VA Tech shooting

Parent Cafe
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<p>Marian-reports coming out that his ‘shy/ antisocial’ behavior began very young-family members say he did NOT TALK at very young age, even though he could.</p>

<p>So this may be the perfect storm of environmental and genetic influences;</p>

<p>But, this is interesting- photo of knife welding mimics a 2004 movie image.
This movie WON TOP PRIZE-
This is from <a href=“http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003573662[/url]”>http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003573662&lt;/a&gt;
The movie, “Oldboy” – which I saw on video a few months ago – is a gory thriller/revenge film directed by the talented Chanwook Park and winner of a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. The lead character struggles with hidden demons to understand why he is being punished and tormented.</p>

<p>"The Times summarized the plot this way: “The film centers on a seemingly ordinary businessman, Dae-su, who, after being mysteriously imprisoned, goes on an extensive, exhausting rampage, seeking answers and all manner of bloody revenge.” Times reviewer Manohla Dargis referred to the film’s “body count and sadistic violence.”</p>

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<p>The ImDb is great to find info about movies.</p>

<p>The Director Chanwook Park said these things about his movies;</p>

<p>“In our lives, we have good things and bad things, happiness and pain. Life is full of pain and happiness and that’s what I wanted to show.”</p>

<p>“Living without hate for people is almost impossible. There is nothing wrong with fantasizing about revenge. You can have that feeling. You just shouldn’t act on it.”</p>

<p>“I have principles and rules. I deal very carefully with acts of violence and make sure that audiences understand how much suffering these acts cause.”</p>

<p>“I can see why my films remind people of computer games, but I’ve never played one. Actually, I was approached by a Japanese designer of a PlayStation game called Metal Gear Solid. When I met him, I found that there was nothing really to talk about. But I was told that I was idolized in the world of computer games.”</p>

<p>OMG- what about this one----prophetic ???
“Basically, I’m throwing out the question ‘When is such violence justified?’ To get that question to touch the audience physically and directly - that’s what my goal is. In the experience of watching my film, I don’t want the viewer to stop at the mental or the intellectual. I want them to feel my work physically. And because that is one of my goals, the title ‘exploitative’ will probably follow me around for a while.”</p>

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<p>This is sad:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/19/wkorea119.xml[/url]”>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/19/wkorea119.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>"South Koreans living in America have been asked by their ambassador to fast for repentance after the killing spree by their countryman Cho Seung-hui. </p>

<p>With the massacre at Virginia Tech viewed at home as bringing shame on the nation, senior officials in Seoul have held a series of emergency meetings to determine their response to Cho’s murder of 32 students and academics on Monday. "</p>

<p>Apparently, it is part of the Korean culture to feel responsible for the behavior of fellow Koreans. No one is blaming Koreans in general for this horrible incident, but they seem to blame themselves somehow.</p>

764

<p>I have suspicious minds about this case. It is my assumption, but listen. It is worth to do so.</p>

<p>Today, the videos have been released through the news. Yet, I feel something is missing right now, though the police will not find any substantial evidence. </p>

<p>I “think” that there is second man, who disguises as a man of innocence. He or she will not be found. Think about the video and his action in the second shooting place. He wore a mask. Why…He certainly did not show any remorse toward people around him, and this doesn’t explain his will. If his action was cold blood, he did not have to disguise his face. Rather, he wanted to show off. His will to crucify as an embittered man was not revealed when he shoot all people around him.</p>

<p>Wearing mask was doubtful somehow. But this isn’t over yet. You know what cho’s COD is? his shot wound is in the back of his head. of course, somehow slanted in position of the back of his skull. He showed that he could choose his life whenver he wanted. Yet, the wound was not in his mouth or usual place as those of most suicide cases. Think about it. I thought about the position somehow, and the would-be innocent man inside the hall knew his work was finished and killed Cho with one shot. This is only my assumption, to repeat.</p>

<p>Cho said " I did it because of you." what does YOU represent? YOU means society as many professionals said. Yet, this could be another accomplice. He was angry about being compelled to kill people, but wanted to do so in his inner mind, so that he did not disagree with the accomplice. YOU has a lot of complicated meanings. YOU obviously indicates the insanity of his mind.</p>

