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.
