"A loner"

[keenobserver]

Is that so? Was Cho a loner, by choice?
That's what the TV is telling us. That's what the tv wants me to believe.
You mean this asian guy cho, he didnt want to be friends with all those students he shot? Really?
You mean, he didnt shoot all those non-asian students because they would not take him in as an equal friend?
He just went and shot all those non-asian students even though they were willing to invite him over to share beer and pizza? Even though those non-asian girls were lining up for a chance to have coffee with him?
Boy! He really was a monster then, wasnt he.
All those students tried so hard to make him happy there at Virgin Tech, but still, he was just dying to kill them just the same.
How nice it must have been for Cho to know he was considered an Alien here. A resident alien. What a great and privileged thing to be, huh?
I wonder how long it will be before the tv tells us what was in the letter he left.
We better look at our gun laws closer now. Anything rather than looking at ourselves, into ourselves, at our ugly bigoted selves.

[sschaula]

I agree with you, keenobserver. I wish someone would have reached out to him, if they hadn't.

"A kind word can warm three winter months."

[DHodges]

I wonder how long it will be before the tv tells us what was in the letter he left.

So far, they've said the letter was "disturbing," and that it mentioned "rich kids" and "debauchery."

[keenobserver]

It appears to me that the poor sap was hanging on for dear life to perhaps one mediocre relationship with a woman, desperate enough to believe she would remain loyal to him, only to find out she was just an ordinary american tramp screewing some of the same boys he eventually shot.
He probably was, in his own mind, dating well below himself, having lowered his standards significantly just for a pittance of affection, while the girls he really wanted to get to know wouldnt even give him the time of day. When it turned out that even while scrapping the bottom of the barrel there was no guarantee of devotion, he realized there was no point in living here anymore. I reckon his parents would not let him leave the area or country, either. Feeling trapped and hopeless, sense kicked in and he checked out.

[keenobserver]

I wonder how long it will be before the tv tells us what was in the letter he left.

So far, they've said the letter was "disturbing," and that it mentioned "rich kids" and "debauchery."

Yeah, we all tend to bitch about others' debauchery when excluded from it, dont we!

[JeffRockwell]

In conformity lies the root of their demise.

It was fucked, no question about it...but I understand.

[keenobserver]

It didnt take long. The hero search is on. When these things happen american media is always on the lookout for the heros.
Well they found one already. The kid, the hero, was holding that door closed, like his life depended on it.
Come to think of it, his life DID depend on it! So what! he still saved the lives of many classmates, that makes him a true American hero.
(no mention that he wet his pants too)
The tv chicks love to locate boy heros. Its an ineffective mental trick meant to promote similar sacrifice in the future.
Almost everything the tv chicks try eventually fails. That is why the US is such a disgusting place to live.

They are still asking WHY this happened, is that unbelieveable or what?

[keenobserver]

The tv folks are saying that the "gunman" was sure to put 3 shots in each victim. Sign of a "calculating brutal monster."

Or was he, instead, being fair and humane, by attempting to bring on death and end suffering as quickly as possible?

(to this end, perhaps he should have at least recommended "hold still!")

[sschaula]

Sounds kinda ridiculous, keenobserver.

[sschaula]

That's exactly what I was wondering, Stoinkler.

[Katy]

It actually rather amuses me that we're trying to distance ourselves from this kid - he was a "loner" (like the Columbine kids who were involved in multiple afterschool clubs?) and a Korean (we reported Chinese first; yay American media) but we're spending so much time on the topic...

33 people were killed yesterday.


At a minimum, an average of 39 innocent Iraqi civilians (as in not the bad guys) have been killed every day since Jan 2003...


Why doesn't anyone care about them?

[sschaula]

Hmm...I think I know a few people.

[Philosophaster]

Why doesn't anyone care about them?

They are brown and live somewhere else, therefore they are irrelevant.

[sschaula]

Pessimism sickens me, when no action is taken. What have you two done regarding that situation?

