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Killing spree at VA Tech...

the vj said:
Well, I am not suprise of the guy after watching the video. I even went over that before but teh moderators decided to delet my post (talking about freedom of spech) or do I have to get a gun to make a point as well? because is easyer to do that today in the US than getting respect when you speak.

Did I make a point.

I am suprise no one did something regarding that guy, people led him on his own world. If you ask me I do not blame him even we all are responsable for our mental health but we are a comunity and we are responsible for each other.

I blame the people around him, I blame the people who turn his back on him, because you do not get to that state from one day to the other.
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First, this isn't your website. If what you post offends or disgusts the owners or admins, they can edit your comments. There is no freedom of speech here, this website is private property.

Second, no one who uses a gun to "Get respect" is going to be respected. If you'd consider using violence because it's "easier" maybe you should seek some help. Violence is not the answer to getting your point across.

Lastly, if it's our responsibility to look out for each other and watch out for others.. I'd like to publicly state that you're thoughts are of concern to me. You sympathize with this murderer in a scary way, you seem to identify and agree with his actions and purpose.. and you shouldn't. This person was confused and REALLY needed help. From the sound of your post, you might also.

Feel free to PM if you want to discuss this further.
 
MACDRIVE said:
So does anyone know what Cho was so mad about?

Who was he referring to in the video?
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He left a note in his dorm room that was angry towards "rich kids," "debauchery," and "deceitful charlatans." His video "speech" is mostly rambling, but he does seem to indicate a lot of bitterness at so-called "normal" kids with real social lives (what he calls debauchery). The video indicates that he feels as if he's a martyr for outcasts everywhere. In fact, they did not show it on the news, but there are reports that he praised Harris and Klebold from Columbine for their rampage. They were his heroes essentially. He simply isolated himself into a psychotic shell and it exploded after all these years. :(
 
MACDRIVE said:
So does anyone know what Cho was so mad about?

Who was he referring to in the video?
Click to expand...

Due to the level of his insanity (who in their right mind would do such a thing), it is highly likely that most of the ramblings make no sense outside of his tortured mind. He suffered from delusions, psychosis, and paranoia at a level that he created enemies inside of his head. In other words, he was mad at me and you and pretty much all of society. The important questions we need to be asking is not who... but why and how can we keep this from happening again. What was the "trigger" that made him finally snap? David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) went out and killed a bunch of people at random. Why? The neighbors barking dog told him to do it.
 
... I don't trust a post with so many spelling errors.

specialy wons tht lok lik thr ritten by elven yr olds wo ply WOW all dy. :apple:

Edit: I was talking about a post way back in the thread (I thought it was the last one because the forum went straight to it).
 
the vj said:
Well, I am not suprise of the guy after watching the video. I even went over that before but teh moderators decided to delet my post (talking about freedom of spech) or do I have to get a gun to make a point as well? because is easyer to do that today in the US than getting respect when you speak.

Did I make a point.

I am suprise no one did something regarding that guy, people led him on his own world. If you ask me I do not blame him even we all are responsable for our mental health but we are a comunity and we are responsible for each other.

I blame the people around him, I blame the people who turn his back on him, because you do not get to that state from one day to the other.

Again... remember the corpose of the old man who spent a year on his chair watching TV and no one did anything.

Everybody felt sad for him but as you can see, many people are living the same isolation alive.

Who have you been rejecting is what you should be thinking about?
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Well, what I'm thinking about is "rejecting you" for what you wrote. Seriously, we all go through some kind of rejection and neglect of one form or another as we go through life, but that in no way gives us the excuse to kill someone. Especially a room full of innocent people! It is our obligations as intelligent beings to rise above criticism and ridicule. As for parents and teachers, it is their responsiblity to teach kids that things can and do get better. The best revenge is to prove people (who judge you) wrong by becoming a better person. Bill Gates was a nerd in college and I'm sure he got a lot of teasing. I wonder how many people regret being an ass towards him now that he's the richest man on the planet and is making a global difference by creating a foundation that is working to fight disease? Of course though, Bill wasn't crazy. The only "excuse" Cho had would be that he was indeed crazy and had somehow lost control of his mental processes. For that, maybe as a society we need to share the blame. We are too fixated on bling-bling, American Idol and the death of Anna Nicole Smith, instead of how our fellow man is doing. I don't have the answers, but I do know for sure that killing people to justify being treated badly is NOT right.
 
