Sad headline

So I am reading all the headlines on the Virginia Tech killings, and it just makes me really really sad. I was on the Times' website and I saw the "interactive" page they made on each of the victims. I clicked on the first one, Ross Alameddine, and as soon as I started reading about him, I started tearing up and immediately clicked on the "Back" button of my browser. There's a difference between reading the words "33 victims" and seeing a picture of a 20-year-old sophomore and realizing that this person had a whole life story and was shot to death two days ago.

I also note that every headline on the incident makes reference to the shooter being South Korean. I have to admit, I got a little scared after noticing that my brother bears some resemblance to the shooter--this, in addition to the notion that "all Asians look the same." Given the retaliation against any remotely Arab-looking person after 9/11 and even the stupider incidents of murdering stingrays after one stingray killed the Crocodile Hunter, I worry for the bespectacled Asian guys out there who may seem on the quiet side, like my brother.

Margaret Cho, in her blog, asserts that "so much attention is focused on the Asian-ness of the shooter." I don't know if I would go that far. Granted, no one just says "shooter." They say "South Korean shooter." That's probably because the default race in America is white, unless otherwise noted. But (so far) I haven't yet seen discussions on limiting immigration or quarantining Koreans; if anything, it reignites the discussion on gun control. At any rate, I hope that people don't retaliate against Asians, especially given that some of the victims were of Asian descent.

It's just a very sad incident. I can't even imagine. My condolences to the bereaved.