South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has now apologized three times for Cho Seung-hui slaughtering 33 innocents at Virginia Tech. Cho was a native South Korean who at age eight moved with his family to the United States. Even though Cho had lived in the US since 1992, Koreans were shocked and deeply remorseful over Cho’s extremely evil actions. One Korean wrote that "We must share our feeling of apology for the tragedy caused by a South Korean . . . and convey this feeling to the rest of the world, including the U.S."
As Adrian Hong correctly concluded in the Washington Post, Koreans Aren't to Blame. Yet, there is something quite refreshing about people showing a sense of social responsibility, instead of ducking it and angrily passing the blame.
Imagine if President Bush was to suddenly express a “feeling of apology for the tragedy caused. “ Here’s the letter I would like to see.
Dear World:
It ain’t South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun that needs to be apologizing. I’m the one who needs to be saying I’m sorry.
Mind you now that I’m not saying that Cho Seung-Hui wasn’t responsible for his actions. He was. What Cho did wasn’t because he was a Korean or that he had autism or because he was picked on. Cho did what he did because he chose to do it. Just look at how long he planned and what effort it took to commit the horror he systematically and methodically unleashed.
Where I’m at fault is that I didn’t do my job when it came to homeland security and fighting terrorism. What if it had been one of Osama’s thugs that had been doing the shooting with some real firepower? Mercy, Cho was only packing a .9 millimeter and a .22 and he was still able to have scored 33 kills. He could have just easily had bought himself high-powered assault rifles. He could even have bought a .50 caliber sniper rifle and blown heads off from a mile away. There’s nothing stopping any American al-Qaeda operative from legally buying all the firepower needed to top Cho’s score.
But instead of focusing on improving homeland security and bringing Osama to justice, I decided to get a little payback on Saddam. I really feel ashamed to say it now, especially after hearing Cho’s mad ranting, but I thought God was talking to me. Got me to thinking about why it is that one person goes on a killing spree using the name of Jesus we call him a nut but when a whole country bombs hell out of another country it’s patriotism and scripture coming true.
If instead of pursuing my grandiose fantasies I had done my job, every American citizen, community, school and workplace would know what to do if an act of terror was committed. But instead of telling people that they needed to help take responsibility after 9/11, I told them to return to life as normal and go shopping at the malls. Don’t worry about fighting terrorism. Leave it to the government, I said. The government might not be worthy of being trustworthy when it comes to doing anything good like saving drowning and starving people in New Orleans but big government can be fully trusted to protect its citizens from violence.
What double messages I have been sending. Telling the poor to take responsibility while never taking responsibility for anything myself. Well, it’s time I finally started standing on my own two feet.
For starters, let me take responsibility for another act of terrorism on American soil. If my Department of Homeland Security had done its job then officials at Virginia Tech would have had a plan in effect to deal with such a scenario. Every school in America would have similar plans. Every American would know what to do if terrorists struck.
Allow me also to express my deep regret that American society has become a dog-eat-dog society. Too many people believe kindness and consideration to be weaknesses. Too many people believe fame, money and success are all that counts. If you’re not the winner then you’re a loser. As president, I am responsible for the mood of the country. As a Christian, I am ashamed at the anger and hate that I have help fanned these past years. As a man, I am embarrassed by all the anger on the airwaves expressed by males, the grand majority of them whites. I also can’t help noting that males are the ones doing the shooting.
So thank you, President Roh Moo-hyun, for causing me to realize a sense of responsibility for my actions. I will now try to do what I should have done years ago: secure the homeland. I will try to unite, instead of divide, and inspire, instead of conspire. I will try to secure the peace instead of making my legend as a war president.
Yours truly,
the George W. Bush we’ve never known.