THX1139 said:
Well, what I'm thinking about is "rejecting you" for what you wrote. Seriously, we all go through some kind of rejection and neglect of one form or another as we go through life, but that in no way gives us the excuse to kill someone. Especially a room full of innocent people! It is our obligations as intelligent beings to rise above criticism and ridicule. As for parents and teachers, it is their responsiblity to teach kids that things can and do get better. The best revenge is to prove people (who judge you) wrong by becoming a better person. Bill Gates was a nerd in college and I'm sure he got a lot of teasing. I wonder how many people regret being an ass towards him now that he's the richest man on the planet and is making a global difference by creating a foundation that is working to fight disease? Of course though, Bill wasn't crazy. The only "excuse" Cho had would be that he was indeed crazy and had somehow lost control of his mental processes. For that, maybe as a society we need to share the blame. We are too fixated on bling-bling, American Idol and the death of Anna Nicole Smith, instead of how our fellow man is doing. I don't have the answers, but I do know for sure that killing people to justify being treated badly is NOT right.
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I agree, and would like to extend on that point... that is, granted that it's obviously wrong to kill people (i hope that's obvious to us all here), i do hope that we don't start shifting ALL the blame and judgements towards one person, (or to particular kinds of people) which is the easy and simplistic (dumb) way of thinking. It seems though that this is the path that most people and the media takes. I think we can isolate the crime and the circumstance we face, and that is: there are people out there who are rediculed and outcasted simply because they are different, it doesnt make them wrong, after all, society is a social construct. The main issue is that we immediately start judging each other when it goes against the stream of "public" attitude, (like in this case, no comments regarding cho's well being and self reflections as a society are tolerated by the "public"). This happened at 911, happened with iraq, and it happens as well on issues of smaller scales and consequences. We just have to accept that things are not that simple, so dont rule people out too quickly.

(They should really have spell check on this) :p
 
MACDRIVE said:
So does anyone know what Cho was so mad about?
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Cho was a withdrawn senior, he'd been in college for at least 4 years but had made no friends and apparently frightened many people. You can only guess at things like this.. but I've got a hunch that the fact that he'd be graduating soon, that his withdrawn, quiet (and in his mind victimized) self was going to have to go out in the real world and face reality pretty soon. I may turn out to be wrong, but the fact that his inner, closed world of delusion was going to come to an end soon with graduation might have been the breaking point.

The question I'd like to know is why did he choose Norris Hall? He was an english major, that was an engineering building... why did he go there and not somewhere else?
 
I am upset that NBC decided to air the tapings and give the man what he wanted . I think it was a bad decision, and out of respect for the Virginians. Also the fear of copy cats since we are having reports in Cali of it happening now.
 
some of you should consider the possibility that cho was a person with schizophrenia. he had delusions of grandeur, paranoia, persecutory voices, and as many of you have written, had disorganized thinking (i.e., evidenced by his writing).

the fact that mental health people were unable to pursue further testing on cho when he had so many red flags is a wake-up call to reconsider our legislative process and mental health systems.

to think cho was so tortured for so long, without outside intervention (cuz let's face it, he would never commit himself because of his paranoia), really makes me sad. im not apologizing for cho, but i think we should be more understanding of the killer instead of distancing ourselves from him. we can learn from this experience, and save future lives, if we can recognize mental illness sooner.
 
cr2sh said:
Cho was a withdrawn senior, he'd been in college for at least 4 years but had made no friends and apparently frightened many people. You can only guess at things like this.. but I've got a hunch that the fact that he'd be graduating soon, that his withdrawn, quiet (and in his mind victimized) self was going to have to go out in the real world and face reality pretty soon. I may turn out to be wrong, but the fact that his inner, closed world of delusion was going to come to an end soon with graduation might have been the breaking point.

