Students Turn To Web In Time Of Tragedy

The Skinny: How The Internet Helped Va. Tech Students Cope With Shooting Massacre

(CBS)  The Skinny is Joel Roberts' take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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How does the wired generation deal with a tragedy like Monday's shooting rampage at Virginia Tech? By using the Internet, cell phone cameras and text messaging to record and share information about the day's shocking events.

In their extensive coverage of the shootings, several newspapers look at how students at the Blacksburg, Va., campus – once labeled the "Most Wired Town in America" – began documenting the massacre nearly as soon as it began to unfold.

The Los Angeles Times reports on how one student, trapped in his dorm room, did what "anyone his age would do in a time of crisis — he blogged." The student reassured friends and family that he was alive, and then posted video he shot of police officers and sharpshooters arriving at the scene.

Students stayed connected throughout the day on blogs and popular Web sites like Facebook. "Their eyewitness descriptions, photos and video," the Times says, "made the trauma unfolding in the rural Virginia town immediate and visceral to millions."

The Washington Post reports on a student who used his cell phone camera to capture video of police running toward a campus building as the sound of gunfire is heard. That video ended up on numerous Web sites and TV news programs.

Said the Post: "This is what this YouTube-Facebook-instant messaging generation does. Witness. Record. Share."

For others on the Virginia Tech campus, the Internet also served as a lifeline, providing their only source of news about the events happening just outside their dorm rooms.

"We didn't know anything," one student told the L.A. Times. "So we kept trying to find out things online."

And the New York Times reports that some students "took refuge in the library, searching the Web to find out what was happening. No one knew."


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[vasu005]

People have different views about this issue, gun violence is something like an on going trend, where it has deep rooted it self in the economy ( i mean that there is some kind of gun issue weekly ); Gun violence could be stopped only if the manufactures tend to stop there productions.
i think that this individual is trying to express his emotions, but unfortunately he took the wrong path; when viewed by our fellow citizens this is some kind of big threat. The guy must have been mentally disturbed so much such that he had taken the gun. And its point less crying over the 32 + 1 who are dead and gone.
"PEOPLE TAKE THE BEST AND LEAVE THE REST"
I hope that this guy wants the society to respect every individuals character & learn to cope up with them. Basically this should be taught to every human being from home." learn to like fellow human beings ", with whom you all interact.

[yobuwd3]

I agree %u2013 there could be a class on Survival being offered in all high schools to ensure people know how to react to events like this one. I believe that when it comes to fire, floods, bomb attacks and any kind of terrorist attack, the majority of people do not know how to react.A class on survival, taught by an EMT person, an ex Marine, or even a Martial Arts instructor, could definitely empower people to take control in CRITICAL situations just like this one.

[yobuwd3]

I agree %u2013 there could be a class on Survival being offered in all high schools to ensure people know how to react to events like this one. I believe that when it comes to fire, floods, bomb attacks and any kind of terrorist attack, the majority of people do not know how to react.
A class on survival, taught by an EMT person, an ex Marine, a Martial Arts instructor, etc, could definitely empower people to take control in CRITICAL situations just like this one.

[scoundrelsga]

Face the facts, if IT had not had a gun, IT could have made IED's, just like IT's evil peers in other embattled countries around the world. If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Remember that there are laws against killing innocent people, but the murder rate continues to climb. My suggestion is to pray to God for the enlightenment of the wicked and the unsaved at home and abroad. God Bless the families of the fallen, the police and officials who are involved and the survivors.
Yours in Christ, W. A. Rice.

[likeitis5050]

This isn't about guns. He could have used a knife, or just clubbed them to death. The point is he murdered. He...I refuse to use his name because he opted out of that kind of respect and rememberance when he chose to murder, was determined to do evil...for the chance to be famous. He needs to stripped of any label/photo that gives back his humanity. The ones who need to be remembered with respect and honor are the innocents he killed. I want to know as much as possible about each one...out of honor. The 'thing' that killed them needs to fade into darkness, never to be referred to by name again. We need to stop sensationalizing terrorists and mass murderers, which is the life blood of the media. They single handily offer to every sicko out there the guarantee of turning their 15 minutes into eternal notoriety. It needs to end. The media doesn't have the kind of personal integrity required to make this change in the way killers are treated by them. Too many things depend on them keeping the name in the news...movies and book deals within hours of the horrible crimes. It's sickening. Remove the allure of becoming famous by murdering and let the ilk fade to black with no credits.

