Is there someone to blame? I'd say 80% of people blame him, the other 20% of people feel sorry for him as well as the victims. I fall into the latter category. Yes, he is responsible for the largest 'mass' shooting in North American history, but let's take a look at what might have lead to this. The family came to the US in 1992 to live a better life than they did in South Korea. When they first arrived there, they lived in a really poor area. While I may not know a lot of the details as I am watching this stuff on TV and reading it on citynews.ca - I think there are many things that may have lead up to this. Of course, he may have just been pure evil, but from the clip (see below) you can see that a lot of stuff he says is incoherent and that he is delusional (i.e. having a fixed, false belief). He also makes some reference to Christianity. He was a really quiet guy, that got bullied... I think all that chronic bullying finally got to him; it says that a bully actually offered to pay him to talk. I think that the disparity between the very wealthy and the extreme poor got to him as well.
I agree, there's no excuse for killing - but the warning signs for this man was there. Stalking 2 girls, the disturbing writings he possessed - obviously this guy had problems. You know how they say that patients can only receive treatment if they consent to it? Well, if individuals pose a great harm to society without treatment, I think they should be forced. Yes, everyone is 'different' - but I think that staff/faculty members, as well as students should keep an eye out for potential warning signs. "Everyone needs a friend." Sadly, I doubt he had any.
Secondly, what's with this gun policy?? As Rosanna mentioned in her blog, the only people that should own guns are the police. Unless you're in a 3rd world country or a businessman in Jamaica, there's no need for you to own a gun. Did the man ask Cho-Seung Hui what he was using it for? Did he ask for any other additional information like... age, occupation, reason for purchase. It's so scary to think that anyone can have access to a gun.
Lastly, what's with the emphasis on 'largest mass shooting in North American history'. Mass shooting ANYWHERE is bad, but look at the news coverage for this. Death - regardless of whose death it is, is bad. It hits closer to home because we're on the same continent and we're students. But are our lives really worth more than those hundreds and thousands of African children that die because of starvation, diseases etc. Is it because that deaths in Africa occur so frequently and so often that we become desensitized to it? Are not more families affected because of those deaths? AIDS mostly takes away the lives of those who are in the working class, and gravely affects the economics for that continent. Are these deaths (both massing shooting and starvation) somewhat preventable - I'd argue that they're possible to prevent.
Yes, if it happened at U of T, I'd be terrified. If someone close that I knew died as a result of a mass shooting. I'd probably want to kill the murderer myself. Killing is wrong, but I think for this case - he was not in a rational state. Maybe a bit more sensitive than others when people made fun of him, perhaps a bit too isolated (no friends), who knows what his family life was like? He needed help - but was offered none.
R.I.P. VT victims.
3 comments:
With respect to the VT victims, you should probably remove that video of the shooter giving his "confession."
Its very unfortunate that events like this have to happen, especially when so many of the people involved are/were innocent.
Who really knows what was going on in his mind? But it allows us appreciate the complexity of the mind as well as realizing that everything we do or say has an effect on someone.
I don't know much about US politics and history, but I think its in their constitution or something that says they have a right to carry firearms. I think some people are way too obsessed and fight to keep this right,which is why its relatively easy to obtain these firearms.
The Virginia school shooting is devastating and my heart goes out to the victims and their families. But I do agree whole-heartedly with you that the shooter deserves a bit of sympathy. He was a young man in need of help and unfortunately, none was given to him. No one is born a killer (at least, I don't think so). Society, events that happened in our lives, ultimately shape and mold us into who we are today. And for Cho Seung-Hui, his life obviously meant nothing to him, as did the lives of others. A person who has lost all sense of worth has nothing further to lose.
Somewhere along the way, something within him snapped and he became a cold blooded killer. I sympathize deeply for his family and for all who loved him, because they are the ones who remain behind to ask the "Why?" and the "What went wrong?"
I read in the newspapers that Cho Seung-Hui was also bullied relentlessly in school because of his race. We need to listen to Cho's words and heed his concerns as he eerily echoes those of previous school shooters outraged at what they perceived as an unjust school hierarchy that used them as the pariahs to reinforce their own social status and power. Yet in this tragedy, as in past school shootings, authorities ignore the shooters' own explanations for their crimes, instead labeling the horror as merely an aberration. The mental illness that may well have plagued Cho is only a piece of a story. As we mourn the victims of the terror Cho wrought at Virginia Tech, we need also to ask how the bullying he experienced may have pushed him over the edge.
Most of us who have been victims of bullies don't respond by becoming mass murderers thankfully. Some with mental issues may be pushed over the edge by years of it. It's sad that it takes a shooting for people to stop saying, "It's just part of growing up". If you're one of the weak, school feels like a prison you've been sentenced to, even though you haven't committed a crime. I feel with a little less cruelty inflicted on these individuals, it wouldn't come to this. It's easier for people to dismiss this as "evil" instead of thinking they might have some responsibility.
Post a Comment