Respect for life best guarantee for campus security
- Source: Global Times
- [03:54 May 06 2010]
- Comments
A mid a shocking wave of bloody assaults on schoolchildren, campus security has inevitably been added to the political agenda in China.
While various measures are being urged to beef up security, the ultimate guarantee of safety hinges on the social value placed on human life.
The motives behind the campus tragedies are similar: Desperate attackers were driven by the desire to display their discontent and take revenge on society.
Zheng Minsheng, who was executed on April 28 for stabbing eight children to death and injuring five in East China's Fujian Province, cited in court the huge frustration he suffered after numerous romantic failures and job setbacks. He claimed that he was "forced to kill people after being persecuted by others."
True, the gruesome assaults have sparked concern over the social strains in China as it goes through the current period of transition. The need is more pressing than ever for the government to address the widening divide between the rich and the poor, and to effectively curb corruption.
But under any circumstances, societal pressure never justifies anyone in taking innocent people's lives.
Pressure is unavoidable in any country. Given the intense competition for limited social resources, daily life is constantly accompanied by frustrations.
Even in Japan, traditionally known for its safety, numerous cases of violence can be cited, such as the Ikeda Elementary School tragedy in 2001, in which eight chil-dren were killed and 15 others injured by a deranged individual seeking revenge on society.
One frightening newer example is the seemingly amiable US engineer who desperately crashed his airplane into a government tax collection building in February.
Pressures and the disorientation they cause are mounting in China, too. The past three decades have witnessed both amazing speed in economic growth and social development, and an increasingly stressful life.
But there is an alarming trend among the reactions toward China's campus tragedies.
A few media cold-bloodedly exculpated the attackers by asking, "What is wrong with our society?" Some Western media outlets even attempted to play up China's social tensions, arguing social injustice was the reason behind the hatred of the criminals.
Blaming society indiscriminately for the campus violence waged by the discontented can do no good. It will not help citizens shoulder their social responsibility to face up to life's daily stresses. Nor will it work to trace the real sources of these stresses.
Instead, it will give rise to the evil of relieving pressure by imposing violence on others.
A society enjoying economic prosperity cannot be sustained in a moral vacuum. Stronger voices must be heard to condemn the criminals who target the most defenseless and vulnerable social group.
Any mercy on such criminals would show an unacceptable disregard for life and justice.
