<- What? "Today, we are all Hokies?" Really? Not me. Last I checked I was a Columbia student with no real connection to Virginia Tech or any of its students.
Do I consider Virginia Tech a tragedy? Absolutely. Do I wish it hadn't happened? Absolutely. Do I hope Cho Seung-hui burns in hell? Absolutely.
Am I going to change my facebook picture (already a trivial element of existence) to reflect my opinion on a national tragedy? No.
I have two problems with this. The first is that a facebook picture is meant to be fun, stupid, embarrassing, whatever. As a corollary, any time you put something serious up there, you necessarily trivialize that issue. Oh, you're serious enough about the Blacksburg Massacre to adopt a ridiculous "solidarity" posture on your facebook profile? Damn, dawg, let's rub our LiveStrong bracelets together and talk about how VTech has affected us so much.
The second problem I have is related to this last point: people need to stop co-opting tragedies. It happened on 9/11, it's happening now. If you were affected by this, my heart and prayers go out to you. Seriously. But if you're so bored with your life that you need to act like you're a part of this, then you can go right to hell.
