to all different styles of terrorists (McVeigh types, Columbine-like ones, etc). Instead, she chose to specialize to just Muslim ones. Quite a logic.
She is truly reprehensible.
Posted by: Sam | April 16, 2007 11:26 PM
Debbie Schlussel is a truly disgusting human being.
Posted by: David | April 16, 2007 11:32 PM
This creature is truly disgusting for jumping in when not all facts are known.
It certainly demonstrates exactly what the snippet PZ posted said it did, but I think the terrorists know that anyway.
I'm all in favour of 'the right to bear arms' (being a target shooter myself), but surely there have to be some regulations behind it - licence, waiting period, etc. In addition, if you are a non-citizen of any nation, it should be very, very difficult for you to own or bear a firearm in that nation; the exception being for those gun owners already licenced in their home country who are travelling abroad to organized sporting events (e.g. Olympics, Commonwealth Games), who can be issued a licence for the event and for practice beforehand.
Australia has a fairly tough set of laws - you have to be a member of a shooting or hunting club, a security guard, a farmer, or if you are going to shoot pests, you need to demonstrate access to appropriate lands. You have to apply for a permit to buy each individual firearm, showing cause for each, the wait time being 30 days. You can buy the gun outright before this, but you are not allowed to take possession until you have the permit.
These things being the case, and with the exception that I do not believe civilians need access to weapons capable of full automatic fire, I see no reason to restrict the type of firearm that is bought. That takes care of the law abiding citizens. Criminals, of course, do not care, and will do as they please.
Posted by: Justin Moretti | April 16, 2007 11:49 PM
Pakis are considered "Asian."
Y'know, if you really want to be pedantic, Israelis are "considered" asians. Lot's of pasty assed Russians too. And the Turks. Well, the ones east of Istanbul. Not to mention a whole helluva lot more Arabs, Persians, Pashtun tribesmen and Indians than the ones in Pakistan.
Posted by: Sarcastro | April 16, 2007 11:50 PM
The shooter has now been identified as a Chinese national here on a student visa. Lovely. Yet another reason to stop letting in so many foreign students.
Just like the Whitman massacre was another reason to disband the Marine Corps, you heartless, ignorant jackass?
Posted by: Sean Foley | April 17, 2007 12:04 AM
Y'know, if you really want to be pedantic, Israelis are "considered" asians.
From the mouth of Israel's ambassador to Australia:
"Israel and Australia are like sisters in Asia," Tamir said in an interview with Haaretz during a visit to Israel this week. "We are in Asia without the characteristics of Asians. We don't have yellow skin and slanted eyes. Asia is basically the yellow race. Australia and Israel are not - we are basically the white race. We are on the western side of Asia and they are on the southeastern side."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/774471.html
Posted by: Anony-Moshe | April 17, 2007 12:15 AM
"I thought the snippet you quoted actually represented the one sliver of sanity in a moronic post: in principle a terrorist group (presumably, though not necessarily muslim) could decide from this incident that suicide attacks on college campuses are effective, nearly unstoppable and create disproportionate amounts of publicity."
Um, no, it's actually a stupid statement.
Are you honestly saying that it's some sort of revelation that there are places where people gather that are NOT heavily fortified and defended military zones?
Good god, lets sure hope the terrorists never learn of the existence of our super secret SHOPPING MALLS!
Posted by: craig | April 17, 2007 12:34 AM
Doesn't matter what the shooter's ethnicity is. Doesn't even matter why or to what lengths the shooter went to prove a point. The point is well understood across any reasonable point of view. It was a cripple. A broken human. A lost dream and a mother's dread. A father's shame. Just a damn shame. Only worse is that he got away with it. Twice, if late news reports are accurate.
What difference might have been made by a half dozen or so permitted carriers (of guns and ammo, that is) on campus this morning? Considering various possible scenarios, could the death toll have been less if there had been present, without badges or fanfare, those with the ability and skill to respond faster than law enforcement can? You know, regular people in whom is the font of power in a republic such as ours is struggling to be?
I don't have a definitive answer since I know from experience that there is no cure-all, no sweet and persuasive answer that delivers all things to all men.
Strength is a no-brainer; Power is a sum-bitch.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | April 17, 2007 12:44 AM
Craig - I think that response misses the point. You might as well have said sarcastically after 9/11 "gee! flying hollow metal tubes full of fuel can explode? Who woulda thunk it?"
