Va Tech Killer's sister an Iraq Recon Employee... [VIDEO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 11:02 AM on April 19, 2007.

It's an admittedly tenuous tie, but below are clips from Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," the first of which suggests a link between a weapons-addicted nation and the violent acts of that nation's children.

I was already uploading the clips for their relevance to the situation when I stumbled over this article from the Australian Daily Telegraph noting that Cho Seung-hui's sister, Sun-kyung "is employed by the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office... set up by President George W Bush to coordinate the reconstruction program in Iraq."

Let me make clear what I'm NOT saying:

*His sister is responsible
*His sister's job is responsible
*The US Government is responsible

The point, rather, is that unlike the nearest causes pundits often look to, could it not be that the actual violence (as opposed to TV or video games) that pervades this country -- perpetrated by this country -- actually contributes to the violent tendencies that seem to strike more people here than in other places?

Weaponry and the words of war are all around us. Thinly-veiled calls for violence, rage, revenge, and blood in the name of "liberty" "democracy" and "justice" can be heard on the news, in political discussion, just about everywhere.

In that context is it really that hard to comprehend a disturbed and dejected man, easily able to get a gun, running around and shooting fellow students?

Just a thought...

Tagged as: violence, militarism, guns, virginia tech

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.