The horrifying shootings at Virginia Tech have produced sad, shabby, predictable reactions from misguided commentators trying to make sense of mass murder. On TV and radio, we’ve already heard that the killing spree was the product of too many guns, or too few guns, or violent video games, or the breakdown of the family, or ill-considered immigration policies or, even, global warming. Glib, shallow explanations allow us to turn away from the one real lesson of these events: that evil exists, and that dark forces – forces believers would call demonic or diabolical – play a powerful role in our world. Regardless of the background or motivation of the killer, Virginia Tech reminds us of the most important truth of our time: that terrorist monsters can’t be explained, or excused, or appeased, or ignored, or negotiated into civilized behavior. They must be confronted and destroyed – before they destroy more of the decent and the innocent.
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