The Anatomy Of A School Shooting...

Meet Cho Seung-Hui. The Virginia Tech shooter. We all know what happened, so let's examine why. I'm tired of people complaining that NBC shouldn't play the manifesto that Cho Seung-Hui sent to them. Don't you think that seeing what this kid had to say MIGHT give us some insight into why he felt it necessary to go on a killing spree? So, because of fear that people might copy this mass murder, the media has avoided playing the manifesto in full. Judging from what has been released from the last words of this killer, he was a mentally-ill loner who built up an extreme hate of the "in-crowd", whom he viewed as hedonistic rich kids. He made some allusions to Jesus in order to portray himself as a martyr (which the media has mis-characterized as "railing against Christianity"). One of his quotes was

"Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and impaled upon the cross? Thanks to you I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenceless people,"

I feel sympathy for kids like him until they do something as crazy as this. There are lots of kids who AREN'T crazy but get picked on and outcasted amongst their peers just because they don't "fit in". The kids at Columbine were the same type of outcast loners. But sadly, these kids resorted to very extreme measures to get even with the "in-crowd" which they were excluded from. Though on the other hand, when you're young, lonely, outcasted, and therefore essentially powerless, extreme acts might seem right in order to satisfy your natural will to power. Interestingly, I find some similarities with this kid's mind state and of Islamic terrorists, who come from these situations of perceived powerlessness, and lash out against the powerful, "hedonistic", and "rich" West. Hopefully, we can find a way to prevent kids like this from going crazy and becoming better socially integrated. Alienation, when it seems constant and impossible to overcome, can eat away at one's very being and sense of empathy.

Also, I'm TIRED of people reading Cho Seung-Hui's two plays (Titled "Richard McBeef" and "Mr. Brownstone") and saying "Someone should've known he was gonna kill someone! Look at how macabre these plays are!" In that case, Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino, and all the people who helped write the Bible (which contains acts of incest, pedophilia, genocide, infanticide, etc) ought to be profiled as "capable of a mass murder". Even worse are the assholes (*cough* Dr Phil *cough*) who are turning this mass murder into an opportunity to rail against "violent video games" and other forms of media. Cho Seung-Hui's own roommate said on Chris Matthews' show that he never saw him playing any video games, so there goes that dumb-ass argument in one swoop. Also, this incident would NOT have been prevented with tougher gun control laws. But it would mos def have been prevented if just one of the 30+ people that were killed were packing some protection themselves.

Here are some must listens to make you think about WHY school shootings like this happen. Ill Bill and Apathy both convey to the listener why kids snap and take extreme measures in order to get back at society and the "in-crowd". Until next crime... PEACE!

Ill Bill- The Anatomy Of A School Shooting

Apathy- School