Hardly knew thee? I never knew thee!

3287.6 people die every day in road accidents across the world. 174 people die of flu-related illness daily in the States alone. Between 1988 and 2000, 47 Oklahomans were hospitalised as a result of lawnmower-related burns; 5 ultimately perished. Now ask me why I'm not praying for the souls of the Virginia Tech. victims...no, true, because I don't believe in god - but also because they are no dearer to me than any of the figures cited above. That they happened to bite the dust at the same time in the same place does not make their death any more of a tragedy, or any less of a statistic. There hasn't been a gun massacre of these proportions in the US since 1999. The shooter was mentally unstable; but perfectly sane people veer into oncoming traffic every day of the week. Why is it that the more unusual and outstanding killings attract the most concern? I'm concerned about the quotidienne killers! the blights that are here to stay; not these trickster-reapers that pop up unexpectedly at irregular intervals and playfully drag a few unfortunates down the Styx. If campus-blanket-gun-massacre victims continue to meet their maker at a rate of 32 every 8 years, I think I can live with that, don't you?

Update: Good measured material, once again, from our friends at Spiked.

Has Hamilton the drive to be a sporting hero?

It's the question all the papers are asking.

Nappy Headed?

Predictably the liberal e-zine Spiked, of which Dogtooth is much enamoured, has taken a strong editorial line in the Don Imus affair, and initially I sided with them, being fairly keen on free speech myself (other startling facts about me: I don't like being hit on the head and I don't endorse murder) but I'm starting to have my doubts. If some form of government legislation had forced CBS to fire Imus then I would have been dead against it, but no coercion was involved. CBS fired Imus because they judged him to be, despite his large audience, to be more of a problem than an asset. Do we think that a private company should be forced to suffer financially just to defend an elderly racist's right to free speech? Just because we are glad to live in countries which allow freedom of media does not mean our media should gratuitously offend. Do I think that I should be allowed to draw Mohammad? Yes. Do I plan to do so? No. I feel no compulsion to risk my safety to exercise a theoretical right.

Breakfast of Champions:

So farewell then Kurt Vonnegut.