Another School Shooting

[steel]

This is just horrible.

 

I don't understand why noone is holding the school partly responsible for the deaths of their students. I'm watching all the news reports and reading the articles. It's like they're ignoring the fact that this school totally dropped the ball. They knew there was a gunman on the loose who had already shot two people yet they chose to send an email that only said there is a shooting being investigated. No classes cancelled, nothing. The gunman is on the loose for 2 hours on campus. The gunman starts killing people in another building and then the school sends out an email for students to stay inside. They should have a system on campus that automatically leaves voicemails and messages for their students. The school I went to did. They should have had police posted warning people not to go to class. Most people aren't even going to look at their email before going to class. They had even already gone through this once when at the beginning of the semester they had an escaped convict on the loose on campus. This school's administration are apparently idiots.

The first two shootings happened on the other side of campus. That building was completely locked down. There isn't even proof that the shooters were the same person in both occurences. This was not at all the school's fault. They did everything in their power to keep their students safe. There was no way they could have predicted the second shootings.

 

My condolences to all those who lost friends and family this morning.

[texashorns82492]

Its things like this that piss me off. When will all this crap end?

[Dailey Enterprizes]

This shooting hit me hard. I knew a lot of kids from high school who went to VT and I can only imagine the horror that they went through. To be honest, this was worse than 9/11 for me...

[thrillrideseeker]

Its things like this that piss me off. When will all this crap end?

 

I really do not things like this will ever end. No matter how hard a place tries to keep people safe, there will always be people who find ways around it. For example: Metal Detectors. Even if every place in the world installed them people would find ways to get things pass them. OMG it is things like this that instill fear in people. Grrrr why do people have to be so stupid?

~Matthew

[Corkscrewed]

This is just horrible.

 

I don't understand why noone is holding the school partly responsible for the deaths of their students. I'm watching all the news reports and reading the articles. It's like they're ignoring the fact that this school totally dropped the ball. They knew there was a gunman on the loose who had already shot two people yet they chose to send an email that only said there is a shooting being investigated. No classes cancelled, nothing. The gunman is on the loose for 2 hours on campus. The gunman starts killing people in another building and then the school sends out an email for students to stay inside. They should have a system on campus that automatically leaves voicemails and messages for their students. The school I went to did. They should have had police posted warning people not to go to class. Most people aren't even going to look at their email before going to class. They had even already gone through this once when at the beginning of the semester they had an escaped convict on the loose on campus. This school's administration are apparently idiots.

The first two shootings happened on the other side of campus. That building was completely locked down. There isn't even proof that the shooters were the same person in both occurences. This was not at all the school's fault. They did everything in their power to keep their students safe. There was no way they could have predicted the second shootings.

 

My condolences to all those who lost friends and family this morning.

 

Officials thought the gunman had left. That it was an isolated incident. How many people come back two hours later to continue a rampage?

 

But you can bet that in the future, schools will probably be in total lockdown at the first sign of any shooting until the suspect is captured.

[Chrissie]

The identity of the gunman has been confirmed. He was an undergraduate who was a resident alien from South Korea.

 

This is so sad.

I still don't understand what posesses someone to do something like this. I guess we will never know.

 

My thoughts go out to the family and friends of the victims.

[CoasterExpert13]

Another school shooting...It saddens me....I just don't understand some people....It's getting to the point where nothing surprises me anymore. I mean this sh*t is plain ridiculous. I pray for those affected by this tragedy.

[BelizeIt]

^^Well Diddi, I'm sure because of this horrific event, that the debate over gun laws/ownership will come up once again. But in the end, the actions of this One Individual will not likely dictate a change in the 2nd Amendment "rights of the people to keep and bear arms".

 

Personally I don't own a gun, but because One Individual goes out and commits an act of unspeakable violence, doesn't mean that we as a people should overturn or forego one of our Constitutional Rights.

 

EDIT: Their was a post from someone named Diddi who made a comment about gun laws/ownership, but it has apparently been deleted.

[Diddi]

Yeah and I'd like to know why.

[Wes]

I deleted it because I don't think this thread is the appropriate place for a gun control debate, which could easily spiral out of control into a flame war.

 

Let's stick to the topic at hand, not who or who shouldn't have guns.

[Diddi]

Ok, sorry but if this incident doesn't deserve a gunlaw discussion then I'd like to ask you what else has to happen before a gunlaw discussion is appropriate?!

[Wes]

I don't think these forums are the appropriate place for that discussion. Threads dealing with hot button, highly polarizing topics usually end in gigantic bitch fests that have to get shut down.

 

I'd rather this thread exist to discuss the news and reactions to the event, than have it turn into a ideological argument.

