<p>I think the key to Kaine’s “loathing” statement was the “24 hours.” Not so much on this board, where I think the nature and age of the victims hit close to home for people, but on another board I saw people launch in criticism of this and that without even an “I’m sorry about the victims.” I was very surprised. One person even remarked she was glad a kid she knew chose a “better” university because even before this, Virginia Tech was “slipping” and isn’t that good. I felt that was not called for in the midst of a tragedy, this was yesterday, just a few hours after the incident. And then criticized some people for being “passive” about criticism at this point in time. I said, give us more than a day to process this…I am still somewhat in shock. Unfortunately we were not lucky and received some very bad news, I don’t wish to elaborate except to say my heart goes out to all of the families and friends who lost loved ones yesterday. They are loved, missed already, and will never be forgotten. </p>
<p>Soon people closer to this may be more interested in looking for answers later, but right now, the only people I see blaming are not directly connected to the victims. Even the Tech students I’ve seen on TV make statements against the administration or whatever, they first ask, did you know anyone, and the person says no. It is a very large campus and student body. Obviously they are in shock and grief too, in a general sense, for their community, but as I’ve learned very recently, it is not quite the same thing. Those who lost loved ones or very close friends are not in good shape right now, obviously, they haven’t really come to terms with attacking the administration or gun control and shouldn’t be expected to comment on such issues at this time, or even care about them at this time. </p>
<p>The thing about the dry cleaning is interesting but he did not seem schizophrenic? Maybe though, I suppose enough has not emerged at this point but I have watched the news pretty constantly all day and didn’t get the picture he was schizophrenic.</p>
<p>Windy,
Who do you think I am defending?
Being a public institution doesn’t mean that Va Tech could have kicked out the killer for basically being weird. I’ve worked at a public university. Things don’t operate at them the way you believe. </p>
<p>If, however, he was stalking or threatening people, yes, Virginia Tech could have kicked him out. </p>
<p>I’m not sure about your point about Korea. I have been to Korea, and I agree that women seem to be treated as third class citizens. Still, that doesn’t mean that Koreans should be targeted by bigots because of what the shooter did at Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>I’m not really understanding how race could be an issue here…I think that those who feel race is an issue anyway might make this so…otherwise, if this was just “a random white kid” I doubt anyone would bring his race to the forefront. </p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned, this is just a random act by an individual person. Why his race/gender, etc. ways of pigeonholig/stereotyping has anything to do with anything. No one needs a blanket apology for being of the same race. We’re all of the Human one anyway, and sometimes we do terrible things to each other. Read history.</p>
<p>Windy - I do not understand what you mean. We are essentially talking about Americans here, this man has been here since age 8, raised in our American culture. I actually have found South Koreans to be a more peaceful people on the whole than Americans, I pretty much knew as soon as they were saying he was from South Korea that he had at least been America throughout his middle and high school years. Not surprising one bit, unfortunately. </p>
<p>There is no need to retaliate or blame South Korea in any way, shape or form for this unfortunately. That would be counterproductive, I feel, since I feel that unfortunately it will be elements within our culture that need to be held up to a magnifying glass here.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t a private school have an easier time kicking someone out than a public one?</p>
<p>Regardless, if they kicked out every anti-social, loner, or ‘weird’ person they’d be kicking people out all the time. It’s really hard to make a determination that warrants a kickout without some fairly egregious actions on the student’s part. Even then, they’re liable to get angry and come back and do the action anyway. There aren’t many easy solutions.</p>
<p>Watching the video links of interviews with family of the deceased is so chilling. It is all so shocking. It is hard to not get upset watching it. It is even worse as a parent of college students because this could have been anyone’s kids (or the professors too).</p>
<p>Northstarmom…you seem to like the terms prejudice and bigot…so in your lexicon it was ok for this kid to murder these innocents as long as he was not prejudiced towards them or bigoted…just one of those random events that can not be helped?</p>
<p>“The thing about the dry cleaning is interesting but he did not seem schizophrenic? Maybe though, I suppose enough has not emerged at this point but I have watched the news pretty constantly all day and didn’t get the picture he was schizophrenic.”</p>
<p>Some of what I have read about him could be symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. </p>
