Lee Culpepper
Monday I watched in disgust the wickedness that throttled the Virginia Tech campus that I once roamed. I was carefree and brash in those days, but since then I have developed a humble appreciation for the education Tech provided me. My heart mourns for Hokies everywhere, but more so for the students and faculty gunned down by evil. I cannot imagine the grief those thirty-two devastated families are feeling. I also mourn for the family of the murderer; they are most likely victims, as well. On the other hand, I recognize that my sympathy for his parents could change as facts are revealed. Regardless, Virginia Tech, like the University of Texas and Columbine High School, will ultimately endure the evil that surfaced, but those thirty-two Hokies’ lives were stolen forever.
I wondered immediately how much the “don’t-judge-me, you-don’t-know-me climate” factors into Tech’s horror. What’s the point in having a brain when America’s “climate of tolerance” pressures us not to use it? Our ability to reason is a responsibility, not a luxury, but the don’t-judge-me establishment shackles common sense and maims critical thinking. The mindless chant of tolerance promotes an idea that feelings are equal to rational thought. Furthermore, to disapprove of someone else’s queer behaviors – which today are passing deceptively as “misunderstood cultures” – reflects negatively on us if we show the courage to express our honest thinking. Consequently, we “feel” we better stay quiet, particularly if judging harshly any culture except traditional American culture. Nevertheless, we make ourselves vulnerable to danger and evil when we suppress reason because we feel obligated to tolerate inappropriate behavior – which again is often just cleverly excused as one’s culture or unique eccentricity.
Having taught analytical writing, I used the “don’t-judge-me issue” to strike a nerve with my students. The drumbeat of tolerance that resonates in public schools has conditioned many young minds not to think and certainly not to judge. However, my point during these discussions focused on the need to use facts to formulate meaningful arguments and logical judgments. I tried to emphasize how simply feeling a certain way exposes us to danger, whether that danger is common ignorance or physical harm. Many students don’t appreciate the difference between reasoned arguments and flaky opinions. I asserted that we have to analyze available facts and to act on them, not to trust or to act on impulsive emotions or mushy feelings. We have to differentiate between our brains and our hearts when we are thinking.
Continue reading “Judgment, Tolerance, and Virginia Tech”
There was a day in the United States when the citizens of this great nation celebrated intelligence in those whom they raised to the level of “celebrity”. It was a day when cogent thoughts were related in high style, where literacy and learning were prized, a day when to be “smart” meant to actually have some sort of culture and ability to write. To achieve fame one had to exhibit some level of education even if it was one realized by one’s own efforts alone, an amalgamation of knowledge not the result of a program from an institute of higher learning. The general public in America once looked up to people who embodied the highest education, even that had from the veritable slate in a log cabin.
If one were to contemplate all the horrible results of the actions of this murderous psychopath in Virginia, if one were to wonder how hard and emotional have become the lives of the survivors of those whom this sick individual killed, it would seem axiomatic that the Mainstream Media would be the last group such a reflection would see as a recipient of the “tough decisions” resulting from the murders . We would naturally feel pain at the loss of the families of the VT victims. Our hearts would go out to the turmoil that surviving students would face upon trying to resume their education schedules after this monumental outrage. We would even feel bad for residents of the surrounding Virginia communities as they attempt to cope with the crime. Yes, there are a lot of people to empathize with and to feel sorry for.