Newletter States Virginia Tech English Department "Wounded," Celebrates Giovanni's Poem

Like clockwork, whenever an atrocity--be it September 11, 2001 or the Virginia Tech massacre occurs--liberals react with utter confusion. They are deeply troubled, befuddled, and have no resources to cope other than themselves.

The Virginia Tech English department is no exception. Normally, as an alumni I receive after every semester the platitudinous newsletter "A Feast of Words," updating alumni on the comings and goings of the department. This semester we got a letter from Dr. Carolyn Rude describing the reaction of the department to the shootings at the English Department:

This experience continues to be intense and troubling for us. The fact that the shooter and two students who were English majors has brought the tragedy home to us in a very powerful way. As a faculty we have struggled with a profound sense of loss and waste--so many young lives suddenly gone in a senseless act of violence. The loss is personal as well as monumental.

The tone that comes across is that the liberals in the department are utterly baffled. How could this possibly happen to us? The reason they are perplexed is because liberals live their whole lives ignoring evil, God, tradition, and absolute values. They live in an unreal world where truths do not exist. They ignore danger, terrorism, and thus are caught completely unaware when an act as heinous as September 11 occurs. Likewise, they ignore signs of evil and are taken aback that an evil individual in their department could have committed such a massacre, though all the signs were there.

Though we may ignore evil, evil certainly does not ignore us. Life is truly a battle between good and evil, much of it fought in the spiritual realm. This is a central tenet of the Catholic faith. On this subject, all I can say is thank God for our military confronting it in Iraq and conservatives running foreign policy to attack it head on instead of ignoring those who wish our destruction. Thank God for Pope Benedict and orthodox Catholic bishops, priests, and religious battling it in the spiritual sphere. Liberals, on the other hand, ignore evil like a bunch of ostriches reacting to danger.

Two observations about the reaction by professors at Virginia Tech to the shootings and especially the special newsletter to alumni of Tech's English Department:

First, notice the complete absence of the mention of God, prayer, or religion. They completely eliminate God and yet are deeply disturbed that evil fills the vacuum. They thus have nothing to fall back on, no truth to turn to other than themselves. This was apparent to many people. That was one of the first things my good friend from Tech who went on to get a doctorate at Johns Hopkins in microbiology noticed.

So where do liberals turn? Of course to themselves: "Our faculty and students have called on their deepest strengths and resources to help as they can." Yes, but what are these resources? All they can turn to is the cold comfort of moral relativism. This direction does not satisfy or nourish, hence the confusion.


Second, surprisingly there has been no mention of classic literature or poetry to express universal truths and give consolation and solace, and this is supposed to be an English department. For example, one excellent classic that attempts to make sense of why certain persons would be targeted and died without any outward sign plan and seemingly randomly is The Bridge of the San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder. There are many classic poems to turn to, timeless truths passed down in a cultural tradition.


But forget it. Not only is there no mention of God or religion, there is no mention of classic literature. After all, postmodern, "social justice" professors eschew this tradition and denigrate the great literature of "dead white males." All "text" is equal. Therefore, these clueless professors have absolutely nowhere to turn, except narcissitically to themselves, which is not all that comforting.

No wonder they are still "deeply troubled." God is out because He didn't suit their lifestyles, and classic literature doesn't suit their utopian, socialist vision of the future.

Instead they turn to Nikki Giovanni (speaking of ignoring evil, let's ignore these poems of hers) and use the atrocity to celebrate Nikki Giovanni's narcissitic "poem" "We Are Virginia Tech." In fact, all English alumni were mailed a copy of her "poem." In the letter to alumni, Dr. Rude states, "On Monday, when classes resumed, we hosted an open house in the department for our majors and graduate students and faculty to reaffirm our connections. Nikki Giovanni signed copies of her poem, 'We are Virginia Tech.'"

Yippee! She signed poems. Cold, nihilistic comfort indeed.