Students Dress as VT Victims, Cause Outrage

[AnthemZ]

Students Dress as VT Victims, Cause Outrage
Lindsey Henley
WSLS NewsChannel 10
Thursday, December 6, 2007




It started with a picture on Facebook and has now created a firestorm of outrage.

Two Penn State students, dressed as Virginia Tech shooting victims, at a Halloween party have enraged people from the Virginia Tech community, as well as the entire country.

10 On Your Side has seen all of the controversial pictures. They are of two Penn State students and are extremely graphic. Both are wearing Virginia Tech t-shirts and elaborate make-up. Both have bullet holes in their bodies.

Our decision not to show you the pictures is a result of our desire to be sensitive to a community that is still grieving. We also want to show respect to the shooting victims, their families, and their friends. Showing these pictures would serve no purpose.

We talked with one of the students who wore the costume. He said the outfits were worn to a small party and meant to be private.

"It's not that it was funny, it's that we are notorious and infamous in the state college, so we have to do things that push the envelope just for shock value," he said.

Penn State officials were quick to respond to the costumes.

"We are appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity, indifference, and lack of common decency and sense by dressing up in this manner," the school said.

"The fact that one of these individuals is actually from Virginia, makes it even more difficult to understand. Just because something is within the bounds of the Constitution and free speech, does not mean it should be undertaken. We certainly condemn these ugly and senseless actions. Most Penn Staters are as offended by this as anyone from Virginia Tech would be-- and rightfully so. These two people do not represent 90,000 Penn State students. They represent themselves."

After seeing the pictures, a Virginia Tech student created a Facebook group called, "People Against This Costume." Some of the upset members have left threatening messages to the Penn State students.

"This is a group of college students who now think it's trendy to be upset about their friends being killed," one of the two Penn State students who wore the costume said. "I don't know what they teach people in Virginia Tech, but at Penn State we don't learn to threaten people with murder to teach them that murdering is wrong."

He goes on to defend the pictures.

"The thing is, everybody's making a big stink about Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech was 32 deaths out of the 26 thousand that happen in America everyday," he said. "That's the problem with college students. They all live in an ivory tower of privilege. They don't understand, when it all boils down to it, it's someone wearing a costume."

Reaction from Tech students and Blacksburg residents was disgust.

"That somebody would have the nerve to mock [the victims]. They were really good people," said local business owner, Carol Gwin.

Gwin knew three of the victims in the shootings and considered them cherished friends.

[Prof Maxwell]

just when you think young people can't display anymore stupidity, you read a story like this.

it's nice to know the future of my country will be in such caring and sensitive hands. I'll sleep better tonight.

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by prof_maxwell

just when you think young people can't display anymore stupidity, you read a story like this.

it's nice to know the future of my country will be in such caring and sensitive hands. I'll sleep better tonight.

Yes, how will our young people ever achieve the intellectual greatness, and earn the respect of the world and reputation for good judgment that their elders enjoy?

[Gautier84]

damn sick individuals, they haden't got a better idea of another Hallowwen costume??

[bensonboo]

Are those pictures honestly extremely graphic? Perhaps to those who were in Virginia Tech that day and the relatives of the victims, but since when do students take into account the bigger picture.

[treesmoke]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

Yes, how will our young people ever achieve the intellectual greatness, and earn the respect of the world and reputation for good judgment that their elders enjoy?

Originally Posted by bensonboo

Are those pictures honestly extremely graphic? Perhaps to those who were in Virginia Tech that day and the relatives of the victims, but since when do students take into account the bigger picture.

Agree with Benson, why do all people at all times need to think, not just what the people that they know are going to think. But about what if this gets on the net what will the world think.

These types of things probably happen 100s of times in the past with people making fun of JFK's death or even blacks dressing up as nazis to prove a point. But only today will a person will get criticized by the world for it.

This is the same thing that got people like Imus fired. You cant just do something with a small group of people any more.

[Harpoon]

Yeah, They're real funny.. ha ha..

*id like to clothesline that fag prick*

[Tambarskjelve]

O Tempora! O Mores!

[Cactus]

College students are getting stupider and stupider..

[tollboothwilly]

stupidity is in abundance in this world.

[Noilly Pratt]

There are dumb people in the world, and there are stupid people in the world. I think the dumb people have better press agents - because it seems that those are the only ones I hear about!

At least I hope so...

[AnthemZ]

Virginia Tech Halloween Costume Sparks Outrage
Controversial Halloween Costume Meant to 'Push the Envelope,' Student Says
By CHRISTINE BROUWER

Dec. 10, 2007 —



In a contest for worst Halloween costume, these might be a shoo-in  two students at Pennsylvania State University dressed as victims of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre in April.

