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theapportioner · #1

Note: these comments were posted by me in response to a discussion elsewhere, so it reads like a response to something. Apologies, but it's late and the point is still made.

Although many are quick to blame easy access to guns, gun laws, violent video games, and so on as underlying causes for the VT massacre, I'm not convinced that some sort of cultural pathology is to blame here. Sure, certain things about our society make it easier for school shooters to act out in a violent way, but at least with this kid, there was obviously a psychological problem that greatly predisposed him to what he ended up doing. Just calling him and other kids like him "narcissistic" implies some sort of moral problem that requires some sort of cultural fix, when there are often deep psychological issues that these people are facing. Not to mention, narcissistic personality disorder is a diagnosable condition.

Mental illnesses are terribly undertreated in our society, and in my opinion, if you're searching for underlying problems, that's it. Without knowing the full details of any interventions he might have received, it's likely that cultural barriers, economic barriers, poor access to mental health care, and the stigma of mental illness all contributed to Cho not getting the help he needed. Speaking from my perspective as an east asian, there are definitely cultural peculiarities to how mental illnesses are viewed--as moral defects, physical problems, etc, and an unwillingness to discuss these matters openly.

I think it's unfortunate that calls for improved access to care haven't gotten nearly as much attention as gun control, violent video games, and "security". These warning signs need to be acted upon, by the university, the government, the community (in this case, the Korean-American church community), the family, and in situations where one actually has friends, the friends. The responsibility lies with all these parties.

Courage the Cowardly Dog · #2

As a mentally ill person I agree totally.

BTW They released his Ebay ID. It's blazers5505 His last purchases were 2 Walther PP22 clips.

His last sale was his TI calculator. (with games..... it WAS videogames)

Geggy · #3

The FCC and the media outlets are also partly to blame. There was a reason for the VT shooter to assemble a videotape of his distribe and sending it the NBC headquarter because he knew they would go on to overexpose the video/photographs of him. I find it disgusting and unethical in part of the media for doing so because it poses a risk of encouraging copycat killers to consider going on a rampage for the reason of attention whoring.

Courage the Cowardly Dog · #4

I think in his case he is not doing it for glory. He is doing it cause he hated the people he killed. he hated humanity.

Ant10708 · #5

well he clearly wanted some attention or he wouldn't of made the video or sent in the photos which NBC happily showed to the world, for him

Mr. Vagiclean · #6

attention shmension! he did it for the free psychoanalysis!

I think he REALLY hated the people in college. "Normal" colleges lives are only enjoyable by huge assholes man

Courage the Cowardly Dog · #7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ant10708

well he clearly wanted some attention or he wouldn't of made the video or sent in the photos which NBC happily showed to the world, for him

attention for him? Or attention to how much he hated these people and why?

He didn't want to be seen as a hero he wanted people to see his victims as deserving it.

Oh and the craziness without meds part.

Brandon · #8

when you feel rejected by people as a whole, you feel powerless. violence is the way in which this kid felt he could regain some control. he wanted to be judge, jury, and executioner. i don't think he necessarily wanted or expected people to agree with his views, since he was probably smart enough to know that he'd be seen as a monster regardless of what his manifesto said. but in the end, he was more keen on the idea of going down as a legendary monster than as a rejected nobody.

Sethomas · #9

I think I have a pretty unique perspective on the minds of killers, seeing as I've acted out enough on killer impulses to be committed.

The first thing to understand is that one can almost guarantee that his justifications for the killers were post-hoc. The impulse to kill will install itself in the mind, and if left alone it becomes a comfortable misery.

Social rejection most always results in introspection--what is it about me that makes people hate me--and not resulting in finding faults in others for which they would dislike you. It's a natural tendency to direct fault inwards in a working mind. I have little doubt that his mind did the same thing. However, the impulse to kill began ingrained in him. He had to justify to himself why he would commit an act of insanity, lest he realize that he was insane. When confronted with the fact that he was about to kill people for no reason, he found faults in others simply to save face from the fact that he knew he was damaged. He was angry that he was insane, so he had to perpetuate a lie that he was not insane. That's why he made such a media event out of it.

When I drove three hours to kill someone, I knew I was batshit insane. I just rationalized that being insane was ultimately necessary for a transcendental purpose I never claimed to understand, but whose outline was laid clear out before me. I had a strong feeling in the early phases of madness that I would be stopped by police en route, but I didn't accommodate that thought enough to give it a viable plan. (One reason was that it required in-depth thought, and I refused to give as much to my fixations.) When I was stopped by the police, I had mere seconds to choose between killing them or abandoning ship, and I chose the latter because something so haphazard wouldn't mesh well with transcendental meaning. This is odd because I knew that I would have killed if there had been ONE officer because that'd RSVP my spot on death row, which I wouldn't mind, but when I was pulled over there were two. This would have meant getting shot on the side of the road 150 miles from home, and that's it, which seemed rather silly to me.

So, yeah. The killings had next to nothing to do with social tension, otherwise he would have been very discriminating in his targets. The fact that he said he was punishing some iniquity is countered by the methodical and calculated lack of method or calculation. He killed because he was programmed to kill, and he tried to ameliorate the shame of being a madman by painting himself hap-hazardly as a hero of some sort.

Ant10708 · #10

seth you almost killed a cop once?

Sethomas · #11

I was on a bad medicine combination that amplified what insanity I already had, so I went to kill an old friend of mine but was stopped on the road by cops for a burnt-out license plate light and had my car searched and fortunately had to call it off. Luckily I'm pretty sane now, though this meant coming clean with people and getting kicked out of my dream school. Whether or not I'll ever go back is still in the air, I'm somewhere else now.

Miss Modular · #12

Last night I was really bored at work, so I began reading The Globe, which devoted a feature to "The Secret Gay Life of the VA Tech Killer". I realize it's The Globe, but the article theorized that his homocidal urges were a result of him being unable to express his homosexuality. They interviewed this woman who worked at a gay bar, and she said she saw him there a lot. The article's subheading said he got turned down by a guy, and in the article, they pointed out that his parents were evangelical Christians. I'm not saying that I believe it's true, but if it is, it certainly would put another dimension on the story. Then again, no, it might not.

theapportioner · #13

I've wondered about that too. If you read his plays, ass-raping seems to be quite the prevalent theme...

kahljorn · #14

he probably got assraped a lot i think that explains a lot :O

The One and Only... · #15

Does no one seriously consider the idea that our society is inherently oppressive and that the VT guy was an reaction to it?

Grislygus · #16

Yes, America is so damned oppressive.

Just go to Japan, or something. I'm sure you'd do great at a vocational school.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, that guy's plays sucked.