<p>His shooting skills is too perfect to assume that he shoot for the first time when in the massacre. I don’t think that Cho could have liked the small guns. Think about the Columbine one. They chose the bigger one to kill many people. Two small guns and no shot guns at all are very weird choice for a novice killer. But, the result is unfortunately too large in extent.
I am really sorry for the loss of innocent, brilliant people in VT</p>

<p>I am no professional. But consider my assumption. This is no just ordinary assumption. It indicates that a third person “might” have been involved in this scenario. And if he or she really exists, he might be wandering around. This is my personal veiw, and I consider this posting heavily. </p>

<p>Gunshot in Cho’s back of the skull, and wearing a mask when shooting, and his skill to rob innocent lives of people are genuinely so perfect, as if he were working with another accomplice.</p>

765

<p>To add to the remarks of #750…there was a forensic psychologist on GMA this morning pleading with the media to stop showing the pictures and videos for just that reason, and pleading with parents to shield their children from seeing it. It would have been so noble of NBC to say “we received this, we forwarded it to the authorities, but it is too disturbing to release publicly”, but sensationalism prevailed…</p>

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<p>Rachacha: I agree.That package should have immediately been given to the police if not by the post office then by NBC the moment it landed on their desk. They knew it was evidence…it should not have been handled. Anything could have been in that package if you think about it and NBC could have become yet another crime scene. I think it was criminal that they opened it.</p>

<p>James…I find your post very disturbing.</p>

767

<p>Rachacha and sax,
Agreed (as I said in post # 731), and I was thrilled to see the GMA forensic psychiatrist confront the media in their own venue-- he took the opportunity to rightly emphasize that airing this stuff is potentially giving credibility to his delusions. Moreover, it is INCREDIBLY insensitive to the victims, families, survivors, etc to air this stuff. It should be stopped. Unfortunately, it is probably already all over utube.</p>

768

<p>Agree that NBC was irresponsible and insensitive here. They gave the killer exactly what he wanted - the opportunity to cause more pain and suffering. What were they thinking? Of further concern is the impact this footage might have on other dangerous and mentally ill individuals out there. They see what power this sick individual has over the media - and perhaps they are more motivated to act out as well. Too late to stop it now though…the damage has been done… very disturbing.</p>

769

<p>icarus- </p>

<p>we’re seriously arguing the same thing although the details may be in disagreement. “your patient health information is ‘protected’ regardless of age”… this depends on what is meant by “protected”. I was refering to confidentiality from another and if you’re a minor, then it isn’t “protected” as your parents/guardians (depending on the nature of that info) can have access to it. Whether 18 ot 21, and it does vary by state, the point is that we should be careul with casting blame on the parents as they may not have been privy to the info we all now have.</p>

<p>Also, if Cho wasn’t a minor when he 1st got into trouble with the police, there’s no guarantee that his police record or the one magistrate’s ruling would have been made available to his parents. Since this stuff happened when he was away in college, it would be likely that his parents didn’t know about this as well.</p>

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<p>ejr wrote: “Quite frankly, if someone is mentally ill, I would rather they went home, got some heavy duty treatment, and stayed away from where my child is.”</p>

<p>How would you define “mentally ill”? Would that include anyone that was taking any kind of psychiatric drug? Who would make the determination?</p>

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<p>I am quite amazed at all the judgement being spewed out here. Wow! Blaming the parents, the HS etc.</p>

<p>If Cho has always been introverted and barely spoke to others, even less reason for his parents to seek help. Perhaps if had suddenly done a 180 and changed from being a friendly happy 12-year-old, then there would be cause, but even then…</p>

<p>So he has always been weird…I mean that’s all…There are kids on my street, 3 boys, who routinely do weird things…do they need help? Are their parents negligent? None of them speaks to anyone, they don’t meet our eyes. When they drive by they yell things out to people. They have no friends. They do drugs behind the strip mall. They wear heavy black eye make-up. In fact let’s round up all the Emo and Goth kids!!!</p>

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<p>Perhaps a Medical Power of Attorney might be something colleges encourage now. Lawyer husband had one drawn up for freshman son at his college mainly because he is over 10 hours away and we wanted to be kept informed in case of illness. And, while I realize that you can’t force parents to obtain one, many parents of college age kids that I have spoken to never thought about the fact that should their child become seriously ill while away at college they might not be able to obtain necessary medical info about their child. Just a thought!</p>

