Not just america

As American continues to enjoy its long bout of relative serenity (at least on the mass killings front), Japan has been shaken by its own mass killing.

A 25 year old man, Tomohiro Kato, ran his car into pedestrians, then jumped out and slashed at them with his knife. 7 were killed while 10 still remain in hospital.

Acknowledging that this is a serious situation, i would like to look at it from a different angle. I would like to look at how the media and culture handle these situations. The reason for this attack is not known but many are suggesting it has to do with the way the youth of Japan are feeling isolated and do not know how to communicate with eachother.

The media reports which happened around the Virginia Tech massacre, say a similar thing. The shooter was unable to take responsibility for his own actions, instead seeing everyone else responsible. He was not able to communicate with his peers and remained isolated because of it.

While the motivations of a killer seem to be universal, the reaction to it, is not. America's individual culture leave the shooter the sole person responsible for the killing. In the Japanese media, society shares a part of the blame. (read the articles to examine the similarities and differences)

I do not know if one of these ways is better than the other. I suspect they are merely reflective of the way the society in these parts of the world work.But perhaps they could both learn a little from the other.