[thrillrideseeker]

"Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui named as gunman, but officials are unable to find a motive" Well now they know who did it. Here is the whole story -> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070417/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting

~Matthew

[redfoot12]

This whole thing just sickens me.

[ginzo]

I'd rather this thread exist to discuss the news and reactions to the event, than have it turn into a ideological argument.

 

I agree. I find it odd how TV news has already moved in the direction of framing this awful incident in the context of "the gun control debate". A few politicians are disgustingly trying to cash in on this already, before we've even had a chance to contemplate the magnitude and reality of the situation.

[Corkscrewed]

As senseless as this is, I think I'm beginning to understand at least what was going on in this guy's head.

 

NOTE: The following is speculation, done purely out of my own amateur interest in psychiatry/psychology. I am not asserting any or all of this is true. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if aspects of the following mind study turn out to be true. In any case, I hope it's an interesting read.

 

 

 

News reports have described this guy as a loner whose creative writings were so disturbing that administrators were actually concerned. He's also a resident alien from Korea, having moved to the US 15 years ago.

 

My guess is this kid has always been socially challenged, and over time, it's twisted him into a dark, methodically murderous individual filled with jealousy and rage. But at the same time, he kept quiet, kept to himself, and never really could vent. Or knew how to vent. Or had anyone he could vent to.

 

Imagine this possible scenario: you're eight years old and you arrive in the United States, fresh from South Korea. Perhaps your English isn't that good, or you don't speak English at all. In American school culture, that almost automatically qualifies you for targeting. Kids can be cruel, so they probably make fun of you. Tease you for your accent, or your inability to speak English. Bully you because you can't fight back or don't. Perhaps you're not so well off, so they harass you about that. You don't know how to handle this. You're a quiet kid by nature. You don't know how to react.

 

Or maybe you're just ostracized. There doesn't even have to be any physical abuse. Just isolation. No one cares to be your friend. You never develop any deep friendships. You're just a kid in a new land without any friends.

 

It's not hard to start developing bitterness--towards the world, towards your schoolmates, towards your parents for doing this to you.

 

You pass through elementary school, junior high, and high school. You continue to be mostly a loner. Perhaps you hang out with other school outcasts, and though you may have acquaintances, you never really have what most people would term as friends.

 

Maybe you question yourself. Maybe you question the world. Or God. You're not a violent person... at least not yet... but you're bitter about being alone. Being different. You want to fit in, but you can't. Nobody wants you.

 

It's not hard to see how, over time, what started out as frustration, bitterness, and jealousy can intensify and evolve into something that eventually provokes physical action. Left to simmer and fester long enough, any feeling can turn extreme and fanatical. And this guy had years to brew.

 

By college, you may have given up hope of ever having real friends or being loved and accepted. Even little things remind you of your outsider status. You apply to college; you have to input your green card number. You remember you're not even an American citizen. You are intrinsically different.

 

Where else is there to go but inward? So you lose yourself in your mind, your fantasies, your musings. You envy everyone around you--everyone who seems so happy, so cared for. They have friends. You don't. They have people who they can depend on. People would care for them. Who would be concerned. You feel that you do not. You retreat to your mind.

 

You craft imaginaries worlds that suit your desires. You write about situations you'd like to see. By now, your bitterness may have evolved into full-fledged hate. If you cannot have happiness, why should others?

 

Your writings adopt this tone. They speak of violence and retribution. They target those who have been harsh to you in the past. They exact vengeance on those who have wronged you.

 

Eventually, the category of those who have wronged you includes not only those who have actually picked on you before, but anyone who has what you don't. Jealousy and bitterness has spiraled out of control, beyond rationality, and you believe that THEY must pay. THEM. Everyone who is not you. Everyone who does not share your pain. Which, in your mind, is everyone. Period.

 

Who knows what might have sparked the first idea to finally take action. Perhaps you simply decided you had taken enough. Perhaps it was a movie. Or a TV show. Or a video game. Or a conversation overheard. Or a book. Or a play. Or something else you read. In any case, you decide that people must feel the pain that you have felt. The agony and despair, that feeling of empty loss that you have endured over the past decade and a half in this country. You must show them that.

 

Remember, you reason, everyone else is so happy and free. No one knows how you feel. Not even your parents, those wretched parents who brought you here in the first place.

 

So you plan an attack. Purchase the weapons. Decide upon a location. And when the morning rises, you carry out your attack. You go to another dorm and shoot two people. Maybe one of them was that girl you were interested in but never knew you existed... and had offended you by that very inaction. Maybe not. Maybe you shoot random people, because inflicting pain on others--that "same" pain you've felt... it feels good.

