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Virginia Tech Shooting

meeshmeesh
edited April 2007 in General
Globe and Mail article

This is so very, very sad. The number of fatalities is just shocking!

The shooting happened all the way across the continent, but thinking about it, this could happen at any university, at any time.

I feel so sorry for the victims and their families--those who were killed died because of some sick lunatic...for no reason at all.

And apparently, as soon as news broke out the incident, FOX news immediately started bringing in experts to talk about how video games played a role...
there's obviously a force much bigger than the influence of video games that made this young man cause so much suffering--if only I was an expert on psychoanalysis, but I'm not.

what are your guys' thoughts?

Comments

  • BiLOLogy
    edited April 2007
    I've been trying to keep up to date with the events and it really is a very sad and tragic event. It hits so much closer to home because all it takes is one university student who's frustrated with exams, personal life, or even bullying to pull a stunt like this.

    With that said, most of the information about the gunman is just speculation at this point since the cops haven't released the identity of the preliminary suspect. For all we know, it could have been some wackjob off the street who was having a bad day. Unlikely, but not impossible!

    May they RIP.
  • BiLOLogy
    edited April 2007
    From CNN:

    NEW: No ID on shooter; school president says it was Asian student living in dorm
  • meeshmeesh
    edited April 2007
    "Authorities are investigating whether the shooter was a 24- year-old Chinese national who arrived in San Francisco on a United Airlines flight August 7 on a student visa issued in Shanghai, the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reported on its Web site, citing an unidentified official. Jennifer Galt, a spokeswoman for the U.S. consulate in Shanghai, declined to comment." -- Associated Press

    I actually have a friend from way back in elementary school who now goes to university in Virginia. I was really worried today as I vaguely remembered which university it was, but thankfully she goes to University of Virginia and not Virginia Tech. Although, her campus is only about an hour and a half away and many of her friends are deeply affected by this tragedy.

    and what about the time span in between the two shootings? one early in the morning which killed 2 students in the dorms, and the other shooting two hours later which I guess killed 31, including faculty and students. are the two shootings linked? were there two shooters, not one? does that mean there could be one on the loose??
  • Malakaiii
    edited April 2007
    Looks like there is some confusion about the guy's nationality. This article says that he was South Korean and 23.

    So very, very sad. I agree that you can't help but wonder what brought him to this point, as it certainly wasn't videogames! SO many people play videogames, but only a few end up shooting people...
  • El_Cambumbo
    edited April 2007
    You know, everytime shit like this happens, it's always at a school or a shopping mall, those fuckers always target innocent and defenseless people. They couldn't do it at a board meeting of a tobacco company or something. And the thing that really makes my blood boil is that when they feel that they don't want to live anymore, they have to bring a bunch of other people with them. When I read that he is a loner and an english major, it doesn't surprise me one bit.The real psychos are almost always the quiet, soft spoken, introvert types. Whenever I meet people like that, I always try to distant myself from them because I don't know what the hell is brewing in their heads. Anyways, my condolences go out to the deceased and their families.
  • BiLOLogy
    edited April 2007
    They're still trying to figure out if the two shootings are related or not. If they are related, this is what people think he did:

    1) He recently issued a bomb threat to see the police response time
    2) First shooting occured so that cops would be busy investigating
    3) Waits two hours
    4) Walks into engineering building, chains the doors, and starts shooting
  • Smiles
    edited April 2007
    Apparently, the 2 shootings seem to be linked to the same guy. The first shooting started as a domestic dispute with a g/f at the dorms. The resident advisor comes to check what is going on and he gets shot too. 2 hours later the killer goes to the enginering classroom and opens fire & was going up and down the hall, opening fire in some of the other classrooms. The tv news mentioned the guy is from south korea.

    This is really a tragic event. My heart goes out to all the victims, friends, families, school & community. I can't even imagine what they are going through.
  • Magnificent_BastardMagnificent_Bastard
    edited April 2007
    El_Cambumbo said:
    You know, everytime shit like this happens, it's always at a school or a shopping mall, those fuckers always target innocent and defenseless people. They couldn't do it at a board meeting of a tobacco company or something. And the thing that really makes my blood boil is that when they feel that they don't want to live anymore, they have to bring a bunch of other people with them. When I read that he is a loner and an english major, it doesn't surprise me one bit.The real psychos are almost always the quiet, soft spoken, introvert types. Whenever I meet people like that, I always try to distant myself from them because I don't know what the hell is brewing in their heads. Anyways, my condolences go out to the deceased and their families.
    It's a way of being remembered. If you're not gonna be remembered for the good shit you did, you'll go down as not just a moderate douchebag, but as a really big douchebag.

