Convincing ourselves that we've been vicariously traumatized by the pain of strangers has become a cherished national pastime. Thus, the Washington Post this week accompanied online stories about the shooting with a clickable sidebar, "Where to Find Support" -- apparently on the assumption that the mere experience of glancing at articles about the tragedy would be so emotionally devastating that readers would require trained therapists.

....Count me out. There's something fraudulent about this eagerness to latch onto the grief of others and embrace the idea that we, too, have been victimized. This trivializes the pain felt by those who have actually lost something and pathologizes normal reactions to tragedy. Empathy is good, but feeling shocked and saddened by the shootings doesn't make us traumatized or special -- these feelings make us normal.

I get tired when people whine about "the media" as though it is some big, menacing monster that shovels crap we are duty-bound to consume. Anyone who complains about the insipid salaciousness of television news spends too much time watching it. But when it comes to the unbridled broadcast of Cho's public-relations package, it would be wise to think about just what kind of people would be glued to their sets, taking it all in.