I am suspicious of the implicit claim that every deed that is in principle doable is something someone is thinking of doing right now. Events can and do change perspectives by expanding the scope of the thinkable. People in general aren't all that imaginative - don't underestimate stodginess, is what I'm saying. I, for example, have typically tended to see youth gun shootouts as a high school phenomenon. Today dramatically and very publicly changes that.
High schools however are both comparatively (much) smaller than VT and more secure, which may make attacks harder. For that matter, it is somewhat hard for your average 18-25 year old foreign terrorist to blend in with a crowd of American high schoolers. Colleges campuses are essentially open-access to everyone, really easy to attack and cause the same public hysteria. Meanwhile, it is much easier for a potential attacker to blend in.
I don't find it ludicrous to imagine some al-Qaeda type thinking today something he may not have been thinking yesterday (though he was perfectly capable of doing so) - that colleges are excellent targets.
Posted by: D | April 17, 2007 12:59 AM
D said, "I am suspicious of the implicit claim that every deed that is in principle doable is something someone is thinking of doing right now. Events can and do change perspectives by expanding the scope of the thinkable. People in general aren't all that imaginative..."
If not us, who?
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | April 17, 2007 1:08 AM
From all the reports I've read today there has only been one witness stepping forward and saying "he looked like he might be Asian" from that all this speculation arises. It'll be interesting to see what actually happened once the truth gets out.
Seems a lot of people here don't have a problem with guns... and of course that was the president's response when asked about the shooting:
Personally, I don't see the reason for "recreational" 9 mm handguns. Our "right to bear arms" comes from the need for a minute man militia, an army to defend ourselves as a nation, not for individuals to go around armed for personal reasons. Considering how many people die as a result of the use of guns I'm surprised that people continue to support "the right" to own them. They aren't tools, they don't serve any other purpose to kill. If you don't intend to kill with them, what do you have them for?
Posted by: dorid | April 17, 2007 1:22 AM
Fol-di-rol.
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | April 17, 2007 1:29 AM
O My Dog, My Asian relatives are also Chinese!
I won't be able to sleep tonight.
Because I'm still working on taxes, though.
Race: It's just a paint job.
Posted by: MikeM | April 17, 2007 1:31 AM
"A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind." -- Aral Vorkosigan
Posted by: Caledonian | April 17, 2007 1:34 AM
I hadn't heard of this particular opportunistic mischaracterization of the day's events, but Ms. Schlussel isn't the only one trying to advance an agenda through tragedy. Reknowned video game hater and legal lightweight extraordinaire Jack Thompson of Florida labeled the VT shootings as being fueled by video game violence. And where did he make this statement? Why, Fox News of course...
Posted by: BlueIndependent | April 17, 2007 1:49 AM
The "if only someone had been armed" argument that always occurs after this kind of event has at least a couple of flaws.
First of all the mere possession of a firearm does not mean you will be able to use it when threatened. No one knows how they will react to someone trying to kill them until it happens. Unfortunately some people seem to think a gun is a magic talisman that does make you braver and quicker to act than the unarmed.
Then of course there's the problem of how police officers, and indeed other potential armed persons, are supposed to know that a specific armed person in such a scenario is the bad guy or not. The more armed but unidentified actors involved, the greater the possibility either the wrong person will get shot, or that someone will hesitate before taking a shot at someone who is a bad guy because they're not sure he is or not.
Posted by: tim gueguen | April 17, 2007 1:50 AM
This is just awful.
I just spent 2 1/2 days with Bud Welch here in Lincoln, NE. His daughter was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and he was here in NE trying to help us get rid of the death penalty. We came very close.
I can't imagine what April is like for that guy.
phat
Posted by: phat | April 17, 2007 2:59 AM
How long will it be before the blame is pinned on Atheists? Most Chinese are non-religious in the American sense, and it's not going to take long for pundits to declair that his problem was there was just not enough Jesus in his life(why Jesus didn't step in to stop it will be chalked up to "mysterious ways".) You know we're going to be blamed for this...
Posted by: j.t.delaney | April 17, 2007 3:09 AM
"If only somebody had been armed, they could have stopped all this..."
The problem was that somebody was armed...
