Today, we are all Hokies

I've seen a lot of this stuff today.

For some reason, it really pisses me off.

Big surprise, I know: Mr. Angry Used-to-be-young-but-now-middle-aged Man. And ironic, for someone who finds Buddhism so compelling. But I digress...

Maybe I'm pissed because I see it as a way for them to capitalize on the tragedy to sear the Virginia Tech logo into the national consciousness.

Maybe I'm pissed because once people read it, a few of them will be curious enough to go "WTF is a Hokie?" and thereby deeply embed the meme.

Psst, here's a clue: it's an angry turkey. Profound, huh? Yeah, I thought so too.

Maybe I'm pissed because as bad and terrible as the Virginia Tech massacre is, there's some really serious shit going on in the world, much more serious than a mentally ill kid with easy access to weapons taking out 0.128% of the student body (32 / 25,000 as a percentage).

3,300 American servicemen and tens - possibly hundreds - of thousands of Iraqis dead, a war started on lies, the suspension of habeas corpus, warrantless wiretaps, nothing still being done to help the tens of thousands of Americans whose lives were devastated by Katrina and the flooding in New Orleans, etc., and no reaction from the masses, but a good, juicy tragedy that the media can feed on, regurgitate, and feed some more, now that gets people talking.

Throw in Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck and maybe some Anderson Cooper to cleanse the palate and we've got a party.

Maybe I'm pissed because we have to go through this circus of having Gonzo testify in front of a bunch of senators who approved the idiot in the first place. What, did they not realize what an apparatchnik he was then?

Maybe I'm pissed because it's too late to do anything significant to affect the events we've set in motion with respect to global warming and other anthropogenic world-wide ecological calamities, but that's okay, fucking Wal-Mart is only going to sell CFLs now, so that makes it all better, right?

There; I feel better already. I think I'll do what Worst. President. Ever. recommended after 9/11 and go out shopping.

Life goes on, the roads must roll...

PS - this post is caustic, even for me, and I mean no disrespect for Virginia Tech and its alumni, and I certainly mean no disrespect for the victims and their families and friends. The graphic just triggered some profound frustration at people in general missing the forest for the trees.