We Will Prevail

I let the day pass without fanfare or almost anything else. A bit over 3 years ago, Virginia Tech hosted the deadliest school shooting ever.

Since the 16th, I’ve been thinking about the past a lot. So much of what I feel and remember defies description. I’m horrified by the toll extracted from the VT community. I’m depressed that there are 33 fewer Hokies on the planet. I’m humbled that 32 of them died bravely, if senselessly. I’m touched that Hokies the world over--and our peers--have bonded so strongly in support. I’m honored to be a part of the tradition.

Despite the uncounted hours I spent roaming the memorials, I only have 37 pictures to share. Thirty-seven glimpses into a community’s mourning. Thirty-seven chances to try and capture the tremendous love and support I felt. Thirty-seven memories.

I share them today because it’s time. For three years, I’ve held on to many of these to sit on one hard drive or another, collecting digital dust. This is my scrapbook. These are my memories.

Hokies Mourn

Conflation 101 with Mr. Eugene Robinson

I like the Washington Post’s Op-Ed section. Straight facts and figures can be a bit dry, but understanding the problems others have with an issue helps illuminate the important bits. I know it’s probably not the best way to learn, but it’s fun. The little bit of fairness I allow into my day is reading the opinions of those with whom I disagree. Eugene Robinson tends to be pretty far away from me, but it’s hard to resist the title “The Hutaree militia and the rising risk of far-right violence.”

There’s a lot I don’t like about this article and it starts in the first paragraph with the seemingly-unironic use of “the Age of Obama.”

The gist of Robinson’s argument is that the (political) right is to be feared because it somehow inspires extremism. He states “the most serious threat of domestic terrorism has come from the far right.” I don’t deny that the most extreme groups seem to be extremely conservative. My dispute is largely with the way he couches his argument; it’s based on the premise that there’s a political similarity between the various crazy groups and rank-and-file Republicans. As a nominal Republican, I’m offended.

If what Robinson says about this Hutaree group is true--and I believe it is--then I hope they’re all caught and face justice at Judge Parker’s convenience. It’s just not fair to lump together anarchists, luddites, and hate-mongers with people concerned about excessive governmental controls.

Robinson states “it is disingenuous for mainstream purveyors of incendiary far-right rhetoric to dismiss [such groups]...by saying that there are "crazies on both sides." Is that less disingenuous than suggesting those psychos have anything to do with my mindset?

He’s careful to avoid making the really broad generalizations, but he also makes no effort to define where one group stops and the next begins. From the words he’s committed to paper, I can only conclude that he believes all conservatives are psychotic shut-ins waiting for the moment to pounce...or something.

I do agree that it’s “dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist.” I assert that crazies are crazy. That their bizarre pseudo-reality bears a disfigured resemblance to conservative goals after a trip through a meat grinder is immaterial.

Finally, he laments the dishonest right-wing commentators who use rhetoric “not to inform but to incite.” Mr. Robinson: what exactly does your article do?

In the Name of The Father, The Son, and WTF?

The biggest problem with free speech is that atrocious people get to talk, too. Most psychos can simply be ignored and marginalized to the point of mildly annoying. Young Earth Creationists, the 9/11 “Truthers,” the anti-vaccine folks, and people who talk during movies can all fall into this category. There are a few, though, who are insidious enough that they scare me. Today’s example is the Westboro Baptist Church.

In the interest of full disclosure, Virginia Tech is my alma mater and my junior year...didn’t end well. I actually have a lot of good memories surrounding the shootings--mostly doing with the community outreach and the overwhelming unity on campus--but there’s still the inevitable core of sadness and tragedy. WBC had a different take:

“God sent the shooter because of your proud sin! You raise your kids to believe they can disobey God with impunity, and that His commandments are all on the table to be disposed of whenever you please. That's why they think fornication, adultery, and sodomy are all just in good fun (instead of the filthy practices they are), and that's why the wrath of God is on them. God is cursing you by killing those same children that you have lied to all their lives. VA Tech was just GodSmacked -- another of your students murdered -- and you still refuse to heed and obey the standards of God. Woe unto you! "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness...!" Isa. 5:20. You're going to Hell, and you're taking your kids with you."

I’m not sure where to start with this one. Google helped me determine that the Isaiah verse isn’t quite correct, but the essence is preserved. That’s a petty gripe, I suppose.

My enthusiasm for any religion, along with my belief in God, is limited, but the idea of a hate-mongering group calling themselves a church pisses me off! Whatever my personal status, all religion is intended to help bring people together under a common banner. It creates a very strong “Us” group. As far as that goes, WBC does a good job, but the side-effect of creating a proportionally-hated “Them” group is evil and defines a cult, as far as I’m concerned.

There is so much Wrong (capital on purpose) with WBC’s statement that a rational rebuttal simply won’t work. The odd part is that the campus is organizing a counter-protest. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it can’t work. These people won’t be bothered with the facts. That the people listen to such bullshit already underscores their mental inflexibility and the complete absence of a desire to learn.

No, these people need to be selected out of the gene pool and prevented from procreating. Barring that, I’ll settle for ignoring them. To organize a counter-protest lends implicit credence to their assertion. If WBC has specific concerns about the practices on campus, they should express their concerns to whatever Powers That Be will give them the time. If that’s not satisfactory, they should kindly shut up and home-school their kids (God help us). A neurologist can’t debate a psychic any more than a geologist can a Young Earth Creationist, because they operate on fundamentally different levels.