B. 1952, GA, USA. D. To Be Determined. Beloved husband, father, grandfather, lover, confidant and friend of many from bikers to Zen masters; American writer and speaker, known for his criticism of Mammon's unholy trinity of big business, big government and big religion; served the least of them professionally as psychologist and voluntarily as activist for decades; loved to shoot basketball, billiards and the bull; lived free, died game. (memorial sketch by davidhewsonart.com)
They've been telling us for 6 years now that it's only thanks to the hard work of the Bush administration that there have not been any more terrorist attacks since 9/11/01 (well, except for that anthrax thing.) And I've been saying since about 1/1/02 that if there were really hundreds or thousands of "Islamic terrorists" among us, they could have easily killed many times since then. And they haven't.
You don't have to get on an airplane in order to commit an act of terror. A subway, a bus, a church, a schoolyard, a security line outside an airport, a shopping mall, a busy city street--all are still available, unprotected, and could result in the death of tens to hundreds of people. So why hasn't this happened?
As Cho proved for us, any moron can kill 30 people or more, using means legally available. Heck, even if the "terrorists" drew attention to themselves as mentally unstable, we wouldn't do anything to limit their access to firearms.
The only conclusion I can draw is that in fact there are no "Islamic terrorists" lurking among us. Or if there are, they are extrememly patient bastards.
by
Evelyn Uyemura (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments)
on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 9:02:44 PM
Al-Qaeda terrorists could have been responsible for mailing out anthrax. They weren't. It was most likely a homegrown right winger. Al-Qaeda could have been responsible for the killings around DC. They weren't. It was a couple of homegrown money-grubbing nuts. The same is true for Virgina Tech. Anytime any "sleepers" have wanted they could have marched into the local gun shop, bought a serious arsensal and proceeded to murder on a scale far larger than Cho's show. They haven't. Nor do I believe it is because they have extended the courtesey of only fighting us in Iraq. Likewise, I do not believe that it is anything that the Bush administration has done because as Cho has shown, any mad man can readily buy weapons of mass destruction and massively destroy.
by
Richard Mathis (130 articles, 108 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 120 comments)
on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 6:31:34 AM
To believe that there is even the remotest link between homeland security and what happened at V.Tech., is at the very least delusional! Homeland security is another one of Bush's plans to strip away our civil liberties, his private police force meant to scare us into compliance. To say the system failed Cho is more accurate, the school administration failed to act on the evidence presented, and as a consequence 33 people died! Fewer people would have died that day if people had banded together to fight back against one armed man! But instead they all ran and hid. We are quickly becoming a nation of sheep, who rely on the government to protect and save us! And as any woman who has ever been stalked can tell you, the law wont protect you, it is not their job! Just ask them!! If we all fight back, if people knew there would be an immediate response and consequences, these types of incidents would quickly come to a stop. So to conclude, stop looking to a corrupt and complacent government to protect you and stand together to stop these horrors ourselves!!
by
epaul48 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments)
on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 10:24:34 AM
While Bush may very well have intended to use homeland security as a means of stripping our personal freedoms, our security is very much the responsibility of the government. Of course, in that we the people are supposed to be the government that means our security is ultimately our individual and collective responsibility, as is the government. As commander-in-chief, a vital role that Bush has miserably failed is to secure the defense of America. As alleged leader of the American people his job was to optimize our reaction to incidents of terrorism. In that capacity Bush has failed miserably, granted, in large part, because of his shameless opportunism to advance a neo-conservative political agenda.
by
Richard Mathis (130 articles, 108 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 120 comments)
on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 12:15:26 PM
You can go to homeland security site by searching for HQ , thats the one that tells you about the Jihad in America. It brings all the extremists out in the open and if you go to prophetofdoom.net you will find a koranic view of VT shooting. THIS is serious. It needs to be stopped, and our government needs to realize there is only one way to stop it. It isnt a war in Iraq. Its about the security of our homeland and ridding it of antiamerican people, anti democracy people, anti republic people, etc. If they cant assimilate, remove them. It really is that simple. Bring our soldiers home from around the world, and make the fbi and cia LARGER to sneak into other countries, instead of full blown wars, this would be much cheaper.
by
Katarina Olszkea (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 35 comments)
on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 11:13:36 AM
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