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<p>MotherOfTwo wrote: “Your comment about Cho’s parents favoring his sister because she was admitted to a more prestigious university than him was totally unnecessary. You have no knowledge of whether or not this was the case.”</p>

<p>I really don’t find InterestDad’s comment to be irrelevant. There has been plenty of speculation in this thread. </p>

<p>Since there has been much casting of blame in this thread, I’d like to add another thought (if it has been already mentioned previously, I might have missed it) - IF Cho was taking antidepressants, who prescribed them? Didn’t that professional have an obligation to require Cho to check in periodically?</p>

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<p>I read he only bought 50 or so rounds - a skilled gunman would take 5-10 shots per kill with a pistol at distance. A professional might be able to take only three. It just doesnt translate…a novice gunman would need to have used hundreds of rounds kill that many people and 9mm rounds are large and heavy, it would be evident if he was carrying that much ammunition.</p>

<p>Shooting in the back of the head - maybe he was trying to destroy his face?</p>

<p>I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I just think some facts are missing from this.</p>

775

<p>There are many “weird” kids who have grown up and turned around their lives. There are others who have stayed weird and grown up as oddball adults, maybe even posting here on CC, but this was one who turned out to be a murderer.</p>

<p>Heck, last year, in our township elections, it came out that one of the candidates had help up a store with a sawed-off shotgun, 30 years ago. He had changed his name, and is a wonderful man now, and for a while there was shock when the news leaked out. He ended up not getting elected.</p>

<p>I went to one of his ‘township coffees’, where he spoke of how he was an outcast growing up, a loser in HS, and we all know that his life now, at 48, is devoted to charity and community.</p>

776

<p>“Are we blaming the parents because they should have known their son was going to kill people one day?”</p>

<p>…Well, I’m certainly not. However, we have mental illness in our family, & the person has refused treatment. Occasionally he goes on rants about the government & the military. So far he has not given the kinds of warning signs that mr. infamy has (not even close), but there was one point when we were concerned that he was manifesting pre-terrorism. Had he been in an environment like a college community (in close proximity to others) we would have considered even his presence there to be a crisis, & probably would have shown up once a month in rotation, to conference with authorities & ask about his behavior. </p>

<p>However, the people who had the most daily, ongoing opportunity to observe the VA guy were the ones who dropped the ball, i.m.o. The psychiatrists whose opinions I have read in the last couple of days believe that the second box should have been checked (danger to <em>others</em>, not just to <em>self</em>). That would have prevented the purchase of the guns. Secondly, to a person these psychiatrists have indicated that people at serious risk for danger to self are most often dangers to others, too (even if accidentally), thus the gun purchase laws should not be making these meaningless technical distinctions. Practically speaking, one risk most often signals the other.</p>

<p>And btw, the students who have been interviewed (classmates, roommates) describe his demeanor as being equivalent to having a flat affect. 10-to-1 the guy was on antidepressants (creating a flat affect) that resulted in mania (often a result). I wonder how many people on this board realize how many acts of domestic terrorism have been triggered by use of UNMONITORED antidepressants.</p>

777

<p>

Wilfully blind parents?
Who wrote his recommendations?
Unable to make eye contact?
It seems like a lot of accusations are being levelled here. I am curious to know, if anyone has come across factual information about his disturbing behavior in High School?</p>

778

<p>I was struck last night hearing Jon Stewart interview an Iraqi government official. In this serious segment, Stewart commented on the mourning we’re going through this week in the U.S. but pointed out that the Iraqis experience this kind of disaster every day (yesterday their death toll was over 180). Just to put things in perspective.</p>

779

<p>I have to admire the courage of the English professor, Lucinda Roy. She understood how dangerous this kid might be. She, nevertheless, tutored him one-on-one and tried very hard to persuade him to go to counseling. And she alerted security, administration and counseling at Vtech. Underneath she must have been frightened and yet she acted!!</p>

780

<p>Interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education today (this one available to nonsubscribers free) with a lot of insights from Cornell’s head of counseling.</p>

<p>Could Officials Have Stopped Cho? A Q&A With a Campus Counseling Expert</p>

<p><a href=“http://chronicle.com/free/2007/04/2007041903n.htm[/url]”>http://chronicle.com/free/2007/04/2007041903n.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Based on his experiences, if every student at Cornell with similar behavior patterns were involuntarily committed, there would be a huge false positive rate.</p>