As if WBC needs further discussion, there is one final detail that illustrates all they stand for and the intellectual integrity they wield. Their main webpage’s URL is godhatesfags.com. A sentiment so vile that I’m pretty sure my ISP has simply blocked my access. Based on my entirely cursory examination, the Westboro Baptist Church is terrible on every level I can think of and should not exist.

If I were King for a day...

**edit 3/28/10 - It's been mentioned that my link to WBC's website doesn't work. That's intentional. I'm not anxious to drive traffic to their site.

Allons-y!

This has been a busy few months for me and fanboyism! I don't usually consider myself susceptible to the unfortunate "Fanboy" disease--the condition most noted by a borderline-obsessive attention to detail, desire to consume, and nigh-insuppressible need to discuss something. Most often, one is a fanboy (or girl, I suppose, but they're probably better at hiding it) of something not mainstream. Otherwise, we'd call these people "fans."

Mass Effect 2 and Avatar are probably the most obvious examples of my disorder. There was a brief stint for Modern Warfare 2, but that passed quickly. The latest addition to this list is Doctor Who. Who? Yes. No, who? Don't worry; it's still on. No, WHO? OH! It's a British TV show that makes me wish more of their writers would emigrate.

The show Doctor Who is about a Time Lord named The Doctor (just The Doctor) who saves planets and stuff. And time. Okay, it's a tough pitch, but it's been on TV since Charlemagne or something. I don't know how this stuff comes to my attention, but I love the show. It's silly and confusing and warm and sweet and violent and brave and fun.

Series 3 and 4 are especially strong with "Blink" as perhaps the best episode. I just finished watching the tenth Doctor's finale and I had a bleary few moments. No American production of this would carry. There's so much love for the show in the UK that the scripts feel like a series of inside jokes and references that I'd completely get if I were a real friend. I don't mind that though, because it's fine just to be part of the picture.

I really like the show.

Just so the post makes sense though, I was cruising through the Interwebs earlier and saw a 4-port USB 2.0 hub shaped like the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space...The Doctor's time-traveling police box) and a Sonic Screwdriver (that's a driver that screws sonically...that sounds a bit raunchy). Anyway, they were both sold out. Because of fanboys. Don't worry, I'll get an email when they're in stock again.

Yep, It's Been A Year

Happy Valentine's Day. May you and yours be happy and gorged on chocolate. Unless you or yours are diabetic, then chocolate might be ill-advised.

I can't figure out how to add a heart, so imagine there's one here: ____

Mass Effect 2

Okay. I've been here. I've been lured in by video game ad campaigns before. Dead Space had a great series of commercials and is, I'm told, a great game. Unfortunately, playing that for more than 10 minutes creates a prohibitively expensive underwear-replacement cost. I should've known better. Street Fighter IV did wonderful things with the ink-in-water effect that's seemingly chic now, and I loved it. The ads, that is. I suck at fighting games and SFIV is among the least forgiving; I should've known better. Modern Warfare 2 is a followup to a game I love. The sequel--as is the case with so many sequels--just didn't live up to the original. In this case they should've known better, but that messes up the parallel structure I was going for.

I'm writing this three days before the release of Mass Effect 2. I pre-ordered my copy back in November after thinking about all the bad experiences I've had and then succumbing to the ad campaign. I've recently replayed ME1, and it's simply fantastic. Bioware, the game's developer, has an impressive library and I'm increasingly confident they won't let me down.

I am SO excited for this game! Well, "game" is a less appropriate term and will continue contributing to PR problems in the future, but that's a discussion for another time. I don't want to get too gushy with my excitement, but rest assured: it's there.

What finally tipped me from expectation into excitement was the launch trailer. There are countless streaming sources with the video, but I hate that low-resolution digital artifacting crap. Here's the original: Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer.

Watch that video and tell me you don't feel something. Even without knowing any of the backstory or what to expect, the graphics, voice acting, direction, and music (oh, the music!) already create an immersive experience that, though still rare, is increasingly common.

I'm looking forward to this game the same way I did the last few Harry Potter books. I have my main character from ME1 and I want to know what happens to him. There's more to the story and my decisions, as the player, will either save or destroy the galaxy.

Did I mention that I'm excited?

At Last! Anecdotal Proof That Video Games Warp Minds.

I feel like there's an interesting divide in the Avatar reviews. Most of what I've heard has been positive, but there's a range within that positive that I'm trying to understand. The, for woeful lack of a better term, "gaming generation" seems to err toward the higher end of that aforementioned range while "parents" lean more toward the lower end. Everyone agrees the graphics are pretty. There's some discussion about the merits of the third dee and what it really adds that a mere two dees can't handle. The biggest factor seems to be how reviewers weight the story.

Adam Sessler of G4TV has a podcast ("Sessler's Soapbox" released 1/13/10) that I like in which he defines immersion as "the impossible made viable" in a world in which one can feel lost, but still understand the logic, the physics, and the fun. Gamers--despite the plural I mean me--constantly seek that world, that experience that's alien, but familiar.

I wonder if this helps explain how the eye-candy movies do so well despite relatively scant story. Have I predisposed myself to accepting sub-par storytelling after years of programming my brain to just stop thinking and accept the coding as fact? I don't think so, but I have a vested interest in that outcome.

I don't know the answer, and it probably doesn't matter, but Sessler's comment got me thinking. My friends (all gamers) seemed about as enthusiastic as I was while the two...umm...traditional? adults I know that've seen Avatar are less enthused. Perhaps the significant difference is gaming.