As disgusting as all these mass killings are, I've actually become numb to anything like this that happens...I heard about it, and rolled my eyes. So when it all comes down to it, I'm not too surprised.

Sadly, neither suprised or shocked. Stunned maybe. This is America, this is how it is here. Over 400 people were murdered in Philadelphia last year - 2006. This year is on pace to top that. Lottsa guns and lottsa crazy, violent folks. very, sad. Those kids were sitting ducks. That dude was "shooting fish in a barrel". That is some serious hate. He must have blown his head off cause they can't identify him A 9 mac on auto will do that.

Well, I'm completely shocked. And resolutely so... you have to resist that numbness or it consumes you like a cancer. Choose to be horrified, if you have to. I have two kids, one will be 3 in a couple days, the other just turned six months. Last night, I was tickling our three year old and romping around with him for a good hour or so and he loved it. He's mercifully oblivious to this kind of news, but won't be for the rest of his life. I wish I could shelter him but I can't. Because closing one's self off to what happens in the world is the one thing that has even graver consequences than being exposed to it. Meanwhile, I can't help but think... Every single one of those college kids, soaking in their own blood and the blood of those next to them, scattered around the room and deformed by the violence, carried a whole life's worth of experience, a sense of being equal to my own, knowledge they'd worked for, ideals they aimed for, regrets and secrets they held close to the chest, imperfections and perfections alike. At one time, every single one of them, was that 3 year old getting tickled, laughing, loved by a parent who never even dreamed they'd have to hope thier child wasn't one of the names on that list of the dead. I can understand why a world full of this kind of news can make you numb. I can understand why it's hard in this world of opportunitists, careerists, and the self-centered to see reason you should even choose to feel otherwise. But numbness is not the protection against horror we think it is. It's ultimately the problem itself, invited to seep in. Be horrified. Be sickened. In any way that you can.

was in eighth grade when 13 students and one teacher were killed at Columbine High School. I remember the confusion, the shock and the disbelief that accompanied it. I remember how much things changed after that-- how scared my school was that it could happen to us, and how every possible precaution was taken to prevent it. Eight years later, and it's happened again, on a bigger scale on a college campus. We know that dozens are dead, but we don't know who the shooter is, or why he did it. I posted a story about it here: http://www.orato.com/node/2183

Actually, after I heard about it, I became more shocked that it hasn't happened more often. There are alot of creeps out there and alot of easy targets for them... If it's not guns, it's bombs, planes, chainsaws... etc. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to belittle what happened)

Of course appalled and saddened, but saddly not surprised as similar incidents have happened before.

I've got to agree with Cousin Vinny on this one. I'm very deeply saddened by it, but I can't say that I'm especially shocked or surprised. The culture in modern day America is seriously F***ed up. And I view atrocities like this as a symptom of that social dysfunction. I can't help but ask myself, "What must have been going through this seriously troubled person's mind?" And the part that disturbs and frightens me the most in all this, is that there is a very good chance that what was going throug his ming was nothing to do with the atrocity of what he was about to do, nothing to do with the horrible violence and cruelty of it. In short; Nothing. I'm very shocked by that possiblity, that cruelty and that moral numbness towards violence. But I'm not shocked that it happened. Not in the slightest.

to be honest, i'm not really shocked. i'm saddened and i think its terrible. the part that shocks me is that the police just thought the shooter had left after the 7:15 shootings and did not pursue him or lock down campus or even notify students. i am shocked that we live in a society in which this kind of thing is so common but not so shocked that it actually happens. some sociologist said yesterday that there was a shift in this country in the 70s that made this kind of thing more common and i tend to agree.

I'm not shocked at all. It happens all the time. They will probably try to blame the music and television and other media when they won't even try to examine the kid. He was probably a severely depressed person. Either that or he was just having a bad week. This event will also lead to the rise of bullshit security. After the Columbine incident, a fucking 5-year-old was expelled for having a pair of nail clippers. People die every day. And yes, most are innocents. And wait, does anyone see the irony in the Holocaust survivor being killed? Or the Asian kid at a tech college? Too soon? Probably. You people are too sensitive. What do you think we're doing over-seas? Get over yourselves. People will just keep getting more sensitive to the slightest little thing being politically incorrect. Get over it. Please. There, I'm being polite. Also, can someone answer this? Why is it that we look upon the Nazis as being terribly evil because they genocided and persecuted people, yet we look upon the Romans (for example) as heroes? The Romans did the same things, if not worse, to the Christians. Someone please give me an answer to this. It has been bothering me since I was about 8 years old.. One last thing to leave you with before we start blaming people. Where the fuck were the parents at? One more thing. What is in green jello that makes it green?

no, i mean it was going to happen eventully right.

not shocked enough and that bothers me