[delfmast]

Unarmed students blocked doors, under fire, and a disarmed campus contributed, as weapons were outlawed on campus, by the rabbit's, in charge, since the last criminal incursion. An Internet flash crowd response, simply ringing the anti-terror programmed cellphones of every military reserve, retired, or active duty, person on campus, or nearby, could have stopped the killing, within minutes. Just as military personnel present on the 9/ll planes could have shot the terrorists, had they been armed, but they were unarmed, and they died with the rest of those passengers. The President can order all military personnel, active, reserve, retired, to requalify annually, and to carry their sidearms at all times, without regard to local jursidictional unions, while the terror threats continue. Millions of military volunteers, with top secret clearances, and long experience, are at hand, all over America. We pay for them, let's convince our President to defy the congress, and order these men and women to carry their sidearms, and protect every soft target in our nation, now.

[saske3-2009]

Well i just want to show my support to the friend and families friends and love ones of the virginia community. Im from Jamaica and the moment i saw the news on cnn i've been stuck here watching it. though we think proper and quicker communication skills could have taken place im glad that the did do some good work and we give thanks for cellphones and cellphone technology. this here will even help me in my project to be presented tomorrow about communication. but i jus want to say from out of jamaica that you are all in our prayers and also to our jamaican students there that we are hee for you. its just very sad that 32 innocents and promising students pass away like that and tot hat professor that help to save some students life as his goes, he should be classified an an hero and that senior also that helped to stop the shooter from coming into his classroom. we pray for your healing and recovery and we pray for those in the hospital that God spare their lives and they come out as living testimonies.

[booyaw_77]

They're remaking Westworld. That old movie about a fantasy theme park fulla robots. But the interesting thing about Westworld was the notion that a gun couldn't fire on a human. Just on the robots.

The analogy is simplistic but, I think gun manufacturers can stop being so defensive for a change, and start to work with the consumer on the technology of guns. Nothing is absolute. There's no giant magnet in the sky thats gonna magically erase all guns from existance. But little by little guns can be made more safe. And less of a universal death certificate, and more of a personal ownership.

[angelsix-2009]

So now we're going to get a bunch of stupidly obvious comments on gun control.
OF COURSE, if the killer had no gun he could not have done this.
OF COURSE, if most students at the school carried a gun, the killer could not have done this.

Considering the emotional maelstrom which is a common experience among college students, if most students carried guns then the number of homicides and suicides among college students would dwarf the tragic killings at Virginia Tech. Gun proponents don't care about that, or stupidly claim it's not true. Gun opponents are wasting their time because we're nowhere close to outlawing guns in this country.

The only part of the story I don't understand is the gap between 9:45 and 10:15. Gun carrying is not allowed at Virginia Tech, because the police (or campus security) are supposed to provide defense. Nobody sensible wants cops to die, but it seems to me this was the time they should have accepted that risk and rushed into the building. They were already on campus, so it could not have taken them 30 minutes to get from one location to the other.

[busyness-2009]

Bettyjoe1,

That is ridiculous! I am so tired of gun supporters saying this. If this crazy person had not had a gun, then 33 people would not be dead right now. Arming MORE people is not the answer!

What everyone seems to be forgetting is that if even one of these students had a weapon of self defense, then this massacre could have turned out a lot different.
Maybe we should have a self defense course as required for every student, then there would be some students that knew what to do to prevent or at least counter-act the shooter[s]. This would be on the scene, first response defense for the whole student body.
Of course, some of them would have to have access to weapons, but there are things that they could be taught that would not require weapons to be used.
We need to get away from worrying about 'Weapons' and start considering that there are 'people' who are dangerous.
WEAPONS ARE NOT THE KILLERS, PEOPLE ARE.

[singlemale45]

My thoughts and prayers are with all the Families and Friends and students of Virginia Tech. God Bless You All.