The Wall Street Journal article Chad linked to earlier today sums up the difficulty in feeling emotion toward an event like the Virginia Tech shooting that seems so abstract, and paradoxically, so commonplace today.
A couple of pieces of journalism out in the past day had the ability to break through the wall. First, the harrowing, tragic summary by David Mariniss in the Washington Post of the killing timeline and its intersection with some of the victims. It's a masterful piece of reporting. Unfortunately, knowing what we know about newspaper reporters, any time you see such perfect writing of real world events, you have to wonder about the author's ability/willingness to separate his artistic urges from the truth. But this isn't some lazy, political hit piece by a metro columnist. It is a riveting, horrifying, ultimately elevating summary of what happened and any flights from gospel can be ignored. It should be appreciated as it is and its hard remain emotionless while reading it.
The New York Times provides an equally emotional and excellent tribute with its pictoral gallery and bios of the victims.
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