The Lesson of United 93: Overpower The Attacker
This is a hard post to write, because everybody who’s watching the terrible tale of mass murder on the Virginia Tech campus can sympathize with the devastated students and faculty members who lived through the horror. I have nothing to say that will compare with their statements and their memorials, and with the journalistic coverage of the professionals who are close to the scene.
But I was baffled by the report I watched on yesterday’s NBC Nightly News, in which two college students described hiding under desks with the rest of their class as Cho Seung-hui shot, reloaded and shot some more. One of these students had been hit by a bullet, the other hadn’t, and both described themselves as terrified. That’s quite understandable, but I can’t be the only one wondering why a roomful of students did not try to overpower a lone gunman.
I thought this was the lesson of September 11, the lesson of United Flight 93: in the face of any type of murderous rampage, whether a carefully planned act of terrorism or a random act of insane violence, a crowd’s ability to overtake an attacker might offer their best chance. Sure, it takes incredible bravery to rush a guy with automatic weapons, even when the gunman is reloading, and there would have been casualties. But with ten or more students in a room, there is no question that the crowd could have prevailed within a matter of seconds.
I truly do not wish to cast dispersions on the suffering students who did not attempt to overpower Cho Seung-hui in Blacksburg. I am sure it was a lack of decisiveness, rather than a lack of courage, that led them to attempt a passive path towards survival. And, of course, I wasn’t there and I do not have the information to understand why this disaster played out the way it did.
But I do think it’s important for people all over the world to ask themselves the question: in a situation like the one in the Virginia Tech classrooms, can a crowd work together to overpower an armed attacker, and how can we all improve our chances of controlling situations like this?
I don’t want to get all survivalist at this moment, but I will say this: if I ever find myself a potential victim in this type of situation, and I truly hope I don’t, I will vote for “Let’s Roll”. I like the odds better.
I hope this posting is not offensive or wrong-headed. My sympathies go out to everybody who suffered directly from the horrid act at Virginia Tech.
April 17th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Exactly what I thought! I go to a university of a similar size and have a morning German class like a couple dozen of the victims did, and I plan on making sure my classmates know we are throwing our desks at the gunman if we were in that situation.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
You know, I did think about that as well…but there is a big difference between this scenario and United Flight 93, the difference being time. During United 93, the passengers had time to think. They had the time to call their families on their cell phones…and many learned what was happening and were able to figure out that they were only pawns flying in a bomb whose destination would kill many more. They had the time to develop a plan and then acted. At Virginia Tech, the students went from sitting and listening to a teacher to the sound of shots and screams, the normal reaction is self-preservation. You might compare it to being startled from a deep sleep…you jump up, your heart is pounding, you’re confused. Although I’d like to think that I would have it within me to be a hero every minute of the day, you cannot place judgement on these students unless you know first hand what its like to be in that situation. Hopefully, none of us ever will be. Peace to you.
April 17th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I have to agree, but not that it’s a lesson from Flight 93. It is in a way, an opportunity to decide if your life is worth saving others. Every parent, policeman, fireman, and soldier understands this. Every suicide bomber understands this. It baffles me that students at Columbine, at Virginia Tech, would not react that way.
You could say this is the lesson from Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities, or Homer’s Patroclus. The ‘no greater love’ as Jesus put it. We have to question a society where people would hide and watch others die. Or more generally that people are so under-prepared for traumatic situations. Like you, I’m not accusing. But wondering about our society’s principles; what we’re teaching, what we’re learning.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Thanks, Amber, Morgen and Stokely, for your responses so far.
Morgen, I agree that there is absolutely no need here to condemn the students at Va Tech, and I’m definitely not trying to do that. I’m more interested in stating this for the future. If I am ever in a situation like this, I want to know that the people next to me will know what we have to do — as Amber said, throw desks at the gunman … or maybe just scream “get him” and make sure that people come at him from more than one angle (he can only shoot in one direction at a time). Anything but sit there and wait to be saved by somebody else, if a situation is already out of control.
April 17th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Also, I am interested to hear that there are now many reported instances of bravery and sacrifice among the students and faculty …
April 21st, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Despite all the apologies to the contrary, everybody but Morgan is accusing. That may be because it’s much, much easier to believe that “this could never happen to me” than to realize most people will never be in this situation and anticipating how you will act in some possible future scenario is absurd.
In the end, Morgan is right for exactly the right reason. Those on flight 93 had the luxury of time.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:04 am
It’s a legitimate question. There are lots of things we don’t know about what happened in that building–or i don’t know, maybe more facts have come out that i’m not aware of. Asking this question doesn’t insult anybody. Obviously you can ask practically any question in an insulting manner if you try. But asking this question isn’t, in itself, insulting. It might help people to understand what happened, and having that knowledge could possibly help someone who finds themself in a similar situation in the future. It could be helpful to have a conversation about what people can do in situations like this.
(I just found your blog yesterday, when looking for info on the SC debate.)