The question I'd like to know is why did he choose Norris Hall? He was an english major, that was an engineering building... why did he go there and not somewhere else?
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officials speculate that he choose that building because the doors were wooden without peepholes, and they were unlockable.

also, some of the murdered victims were english majors, and i would suspect that norris hall shares some rooms with the english department. but thats a guess.
 
kitki83 said:
I am upset that NBC decided to air the tapings...
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I think it's funny how all of the stations were showing it last night but today they're taking the high road. I sat here late last night and watched fox news, larry king/cnn, and bunch of other stations showing it... but today they're frowning on nbc for airing it.

:rolleyes:
 
cr2sh said:
I think it's funny how all of the stations were showing it last night but today they're taking the high road. I sat here late last night and watched fox news, larry king/cnn, and bunch of other stations showing it... but today they're frowning on nbc for airing it.

:rolleyes:
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I actually sent an email to cnn chastizing them for giving so much focus on Cho. On their home page, there was an image of Cho pointing his gun directly at the camera. By publishing such images they are becoming accomplices in his aberrant behaviours and are guilty of terrorizing their audiences. Cho knew the news outlets would have a field day with the gift he sent them. He knew it would allow him to live on in infamy and give him a platform for his paranoid agenda. Shame on them and all news outlets that are capitalizing on this tragedy! Sure, the public has a right to know... and I'm against censorship, but I'm also against how they are going about it.

Today was much better. Cho was relagated to a smaller portion of the website (but still accessabe which is okay by me), and they were honoring all of the victims with a special feature that showcased the individuals. Very nicely done!!
 
TequilaBoobs said:
some of you should consider the possibility that cho was a person with schizophrenia. he had delusions of grandeur, paranoia, persecutory voices, and as many of you have written, had disorganized thinking (i.e., evidenced by his writing).

the fact that mental health people were unable to pursue further testing on cho when he had so many red flags is a wake-up call to reconsider our legislative process and mental health systems.

to think cho was so tortured for so long, without outside intervention (cuz let's face it, he would never commit himself because of his paranoia), really makes me sad. im not apologizing for cho, but i think we should be more understanding of the killer instead of distancing ourselves from him. we can learn from this experience, and save future lives, if we can recognize mental illness sooner.
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But the question is how to we define a person as insane or mentally unstable?

After all there are many "insane" people who were great artists, writers, and painters.
 
princealfie said:
But the question is how to we define a person as insane or mentally unstable?

After all there are many "insane" people who were great artists, writers, and painters.
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well, in the US, to be involuntarily committed a person has to be a(n imminent) danger to him/herself or others, resulting from mental illness. some types of schizophrenia, personality disorders and psychoses are all prime examples of 'violent' types of people w/mental illness.

there are tons of other mentally ill people that aren't a danger to society or themself. salvadore dali, jackson pollack, basquiat, etc. all had severe mental illnesses and they channeled that energy into their art. possibly if they had been treated w/the meds of today they would not have florished in their respective fields.
 
TequilaBoobs said:
well, in the US, to be involuntarily committed a person has to be a(n imminent) danger to him/herself or others, resulting from mental illness. some types of schizophrenia, personality disorders and psychoses are all prime examples of 'violent' types of people w/mental illness.

there are tons of other mentally ill people that aren't a danger to society or themself. salvadore dali, jackson pollack, basquiat, etc. all had severe mental illnesses and they channeled that energy into their art. possibly if they had been treated w/the meds of today they would not have florished in their respective fields.
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They also mentioned on msnbc in one of their live interviews he also had an imaginary girlfriend... so schizophrenia isn't so far fetched in his case.
 
Hi
kitki83 said:
I am upset that NBC decided to air the tapings and give the man what he wanted . I think it was a bad decision, and out of respect for the Virginians. Also the fear of copy cats since we are having reports in Cali of it happening now.
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I fail to see how this would have made a difference for disrespect from copycats. Even if the news didn't release the killers name, it wouldn't make a difference. Pranksters are there without these types of events. It wouldn't even matter how many were killed. It's not the glory of Cho that's pushing them to do these pranks. It's their classmates and friends. You become the cool kid if you can stop school, which is what most students want. It's just like skipping class. It's not who has done it before you, it's the action. These kids know that if they make any sort of threat, it will be taken at the most serious degree.

