Interesting perspective from someone who deals daily with people who have emotional/mental health problems:

I share your opinion about the nature of violence in our society today and the denial by most people of the impact of the number of sources we are exposed to on a daily basis,as well as the extreme nature of the violence in that exposure, that we take for granted. We are in some ways a blessed society for these things like the " VT Massacre" to stand out as so unusual, while much of the rest of the world experiences these life ending events on a somewhat regular basis. It is also hard for us to understand that the rest of the world cries with the same tears that we do.
I would like to share with you another side of the awareness.

I am a psychologist in private practice. Since Monday morning I have seen about 40 patients in therapy. As tragic as Monday morning was, not one of my patients mentioned the incident or the deaths or the families of the dead until I did at the end of the session. Not one! In spite of the media coverage and all of its perversities, my clients were concerned about their jobs, relationships, anxieties, what others thought of them, etc. I sometimes feel that after having been a psychotherapist for as many years as I have, that I can find no more surprises. Clinically I know why there was no addressing of the tragedy, personally I am disappointed and surprised. What did we learn?