Making Sense of the Violence

Sorry guys, back into the dark places for a moment. But before I get into this, let me just say right up front that while I am personally a pacifist, I am still deeply conflicted on the topic of gun control. Having said that...

As most of you must know by now, while many of us were celebrating Valentine's Day, a 27 year old man named Stephen Kazmierczak opened fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University, killing five students before turning the gun on himself.
This kind of violence is, by nature and definition, senseless.
Without sense.
But trying to make sense of things is a deeply ingrained human drive. We can no more keep from trying to make sense of things than we can keep two circles from looking like eyes. O.O
The things that cause us the most distress as human beings are those that force us to ask the question "Why?" despite the simple truth that there is no good answer to that question.

So, I've done just a little internet research and found two news articles about that horrific crime. The first comes from USA Today, and (despite my completely understandable hesitation to praise the news media) it seems to be a good piece of journalism. It is entitled, "Police: Ill. gunman quit taking meds, became 'erratic'" and it lays out the facts and leaves us to make our own sense of them.
The second comes from the New York Post. It is entitled "COLLEGE KILLER CRAZY FOR VIOLENT VID GAME" and it seems to be less facts than sensationalized quotes.

These two articles are similar in that they try to make sense of a senseless event in their headlines. USA Today quotes the police, who state that the gunman quit taking his meds and became erratic. The New York Post summerizes the gunman's dorm mate, Ben Woloszyn, who actually said, "He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud." USA Today seems to be saying that the key thing for us to think about when we consider this terrible event is that the gunman chose to go off his medications, which apparently had been keeping him sane and level. The New York Post seems to be saying (in all capital letters) that the key thing for us to think about as we consider this terrible event is that the gunman liked to play violent video games.

My most devoted readers already know how I feel about censorship as well as my take on video games. So instead of rehashing all of that I will now obey the deep-seated need to make sense of something senseless.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose to play violent video games.

Nobody and nothing forced him to do it.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose to legally purchase several guns over the past year.

Nobody and nothing forced him to do it.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose to stop taking his medications.

Nobody and nothing forced him to do it.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose to take his guns to school.

Nobody and nothing forced him to do it.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose to shoot as many people as he could.

Nobody and nothing forced him to do it.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose to kill himself.

Nobody and nothing forced him to do it.

All of these choices affected the other choices to one degree or another. I personally am inclined to believe that the choice to go off his meds had a greater impact on Stephen Kazmierczak's final choices than the choice to play video games did.

Nevertheless, I believe that the key thing to think about as we consider this senseless and horrible event is this: Stephen Kazmierczak is the one responsible. His video games aren't responsible. His guns aren't responsible. His video games and his guns do not have the ability to choose.

Stephen Kazmierczak chose.

Choose wisely,
Rev. Josh
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