 

Maybe you waver midway... or maybe you run out of ammo. In any case, you return to your dorm after the first incident and ponder for a time. Is there regret? Maybe. But sooner or later, your feelings of hate overpower any regret you may have had. You've passed the point of no return, and you know it. Nothing can ever be the same again. What you've done cannot be taken back, regardless of whether or not you would have wanted to.

 

Now you make the decision to end your life, but not before you take as many lives of others as you can. That will be your message to the world... that will be your legacy: to deliver the bitter torture you experienced to the world.

 

You reload. You exit your dorm. You go to an engineering building. You barricade the doors so any fleeing students will be trapped--trapped like you have felt trapped within your isolation for so many years. (This may not be a conscious thought, but it certainly manifests somewhere in your mind.)

 

You go from classroom to classroom with the same objective: kill as many students as you can. You don't know them. They dont' know you. But it doesn't matter, because for as long as you can really remember, no one has really known you.

 

You say nothing as you shoot, reload, and shoot again. Some of the students resist and barricade doors. You try to shoot through, but no luck. A setback, but no time to dwell. Move on to the next scene.

 

By the time you are done, you have shot dozens and killed 32. And maybe at that moment, the gravity of your actions finally hits you viscerally and makes you stop. Or maybe you just got tired. But with nothing else to do... with nothing else to live for after this... it's time to take your own life.

 

A shot to the head, and finally, after all these years, the pain is over.

[CommanderLock]

^Whoa. That sounds pretty plausible as a reason for how this could have happened. I'm sure Jack Thompson went "He played violent video games and thought he could do the same, of course!"

I can really see some of this actually being true.

 

EDIT: As for the "disturbing creative works", sometimes people create disturbing things at low points in their life. Ex. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was a darker movie mostly because Lucas himself had just been through a divorce, and it is kind of hard to make happy things when you're depressed.

He was probably trying to get someone to talk to that wanted to know what troubled him. That could have stopped all this...just a couple minutes of venting and knowing someone knew what he was going through could be all that it takes to stop a disaster from ever starting.

[Corkscrewed]

Yeah, I agree. It's always easier to see the warning signs in hindsight, of course, but in my experience in watching/studying these things, it's always a series of things that leads to that snapping point. If any one of those steps had been different--say a student finds out about the plans and reports it, or the shooter had someone to talk to, or someone reached out to the shooter--the result would have been drastically different.

[BiCoastal Kid]

News reports have described this guy as a loner whose creative writings were so disturbing that administrators were actually concerned. He's also a resident alien from Korea, having moved to the US 15 years ago.

 

News reports initially reported that about the Columbine kids but they turned out to be pretty popular. All I know is if this turns out to be as melodramatic as your writing was it will probably piss me off.

[mike541x]

Very sad . I found out yesterday while in 5th period. Our science teacher said his sister attends Virginia tech. She was fine. Man I hate hearing these kinds of news.

[kraxleRIDAH]

Thank you for that post corkscrewed.

 

Nothing could excuse the gunman for his fatal rampage at V-Tech, but at the same time people reacting to this incident need to slow their roll with their "the guy is burning in hell" comments and accusations. He too was a human being and was obviously a troubled person -- emotional and psychological issues that probably developed years ago possibly from neglect, anxiety, social isolation, and self loathing. I'm just saying it's a tragedy for all the victims, including the killer himself.

 

If only people took the time to care about others, be curteous, friendly and reached out we would have far less incidents like this. We need to realize we have a responsibility to other people, not just to ourselves and those only close to us.

 

And honestly, were that many of you that surprised that this happened? Anyone over 21 (or is it 18?) with a clean record can go buy a hand gun and shoot up his or her campus. It could easily happen tomorrow, next week, next month ANYWHERE in America. The thought is terrifying isn't it? I don't know why there is so much debate around accessibility to guns. How many more "massacres" like these do we need before some laws are put into effect and enforced?

[ParkTrips]

maybe you should read the thread where other users were asked to keep the gun control crap out of here...

[snuggles]

Maybe its just time for people to be allowed to have concealed weapons on campus. Say if there was a terrorist attack at a university, and they did a massacre with guns. Who would there be to stop them until proper authorities arrive? If concealed weapons were allowed on campus, someone could have easily pulled out a gun and given him a good shot or two somewhere and taken him down. Hell, even tasers would work in that case. Does anyone else see what i'm getting at?

[Wes]

Please, no gun debates.

 

You could discuss the "If's" of this situation til' the cows come home, but it doesn't change the reality of what happened.

[BiCoastal Kid]

Henry wins this thread.