    Dr. Phil blamed it on videogames. He's quite a douche himself.
  • El_Cambumbo
    edited April 2007
    Magnificent_Bastard said:
    It's a way of being remembered. If you're not gonna be remembered for the good shit you did, you'll go down as not just a moderate douchebag, but as a really big douchebag.

    Dr. Phil blamed it on videogames. He's quite a douche himself.
    Well, he is Korean, those guys love their video games. He must've practiced his shot on CS. I found this play he wrote, check it out.

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html

    This is absolutely horrible, and this guy is supposed to be an English major. I've seen better writings on xanga. You know, if I came halfway across the world and paid out the ass for an expensive education and this was the best I could do, I'd be pissed off too.
  • Magnificent_BastardMagnificent_Bastard
    edited April 2007
    El_Cambumbo said:
    Well, he is Korean, those guys love their video games. He must've practiced his shot on CS. I found this play he wrote, check it out.

    http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html

    This is absolutely horrible, and this guy is supposed to be an English major. I've seen better writings on xanga. You know, if I came halfway across the world and paid out the ass for an expensive education and this was the best I could do, I'd be pissed off too.

    Nah, cause if he was true Korean, it would've went down like this:

    "ZERG RUSH!!!1! KEKEKEKE!"


    But yeah, I read two pages of that play...and man....it was pretty bad.
    "Man-to-man up your ass, bud!" <--you can't find that kind of quality writing anywhere these days.
  • meeshmeesh
    edited April 2007
    yeah actually two of his plays are posted on AOL because of the staff there was in a screenwriting class with the shooter.

    http://newsbloggers.aol.com/2007/04/17/cho-seung-huis-plays/

    i couldn't even focus on how bad the writing was because the content was just so twisted...and i just couldn't follow his train of thought......
  • El_Cambumbo
    edited April 2007
    And apparently he sent a package to nbc with a video and a bunch of pictures too. This shows that he is a total attention whore, I hope that he'll be buried here, because I don't want to fly to Korea to piss on his grave.
  • siuying
    edited April 2007
    so he might be an attention seeker.. but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be given that.. especially when he's displaying various symptoms that are abnormal.. my point is that.. there could be a chance that this could be prevented if only someone had paid attn..

    honestly speaking.. i blame the media for doing extensive coverage of such shootings and having experts say this and that to which kids and teenagers hear and will remember.. and if one day they do snap.. guess what they're going to do? after the first extensive coverage of the school shootings.. 2 immediately follow including this one..

    i have read parts of the 8-page rant and the things he said on the video.. i can't help but feel that some rich kids bullied him to the point to which he decided to snap.. it's sad.. the students say there wasn't any sort of discrimination and that everyone is friends with people from different cultures.. but honestly.. can there be a place truly free of discrimination? it's just sad how some people think they have everything and go create happiness out of someone's misery.. it's absolutely unnecessary to do that sort of things...

    my condolences to the grievings and the death ones..
    and rmb to pay attention to ppl you care.. =)
  • meeshmeesh
    edited April 2007
    now i'm not denying that there have probably been a few people who have tormented him, but from testimonies from university classmates and faculty, some of them made an effort to try to talk to him, but he shut them out. he didn't leave anyone much of chance to redeem what others have done unto him.

    personally, I don't think the shooter just suddenly snapped one day and decided he wanted to kill as many innoncent people as he could. this rage had been built up inside him, and his methodical approach of the attack implies to me that he had thought long and hard about this.
    though I do agree that the extensive coverage in the media is really putting images into minds that perhaps will lead to copycats (as we've seen so many similar cases after Columbine).

    and i think there was much attention towards his behaviour, as a roommate had reported to the police a few years ago that Cho had suicidal tendencies, and he was even treated at a mental facility off-campus at one point (from what CNN reports anyway), but I don't know whether this attack could've been prevented. as much as I would like to say that there were so many warning signs that maybe people could've done something, it seems to me he never explicitly threatened to harm others, and the authorities can't just arrest somebody because they act "strangely".

    anyway, this is all just speculation from my point of view...there really is no right or wrong answer to the root of this event.
    though honestly, the moment he decided to pull the trigger, taking the lives of so many innocent people, i lost ANY ounce of sympathy for what he had to say.

    such a tragedy :( and too many gone too soon...

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