Even as our hearts go out to the families, friends and loved ones of the victims—what a horrific, hideous event—we ask (and in some ways, we hope), “Is there larger meaning in the slaughter at Virginia Tech?”

Standing Eagle raises a good point in a comment below: Even as the nation is rightfully transfixed by this obscenity, we pay little attention to the everyday horror that is life in Iraq. Yesterday, for example, 34 people were killed in Baghdad alone. What would our reaction be if that was a typical day here in the United States?

There’s surely no literal connection between violence in Iraq and violence in Virginia, but I wonder if there isn’t some more abstract one. The Bush administration has for years operated on the cynical premise that it could export violence to another country without disturbing the peace—the culture of entertainment and greed—that placates the U.S. citizenry.

Perhaps those chickens are finally coming home to roost…..perhaps the violence of a war based on lies can not be limited to the country in which it first occurs, but carries throughout the world, to land back at its source…..

Can we really practice violence around the globe and not expect it to infect us here at home?