I also don't see this as disrespectful to the victims or their families / friends. I was appreciative for understanding more of what happened and why.

Based on the evidence, the fact of the matter is that it was all out of jealousy. That's it. Pathetic really as most aren't "rich kids." Sure, schools and whatnot always have their 'jocks' and whatnot bragging about this or that but it's not something to get bent out of shape about.

What I've read -- it sounds plausible -- is that the first two victims were something of true intention. Apparently the young woman killed was one of which Cho was obsessed with but was rejected by and the young man was her roommate trying to intervene. At that point, I'm sure Cho thought it was best to continue what he thought would relieve his anger towards others of the things classmates may have teased him of. I know how it feels to be teased, I do but by no means did I ever feel it reasonable to kill others over it. Myself perhaps. However, none of those would solve the problem anyway. Though, some don't realize that.

Call it what you will but the medical standpoint is that Cho melted into this 'me against the world' attitude that some younger adults do and they simply can't handle it and begin thinking completely irrationally. Of course, this usually leads simply suicide but sometimes it also leads to [mass] murder before the suicide.

In closing, airing such materials is one of the last things people should be getting their "panties in a knot" about. What should be done however, in terms of news, is to make it blatantly known to viewers, readers, and listeners that this sort of behavior is more than completely wrong and pointless.
 
I think kitki just means that some will identify with Cho's purpose and mission as he talks about it in the tapes. Maybe hard for you to believe, but certainly some will glorify Cho more now and see him as a role model.
 
With everyone questioning "what we can do to prevent an event like this in the future", the only way is to have society fully understand the culprit and his/her motives not shelter them from the facts.

The reasons for showing the footage is necessary and hardly inappropriate (other than the timing and potential insensitivity to the friends and family of the injured and deceased)

Even thought this is fresh and hurts for some - keep in mine that this may be healing for some, as well as may just cause people to further investigate the actions/intentions of people around them after seeing these graphic depictions to potentially save future lives.

I am glad that NBC didn't censor the news it isn't there place (and is at the discretion of the audience on when enough is enough - AKA tune out) - sometimes the news is just plain hard to hear but we shouldn't turn a blind eye.

P.S. -
I am ashamed that they used it as a PR blitz by plastering the NBC Peacock on every still and video released to all the other news networks.
 
mustard said:
With everyone questioning "what we can do to prevent an event like this in the future", the only way is to have society fully understand the culprit and his/her motives not shelter them from the facts.

The reasons for showing the footage is necessary and hardly inappropriate (other than the timing and potential insensitivity to the friends and family of the injured and deceased)

Even thought this is fresh and hurts for some - keep in mine that this may be healing for some, as well as may just cause people to further investigate the actions/intentions of people around them after seeing these graphic depictions to potentially save future lives.

I am glad that NBC didn't censor the news it isn't there place (and is at the discretion of the audience on when enough is enough - AKA tune out) - sometimes the news is just plain hard to hear but we shouldn't turn a blind eye.

P.S. -
I am ashamed that they used it as a PR blitz by plastering the NBC Peacock on every still and video released to all the other news networks.
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There is a huge difference between reporting the news and showcasing it for profit. Which do you think was being done? Tell me again, how does that help people? Sure, we need to learn from mistakes, but showing repeated coverage of an insane killer on television, or his mug plastered on all the front pages of magazines and newspapers is beyond comprehension. There is such a thing as too much! Frankly, I don't see how playing into Cho's after-death wishes to get his twisted message out to the masses helps people, or how the media being an accomplice to his delusions is going to save lives. I understand what you might be trying to say... but what you wrote is utter B.S. It serves nothing other than to incite more fear and revulsion, and perhaps to inspire other crazy people to come out of the closet.
 
I love how the media has now started to cover how they covered the vtech shootings. Its so self-reflexive. Whatever damage its caused, oh well, its already done. Now theyre switching to coverage of the victims which is what they should have done in the first place.
 
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