<p>When I worked as a psychologist, I helped treat some paranoid schizophrenics.</p>
<p>Some of their behavior included: having a very blank face (due to their spending more time listening to the voices in their head than connecting to other people); avoiding eye contact and close contact with others (This behavior could be due to their belief that they could hear others’ thoughts, and other people were making fun of them or plotting against them); being socially isolated. They also could have fantasies of violence and could have delusions (The notes the killer left behind seem delusional to me).</p>
<p>When paranoid schizophrenics are very intelligent, they can create and carry out very elaborate, well thought out plots to take revenge on those whom they feel have harmed them or are threatening them.</p>
<p>Alll of this behavior is different from that of sociopaths such as Ted Bundy. Sociopaths can be very charming and manipulative, passing for people whom others would trust, not avoid. Their violent actions aren’t inspired by hallucinations or delusions. Their actions may be inspired more by a sense of entitlement or feeling that they are superior to other people, who therefore deserves to be used by the sociopath however s/he chooses.</p>
<p>From a web site describing paranoid schizophrenia, and is a main reason why I suspect that the shooter could have been schizophrenic. </p>
<p>"People with schizophrenia often show “blunted” or “flat” affect. This refers to a severe reduction in emotional expressiveness. A person with schizophrenia may not show the signs of normal emotion, perhaps may speak in a monotonous voice, have diminished facial expressions, and appear extremely apathetic. The person may withdraw socially, avoiding contact with others; and when forced to interact, he or she may have nothing to say, reflecting “impoverished thought.”
<a href=“http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm[/url]”>http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm</a></p>
<p>…I honestly don’t get this kind of thinking. Why loathe people who are concerned when assault weapons can be easily bought and used to kill dozens of people?</p>
<p>"Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said he wasn’t interested in arguments about gun control…</p>
<p>My take on this situation is that the grieving and the living need time to work thru this whole situation before anything else needs to be addressed - and he loaths the ones with the agenda that takes away from what the students/families/university are dealing with right now - it can wai for another day. Sounds to me like he is asking for due respect before anything else happens… just MHO</p>
<p>What was the proximity of his victims to him, I find it amazing that a person was able to kill 30 out of the 45 targets. Is there any evidence he fired his weapons before?</p>
<p>even though he filed the serial no. off the gun there’s a technique to make the numbers show up again</p>
<p>If only people had done something about the signs they saw then the life of those students could have been avoided. I’m still in shock: my friend’s brother died. I can’t believe that it’s happening really, I can only imagine how she and her family are feeling :(</p>
<p>I agree that he was deranged. We sometimes want to, as rational people, attribute motive to such shootings, but one can not attribute rational thought to a shooter who himself is not capable of same.</p>
<p>Brooklynmom - that is very well said - and I agree with you.</p>
<p>…I agree that he was deranged. We sometimes want to, as rational people, attribute motive to such shootings, but one can not attribute rational thought to a shooter who himself is not capable of same…</p>
<p>There are many different kinds of thought disorders, schizophrenia being just one of them. there are several different kinds of delusional disorders (such as the delusional disorder- persecutory type) , and there are mixed mood/thought disorders (ie schizoaffective disorders). Many of these primary thought disorders emerge in late adolescence/early adulthood, but the people usually begin to show distorted thinking or unusual behaviors, which typically becomes apparent to their family. WHERE ARE HIS PARENTS??? Why have we heard little about them (other than the dry cleaning business mentioned above). Did they not see behavior changes in their son? Did they try to get any help for him? Or did they look away, or consider him only “quirky” or “quiet”. I for one am a bit tired of the finger pointing at the police and school administration. They had to make some decisions in a time of crisis with what limited information they had available to them, and needed to try to avoid a panic. But the type of behavior and delusional thinking that it sounds like the shooter manifest develops over time. I repeat, WHERE WERE HIS PARENTS??? Did they do anything to try to help this disturbed individual? The silence is deafening.</p>
<p>I am not convinced his parents where totally in the dark about his behavior and could not have been more pro-active in preventing this tragedy. Yes, he was an adult, but who paid his tuition, bought and paid for his vehicle, computer, clothes, insurance, gas, etc? Surely, they had some contact with him and surely, they saw how troubled he was.</p>