April 19, 2007 :: Metroblogging DC: Virginia Tech finger pointing

After the Virginia Tech shooting spree, this article commented that many are using it to prove their point that gun control is good (need more), gun control is bad (look what it prevented, self-defense), video games are bad (not sure on this one), etc. Bottom line, if one is trying to prove a point, or score political points (who isn't these days?), then events like these are opportunities like soapboxes, on which one can stand to prove a point.

This quote was too good, I had to post it.

Metroblogging DC: Virginia Tech finger pointing: "The old saying is that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I think there's a corollary - when you have an axe to grind, every event looks like a whetstone."

Seems like progress should be done proactively, but I suppose most people are hard to convince unless it would affect them, personally. Reminds me of another quote, this one by Gene Hackman from Runaway Jury:

You think your average juror is King Solomon? No, he's a roofer with a mortgage. He wants to go home and sit in his Barcalounger and let the cable TV wash over him. And this man doesn't give a single, solitary droplet of shit about truth, justice or your American way.