"Prevention" is Delusion

The frenzy to figure out how the massacre at Virgina Tech could have been prevented is in full swing. Every thing the University did or failed to do, everything the local police did or failed to do, everything the killer's parents did or failed to do will be examined minutely in the hope of finding the magic mistake, that if "fixed", will prevent this from "ever happening again".

Didn't we do that after Columbine? Don't we do that every time? Has it worked so far?

It is pathetic to see adults engaged in this delusional enterprise.

Oh, some things are learned, and some measures taken add a level of safety to certain situations. And that's good. But things like this cannot be prevented. Bad guys will always do bad things. Shit happens. People go mad. Evil stalks the world. Get over it.

Utopia is not attainable. The perfection of society, people, or security plans is not possible. Living in the delusion that they ARE possible leads to nothing but misery when we fail. We are crushed by dissapointment and a sense of failure. We blame ourselves or others. It divides and conquers our spirits.

The best we can do is be prepared to meet such inevitable violence with composure, determination and sufficient force to contain it, and minimize its scope and body count.

Once we stop pretending we can "prevent this from ever happening again", and instead realize that we must be vigilant and prepared to deal with its inevitability, we will be in a position to develop responses and policies that might actually make a difference.

The Gunslinger