Posted by: j.t.delaney | April 17, 2007 3:11 AM
j.t.delaney, unfortunately, you are probably right. Already on the CNN site I saw four or five pictures of people praying and read a couple of mentions of prayer in the stories.
If prayer worked, they should do this beforehand and pray for nothing like this to happen. But I suppose that after Columbine, people did make such prayers.
Posted by: bernarda | April 17, 2007 3:19 AM
If you don't intend to kill with them, what do you have them for?
As an implicit threat that you are _able_ to kill if the need arises, in the hopes that that threat will prevent said need from actually arising.
Posted by: Mike Crichton | April 17, 2007 3:24 AM
Re: "Paki" and "Asian" and other inappropriate names...
Here in England, calling someone a "Paki" these days either gets you filled in, or a short trip to the courts.
Calling someone of Indian descent, even if muslim, will assuredly get you filled in.
But then, recently, in the USA, wasn't a group of Sikhs stopped and held for several hours, because the US authorities were too stupid and ignorant to tell the difference?
For those who don't know, the Sikhs were ruthlessly persecuted by some of the Moghul emporeres, for their faith, and their last guru was hideaously tortured to death - he cursed the Moghul, warning him that in 100 years, the ferenghi would come, and destroy all his kingdom, and take it for themselves, and kill his supporters. He was murdered anyway.
100 years later, the British (enthusiastically helped by Sikh troops) razed the old forts at Delhi, and finished the Moghuls.
The Sikhs, and some of the British have not forgotten this.
Posted by: G. Tingey | April 17, 2007 3:30 AM
The authorities weren't the only ones. Remember the Sikh man who was murdered outside his own gas station in Arizona on 9/15/2001?
Check out Valarie Kaur.
Posted by: Kseniya | April 17, 2007 3:42 AM
I think some commenters here need to avoid the temptation to the logical fallacy of arguing facts with Debbie because they are disgusted with her conclusions from those facts. Otherwise we just vindicate her when the facts turn out as she has guessed and the guy is muslim. Muslim or not, Debbie and her racism stink.
Posted by: Liam | April 17, 2007 5:59 AM
Oh, my god the killer was a primate! See how bad evolution really is. BTW we need to make sure that chimpanzees do not have unlimited access to semiautomatic weapons.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | April 17, 2007 6:59 AM
"I don't find it ludicrous to imagine some al-Qaeda type thinking today something he may not have been thinking yesterday (though he was perfectly capable of doing so) - that colleges are excellent targets.
Posted by: D"
D if you and other Americans underestimate those who would harm you in such a ridiculous way, you stand litle hope of keeping yourself safe.
People capable of thinking up and executing 9/11 have certainly considered malls, schools, sporting events, nuclear facilities, bridges and probably anything else you can think of. But they are not a vast army, they have limited resources and abilities, and in the US limited access.
Where they have more access they create mahem. Just consider 30 dead in Iraq would be a GOOD day.
Posted by: sailor | April 17, 2007 7:12 AM
I went over to Debbie's site to see if she acknowledged a particular student's bravery as the massacre unfolded.
So this guy had the presence of mind to take cover and shoot video of events. I suspect that if I were in that situation, I'd employ the time-honored strategy known in vertebrate endocrinology circles by the technical term "pee and flee".
Like I said, I went over there to see if she acknowledged this guy's bravery in the face of events.
*crickets chirping*
Posted by: RavenT | April 17, 2007 7:57 AM
VTech has up to date news on its site now.
http://collegemedia.com
Posted by: Saboma | April 17, 2007 8:50 AM
Raven, the day Debbie acknowledges Jamal's heroic actions is the day the Tooth Fairy outs herself as a magic drag queen and takes control of the CIA.
Posted by: Stanton | April 17, 2007 9:00 AM
Schlussel doesn't exactly sound "American," either.
From her website (a geneology link), I see that her relatives most likely first came here some time between 1890 and 1920. Her grandparents were foreigners!
And therefore, so is she... deport her! :)
Posted by: Jeebus | April 17, 2007 9:21 AM
I would never usually give her site any more time than necessary, but I just had to comment on there about her use of the word "Paki". In the UK this is considered extremely racist - is this also the case in the US? I know Bush used it in a speech but that's hardly an indicator.
I don't think Americans consider it racist. A