“The cell phones in the pockets of the dead students were still ringing when we were told that it was wrong to ask why. As the police cleared the bodies from the Virginia Tech engineering building, the cell phones rang, in the eccentric varieties of ring tones, as parents kept trying to see if their children were OK. To imagine the feelings of the police as they carried the bodies and heard the ringing is heartrending; to imagine the feelings of the parents who were calling — dread, desperate hope for a sudden answer and the bliss of reassurance, dawning grief — is unbearable. But the parents, and the rest of us, were told that it was not the right moment to ask how the shooting had happened — specifically, why an obviously disturbed student, with a history of mental illness, was able to buy guns whose essential purpose is to kill people — and why it happens over and over again in America.”

— Adam Gopnik

Gun Control and the Virginia Tech Massacre, The New Yorker (2007)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The cell phones in the pockets of the dead students were still ringing when we were told that it was wrong to ask why. …" by Adam Gopnik?

Adam Gopnik 26

American journalist 1956

Related quotes

“To be honest, I think cell phones were invented by the devil.”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Source: NOS4A2

“We almost have an unlimited variety of phones, especially in the world of cell phones. ...It is not possible to buy a cell phone that doesn't do too much.”

Barry Schwartz (1946) American psychologist

The paradox of choice (2007)

“If the phone doesn't ring, it's me.”

Jimmy Buffett (1946) American singer–songwriter and businessman

“Imagine the uproar if the Federal government tried to make everyone wear a radio transmitter around their neck so we can keep track of their movements. But people happily carry their cell phones in their purses and pockets.”

Lee Child book A Wanted Man

Source: A Wanted Man

“Fric had been assigned the dumbest of the standard tones, which the phone manufacturer described as "a cheerful, child-pleasing sound suitable for the nursery or the bedrooms of younger children." Why infants in nurseries or toddlers in cribs ought to have their own telephones remained a mystery to Fric. Were they going to call Babies R Us and order lobster-flavored teething rings?”

Dean Koontz book The Face

Source: The Face (2003), Chapter 13; describing the estate's elaborate phone system

“I was informed by the Federal Police and the Justice Ministry that my cell phones were invaded by the gang arrested on Tuesday, 23. A serious attempt against Brazil and its institutions. May they be harshly punished! Brazil is no longer land without law.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

On Twitter on 25 July 2019. Brazil: Bolsonaro says his phones were hacked amid fallout over leaked chats https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/brazil-bolsonaro-phone-hack-report. The Guardian (25 July 2019).