LATEST LETTERS

Victimization

Saturday, April 28 at 2:00 PM

R.L. Stamp of Littleton writes:

Victimizing – Columbine and Virginia Tech: You are not a victim if you were born in America. You are not a victim if you were lucky enough to move to America from some other part of the World. You are lucky and there are millions of people throughout the World who would like to be in your shoes.
Maybe the messages of “victimization” are too prominent in our day to day lives. Victimization is used to get votes for political gains; it is used as basis of major news stories; and it is used to explain away the fact that some people are lazy or have not received the tools of success from our educational system. Could it be that some of these tragedies would not have happened if the pundits, politicians and the media were not preaching “victim”? From the information that is out these guys were really not victims, somebody told them they were. How else would they have gotten these crazy ideas? Why aren’t we proud of our success in this country?

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

I have no idea what Stamps is talking about. If you are the victim of some kind of tragedy, say, a school shooting, outside of America, you are obviously still a victim if it happens in America. If he thinks there is too much of a victimization complex in America, which I think there is, he should say that instead of something nonsensical.

Posted by Truth on April 28, 2007 03:11 PM

"You are lucky and there are millions of people throughout the World who would like to be in your shoes."

Clearly, Mr. Stamp does not remember high school.

Posted by on April 28, 2007 03:58 PM

R.L.

Are you saying the innocent people brutally murdered in those cases were not victims?

Wha-hunh?

Posted by Charles B on April 28, 2007 05:33 PM

"Are you saying the innocent people brutally murdered in those cases were not victims?"

Part of living is accepting the possibility of dying. And since the victims of these tragedies were teenaged, they got a lot more of a shot at life than many children of the world.

Posted by on April 28, 2007 10:39 PM

And you shouldn't feel sorry for a three year old who gets murdered. After all, he got a better shot at living than a two year old. The idea that people who are murdered are not victims is so bizarre as to bring into question the mental competency of anyone who thinks this way.

Posted by Truth on April 29, 2007 06:18 AM

I would hope that the letter writer meant that we too often try to make excuses for the perpetrators of crimes like V-Tech and portray them as victims of their up-bringing. If his intent was to say that those that were murdered are somehow not to have our sympathy because they were born in the U.S., that is just insane.

Posted by Chas on April 29, 2007 10:46 AM

Right on Charles!! I THINK R.L. Stamp was trying to say.... "that we too often we try to make excuses for the perps and portray them as victims." I would have to agree with him if that is his stance.

Posted by A on April 29, 2007 12:43 PM

I fear Stamp failed in his letter writing; if, he has to explain what he means or if his meaning is not clear, he failed.

Posted by Richard Grimes r22037@yahoo.com on April 29, 2007 02:14 PM

I meant "right on Chas" not Charles.

Posted by A. on April 30, 2007 11:43 AM