Pictures of the two students attending a Halloween party, both wearing Virginia Tech clothing with fake bullet wounds and blood on their chest and face, surfaced on the popular networking site Facebook last week.

The photos sparked outrage on both campuses. And reportedly even death threats.

But today, one of the students, who reportedly wore one of the controversial outfits, said he will not apologize. "Never ever ever," Nathan Jones told The Daily Collegian, the student paper at Penn State.

Jones, a senior biochemistry major, told the paper that he never thought the images would cause an uproar. "A lot of people do crazy, insensitive things," he said. "I knew what I was doing was sad. I did it for that reason. It was never meant to get out."

One of the pictures, which some media outlets deemed too graphic to publish, shows a young woman with her arms outstretched and her eyes closed, a bloody stain on the middle of her shirt and her left cheek. Another picture shows a young man smiling broadly, red streaks running down his face.

"I had to do a double take to see if I was really seeing what I was seeing," sophomore Tori Athey told ABC News in an e-mail from the Virginia Tech campus. "I couldn't believe someone would do such a thing in such a short time after a disaster of this magnitude."

She added, "The entire Virginia Tech community is still trying to deal and grieve with the events of April 16, and this just adds to the pain we are all still dealing with."

Twenty-seven students and five faculty members were killed when student Seung-Hui Cho opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus.

Lisa Powers, a spokeswoman for Penn State, told ABC News the campus community was horrified by the controversial pictures.

"We're appalled that these individuals displayed this level of insensitivity and lack of common decency," Powers told ABC News. "Most Penn Staters are as offended as anyone from Virginia Tech would be."

However Powers said that Penn State, after talking with one of the students involved, had no plans to discipline the students, citing freedom of speech protections in the Constitution.

At the time of the shooting, Penn State students went out of their way to support th

e student body at Virginia Tech. Not long after the killings, a large group of Penn State students wore maroon and orange shirts, Virginia Tech's signature colors, to spell out the institution's initials at a football game.

Students at Virginia Tech said the initial affront of the costumes was worsened when one of the students, apparently Jones, started defending the costumes last week in an interview with a Virginia television station.

In the interview, which the station WSLS posted on its Web site, the unnamed student said, "It's not that it was funny, it's that we are notorious and infamous in the state college and very popular, so we have to do things that push the envelope just for shock value."

The Daily Collegian reported today that Jones told it that he gave the TV interview during which he also said of the uproar, "That's the problem with college students. They all live in an ivory tower of privilege."

Reactions among the student body at Virginia Tech seemed to range from anger and vengefulness to calls for a more measured response.

Jones told the Daily Collegian today that the controversy has sparked threats. The names of three people have been turned over to authorities for threats.

Jones also told the paper: "I would not show my face on the Virginia Tech campus now. They might actually murder me. Apparently, violence is the answer."

On the posting board for a Virginia Tech Facebook group called People Against This Costume, which by Sunday afternoon listed nearly 3,500 members, one student wrote, "Only a callous and insensitive individual would believe it's 'all in good fun' to mock the deaths of innocent people. He can have his infamy, along with the hatred and resentment of thousands that see him for what he is an attention whore."

Another student called on her peers to rise above it all.

"Let's not worry about them," she wrote. "We're stronger than this, they've got YEARS of growing up to do and one day they'll realize the insensitivity of their actions."

She continued proudly, "We are better than immaturity, we are better than ignorance, WE ARE VIRGINIA TECH!!!"

Ken Stanton, the administrator of the Virginia Tech Facebook group and a graduate student at the university, told ABC News that while distasteful, the Halloween costumes don't represent a larger rift between students at the two schools.

"If anything, Penn State is our close ally," said Stanton, who lost a friend in the spring shootings. "Especially after April. They were there for us so much."

[Shotgun Styles]

In America, truly nothing is sacred.

[AnthemZ]

But today, one of the students, who reportedly wore one of the controversial outfits, said he will not apologize. "Never ever ever," Nathan Jones told The Daily Collegian, the student paper at Penn State.

Originally Posted by Shotgun Styles

In America, truly nothing is sacred.

Nothing at all, anymore.

[GunJaney]

Anyone who says this:

In the interview, which the station WSLS posted on its Web site, the unnamed student said, "It's not that it was funny, it's that we are notorious and infamous in the state college and very popular, so we have to do things that push the envelope just for shock value."

is clearly an idiot who thinks too much of himself.

what happened to dressing as vampires and frankenstein's monster or a witch?
I'm all for "pushing the envelope" if you must.. but do it in a way that achieves something worthwhile, rather than being insensitive and hurtful to other people.