Don’t like Mondays
Let me preface this by saying that I am very sad about the shootings at Virginia Tech today. I cannot imagine how deeply upsetting an experience like that would be for the people more directly involved, as it’s deeply upsetting to me, and I’m not even involved tangentially.
The video above is to the Boomtown Rats’ “I don’t Like Mondays,” which is a terrible song, at least so far as execution. The video is a complete farce, really. But, the song is relevant here, as it was written about Brenda Ann Spencer, who, in 1979, opened fire at an elementary school located across the street from her home in San Diego.
Today’s shootings have been called the “worst” in U.S. history. And, although the death toll exceeds that of the infamous shooting at Columbine High School, and of the Texas Tower Sniper, Charles Whitman, I question how measurable events of this kind may be. I somehow doubt that tragedy is a countable noun. It seems to fill the space afforded it, expanding like a gas.