[Unidian]

I also disagree with the "happens every day in Iraq" line of reasoning, which was all over the left-leaning forum scene yesterday. I think war is an entirely different sort of situation that makes these sort of direct comparisons rather silly.

[Unidian]

And yeah, they are really laying it on thick with this "loner" business. After this, anybody who keeps to themselves or has unusual ideas is going to be a potential shooter. On Fox News, some idiotic woman was asking her colleagues how we can learn to tell dangerous people like Cho from "ordinary geeks, loners, and losers." Despite making this statment, she was clueless as to what causes attacks like this.

I can help her out there. Try a mirror.

[Dan Rowden]

I agree with Jimbo, in a sort of rather indirect sense: that woman killed those kids.

Btw, what the hell happened to security on that campus? It goes to show that the demon within will have its way no matter what.

Such is the dark side of life.

[keenobserver]

Typical of academic Americans, we see that none are accepting any responsibility for this latest tragedy, even though Cho spelled it right out for them in his letters.
It is as clear as day to me that he was distanced and rejected by other students and even adults at the university primarily for being different, odd and reserved, which added fuel to the fire, making him increasingly bitter.
If there were an ounce of love in any of them this whole thing could have been avoided.
An "expert" shrink, after reading his play containing violent and sexual refererences, she concluded from this alone that he had a "warped mind!"

And his inquiry of a couple of female students and subsequent attempt to meet them is labeled "stalking," but not so when done by thousands of other (unmarked) boys there.
The teachers and mindless doctors marked him, then of course the girls quickly get word and freak out as soon as he takes a liking to any of them, they no doubt over-reacted making life increasingly miserable for the pitiful outsider, driving him deeper into himself and protecting his thoughts all the more.

I get another sad laugh out of the 76 year old "hero," too weak and too old to leap from the classroom window, what choice did he have but to hold back the door in an attempt to save his own sorry ass?

[Gretchen]

If there were an ounce of love in any of them this whole thing could have been avoided.

How would you suggest the ounce of love be imparted? If you are his age, what steps would you have taken?

Katy:

Why doesn't anyone care about them?

I know I'll get pounced for this one, but the Americans? If you choose to pounce, be ready to defend how you think anything will be resolved for the better if they left.

[Ryan Rudolph]

Here's my quick analysis of the tragedy. To the unenlightened mind, a campus of thousands can be the loneliest place in the world. Without any stable relationships, he fell into a deep pit of despair, and the tendency for the ignorant mind in this situation is to blame ones suffering on others. So the mind unwittingly projects the cause of sorrow on particular groups or types of people, and the elimination of that group or type of people is associated with the ending of their suffering, and so they act.

This South Korean was not a psychopath, he was emotionally disturbed. A psychopath will not kill himself at the end of a rampage, he would instead most likely just casually exit the scene.

Another interesting point is that many of the other western countries such as Canada, UK and Austrialia mentioned their strict gun control laws and how their laws have drastically lowered the homocides rates. Unfortunately, Americans havent followed superior examples as of yet, perhaps it is their pride and identification with the 'gun' as a symbol of 'freedom' that prevents any sort of rational thought. How drole!

[keenobserver]

Shame on you, MSNBC. Shame on you, FOX. Shame on you, CNN!
Shame on you for minimizing his sacrifice.
For talking down the rationale in Cho's "rambling" manifesto, for discounting his accusation of widespread immorality at Virgin Tech.
Shame on you for spinning the facts and not plainly reporting them. To add unethical to immoral. Shame on you, because your denial in the face of your children will bring only more of their suffering and death. And to their children as well.
Shame on you, you so-called professionals, full to the brim with feminine poison suffocating this once great nation.
Nothing but death and suffering is your destiny, not from my hand but from Nature itself.
Anyone with a conscience must be as sick as I.

[sschaula]

This wasn't the result of snobby kids ignoring him, or girls thinking he was a stalker just because he was different. Cho was actually screwed up, probably from childhood events. Read his plays and stop projecting your worldview onto his.

