Grandma and JC sound off on Virgina Tech
A brief break from the daily grind for a couple of interesting (to me at least) shoutouts...
My Grandmother is featured on Page 10 of the Chicago Sun Times today, writing about the Virgina Tech tragedy.
JC Jones, a RN and member of the Informatics team at Healthline, shares similar thoughts on the incident in a post on Healthline Connects.
I find myself in agreement with both perspectives, while of course worrying about the civil rights we all know and cherish. Moreso though, I fear that the argument about impairing civil rights of the one will come at the expense of the civil rights of the many (or really, that "playing the CR card" will prevent a meaningful dialog).
While I have no desire to live in a real life Gattaca, one wonders how many more Virgina Tech's we'll need to experience before we collectively come to terms with the fact that we're not all created exactly equal, and that those who are unfortunate enough to have disorders that limit their judgement or self-control must either be treated or have their rights (to certain things, e.g., weapons) restricted sufficiently to protect society, especially if they are given special benefits in defense of the crimes they commit.
I shudder that I'm typing such thoughts; it's not what I was raised to believe... but it has been my experience. Your thoughts?
posted by Tony Gentile @ 4/21/2007 02:22:00 PM 4 comments 
4 Comments:
Thanks, Tony. I very much agree with you and I, too, am concerned about the violation of civil rights. There is such a fine line and who can be judge and jury?
The college campuses are in an uproar fearing a copycat.
I would love to see other comments you get on this subject.
Love,
Grandma
"self-control must either be treated or have their rights (to certain things, e.g., weapons)"
Technically speaking it would better that the 2nd amendment be forfeited in total -voluntary by the public.
when will the "enough is enough !!" syndrome kick in ?
Do we go back then to when we just locked up every mentally ill person or do we realise life can be creul and sometimes you can't explain the why and you can 't undo what's been done. Trying to make it better for the futre is wonderful but people can get a bit too idealistic seemingly trying to create a utopian society. You can not remove the rights of one group to protect the other and call it Civil Rights it seems hypocritical. There is no right answer for everyone. I wish there was a perfect fix not just for the rights of the mental ill but others. I fore see no future for children in this country with Civil Rights being add/remove like computer programs it seems only to be creating the illusion of freedom and taking away from a nation that was built on the princible of creating freedom.
Tony, I agree with you. We have a lot of issues in this country that need the scrutiny and 'shining light'of intense reform but how far should we be willing to go? The tragedy at Virginia Tech was just one incident . How many more before we truly think on these things. Who is to know what is in a persons head when our world is getting so cold and sterile that we don't know who lives next door. Our rights now are becoming fragile at best and serious changes that don't infringe the rights of all of us need to be explored. Thanks for your page.
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