Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

*Post hoc ergo propter hoc is Latin for "after this, therefore because of this", is a logical fallacy which assumes or asserts that if one event happens after another, then the first must be the cause of the second.

there are no words that can be said about the recent tragedy at Blacksburg...so i'll leave it at that.

i know this story has been unfolding for a few days now, and i hadn't planned on an entry for this issue. but after watching continuous coverage and numerous pundits speaking practically verbatim, i've gotten annoyed at the politicizing and the war-drum beating.

and because we don't have answers to why something like this happened, we will undoubtedly do what we always do...find something or someone to blame and try to add reason to the unexplainable. whether it be the continual failing gun control argument...or the violence in video games and media discussion...or the lack of magical premonition by police debate. whatever it is, we're all going to be drawn into this blame-game frenzy perpetuated by the media's need to feed our hunger for reason.

my beef with all this is this...why must it take such a tragedy to prompt the discussions of stricter gun control? why do we profile all gamers as mass-murderers because one kid snapped? and most importantly, how is it conscionable for us to just exploit the lives of these victims to push a political agenda?
perhaps its my idealism...or i'm just naive...but none of this happened because of any of the aforementioned reasons. we find it easier to place blame than to accept what we do not understand. if finding a cause for this individual's blatant mental health issues is the only way we can cope with this, then at least find some reasonable excuse...and not just pass blame. there are many perfectly sane, perfectly safe individuals who play video games or enjoy a violent action flick or own a handgun. lets not unfairly profile them into a category of mentality unstable murderers. and lets return to the real topic at hand...the tragic loss of life, the heroism of those who reacted quickly to save others, and the hope that we can recover and never see these types of headlines again.