Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson made a statement during an interview on Fox News Channel about what he would have done if he had been in that classroom on the campus of Umpqua Community College when the murderer, who shall remain unnamed to deny him his notoriety, began his shooting spree.
Dr. Carson's answer was that he would have acted differently
than the students did and he would have defused the situation early on. His exact quote was, "Not only would I
probably not cooperate with him, I would not just stand there and let him shoot
me." He continued, "I would say, 'Hey, guys, everybody attack him. He
may shoot me, but he can't get us all.'"
For making that "outrageous" statement, Dr. Carson
has been excoriated, pilloried and mocked as being out of touch with
reality. Even some of his Republican
opposition is joining the fray. He is
accused of blaming the victims for not defending themselves.
I'm not going to defend Dr. Carson for his brave, though
hypothetical position, which might seem to belittle and chastise the dead and
wounded for inaction; but I do want you to think for a moment about another
murderous incident that occurred several years ago.
If the passengers aboard United Flight 93 on September 11,
2001 had not fought back and at least partially subdued their murderers, would
we have been mourning the loss of 435 senators and representatives plus the
destruction of our nation's capitol in addition to those on the plane? Might we have been looking at the ruins of
the White House, or possibly the Supreme Court? We don't know what the target of that jet aircraft was on that
fateful day, but it is best that we never found out for certain.
Was the act of bravery performed by the passengers of Flight
93 not the very same kind of reaction that Dr. Carson posited in his interview
on Fox and Friends? Why do
we label those passengers heroes, yet we use a similar scenario, with only one
perpetrator instead of four, to call Dr. Carson a "looney?"
I understand that the prescribed action for such a classroom
massacre scenario is for the students to "seek shelter," "find a
place to hide." Tell me, where do
you find such shelter in an open classroom?
You might as well put the gun to your own head and pull the trigger if
you're going to allow the armed individual to do as he pleases.
Yes, I believe that Dr. Carson's answer to the murders that
occurred in Roseburg, or anywhere else for that matter, are reasoned and
effective in preventing the wholesale slaughter that takes place and will
likely continue to take place in the future.
Your comments are welcome...
