Virginia Tech: Pointing Fingers

A week ago I read stargirl's post on the Virginia Tech shootings. She criticized the school, specifically, for their "poor decision making on the part of administration officials" during the shootings that took place on campus. She mainly focused on the lack of immediate school shut down and notification by email rather than emergency alerts.

Seconds after the tragedy occurred, fingers began pointing, criticism began flying, and public statements of apologies began flooding the media.

The assailant's sister, Ms Cho Sun-Kyun addressed the public in a statement, apologizing for her "brother's unspeakable actions." "It is a terrible tragedy for all of us," she said.

The president of South Korea, the country in which Cho was born in yet emigrated from 15 years ago, Roh Moo-hyun, expressed "deep bitterness" on behalf of the Korean people, in fear of damaged relations with the US and a backlash against Korean communities in the US.

So many people are apologizing on behalf of Cho’s murder rampage. But it was neither his parents who committed the crime, nor his sister. The school did not tell Cho to murder 30 of his peers and faculty, nor did the gun, nor did South Korea. My immediate response to her post was in part agreement but mostly I responded with the question WHY? Why did this 23 year old commit such a horrific crime?

Cho killed all those people because of an apparent mental illness. Individuals who display signs of mental health problems are generally viewed as “weirdos” in society. Take Cho: He was a loner who displayed deep grievances against his peers and signs of mental illness in his writing class. I guarantee you Cho was dismissed as a weirdo; ignored by society; fallen into the cracks.

And what was the result of this? His illness festered. His anger grew, until it became an uncontrollable monster that lashed out with a vengeance packed in 9 mm hand gun.