[Katy]

It doesn't have only one cause - he may have had a screwed up childhood, but who didn't? I know a lot of abused kids who have grown up to not kill people. He may have been alienated, but I know hundreds of kids who are alienated and don't go kill people. I know a lot of people who were abused and alienated and don't go kill people. Just because these things don't directly lead to this behavior doesn't mean they are inocent in this behaviour either. Exculpating the other students for their treatment of him because he had a shitty childhood is naive, and while it's great psychologically to be able to point at "someone else" as being at fault... it's not true. The way people treat their peers has incredibly devistating long term effects.

defend how you think anything will be resolved for the better if they left.

That logic was used to keep us in Vietnam for a long time, too.

Btw, what the hell happened to security on that campus? It goes to show that the demon within will have its way no matter what.

Same thing that has happened to security on every campus I've ever been on: money. To be honest, I haven't seen a cop on this campus ever (except for the parking nazis) until yesterday.

[Elizabeth Isabelle]

This wasn't the result of snobby kids ignoring him, or girls thinking he was a stalker just because he was different. Cho was actually screwed up, probably from childhood events. Read his plays and stop projecting your worldview onto his.

Okay, so he was screwed up from childhood stuff. That does not excuse how he was treated by others. Of course how he was treated by others would screw him up even worse, which would make others treat him even more strangely - and anyone treated strangely starts acting more strangely. Yeah, he must have known the pictures under the desk was inappropriate, but sooner or later a person says fuck it, no one is going to accept me anyway, I might as well (fill in blank here). Horrors have to stop somewhere, and for him, this is where they stopped.

Interview with roommates.

Watch this as objective observers. Keep in mind how much someone is going to be willing to say (not much as far as confessing to being a contributor) and consider the warped mentality of "normal" people. Even the reporter, even after getting a full explanation, seemed to think the weirdest thing was that he kept the light on "all night." On clarification, we hear that he left the light on while the roommate was up late studying, and the roommate would turn off the light before he went to bed. What's so weird about that? It sounds considerate to me. And as for this "stalking" - apparently he met a girl online, and after he got to know her a little (and she seems to have lived close - maybe on the same campus) went to meet her in person. The girl freaked out and called the cops. Who knows if he did anything weird or if the girl was easily freaked out. Anyway, after that, one of the roommates would find out whatever girl he was talking to online and "warn her" about him. Uh, yeah - any girl would freak out if someone warned her about a guy she just met - and what kind of a chance would he have of meeting anyone if his roommates were "warning" everyone he tried to meet? And they said they didn't think he would actually harm any of them, but they just wanted to warn the girls because he might freak them out (huh?) and one said he "thought about" following him around to see if he was talking to any other girls so he could warn them too - yet Cho is the one they are accusing of "stalking." Think about it. And this was just the stuff they confessed to doing - thinking they were proving how weird he was by doing such horrible things as not complaining about the light while his roommate was studying. The roommates and the reporter thought like that, and have a look around to see how many other people are thinking like that. Realizing what people are like, it's no wonder he wanted to kill them all. I'm just surprised he didn't get those roommates.
.

[sschaula]

I did watch that roommate interview previously. The one on the left seemed like a dick...but that may just be a personal reaction due to my previous experience with people that wear those kind of hats.

That's not a joke. I'm being serious about the hat thing. In my experience only assholes wear them.

Besides that, the kid was smiling half the time. "What the fuck are you smiling about?" was my initial reaction when I saw that interview.

But the fact is that those roommates did nothing wrong. Cho was actually fucked up, and that was the whole reason why this occurred. He had no sense of others, but only of himself. No compassion or empathy...he was just an endless pit of selfishness. He had no capacity for pain.

Playing devil's advocate in an argument like this only demonizes your position. Seek the truth above all else. The truth so far is that no one did anything to him, and that they actually tried to reach out to him.