P.I.D. Radio 4/22/07: 23, 33, 2121

16 kpbs MP3 6.9 MB

April 22, 2007

What more can be said about the shootings that left 33 dead at Virginia Tech last Monday? About 42 minutes' worth, apparently. We ask questions about a few details that bother us about the tragedy, which include a federal "stand down" order to local police and EMTs, the jamming of local cell phone service, and differing descriptions of the shooter.

We also talk about Wednesday's shooting on the streets of Columbia, less than a mile from the bunker. What all will come of this?

Well, we expect to hear calls for tighter restrictions on handguns and mandatory mental health screening for elementary school students. Sounds good, but it ultimately means more government control over our lives and our children.

Links:

• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4920">Sources: Feds ordered VA police to stand down</a>
• <a href="http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/WarlockBlue">Cell phones intentionally jammed at Virginia Tech by authorities</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4908">Virginia Tech shooter was autistic: Relative</a>
• <a href="http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/04/plot-hatched-behind-cinder-block-walls.html">Karan Grewal tells CNN&#39;s John King he and others were handcuffed</a>
• <a href="http://derekpgilbert.com/?p=2373">Differing descriptions of VT shooter</a>
• <a href="http://www.peeringintodarkness.com/forum/index.php?topic=4680.0">PID Forum: Cho&#39;s Sister an Intel Asset?</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4825">Is this a picture of &#39;Ismail-AX&#39; (a.k.a. Cho Seung-Hui)?</a>
<i>The original blog post and the photo at Flickr have since been deleted. As far as we know,</i> Connecting the Dots<i> is now the only place you&#39;ll see this picture.</i>
• <a href="http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Apr/20070420News003.asp">Columbia shooting suspect had just left jail</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4910">Gunman at NASA</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4913">April: The Cruelest Month?</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4895">Gates says Washington to sell smart bombs to Saudi Arabia</a>
• <a href="http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,132397,00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS">Air Force fills Army ranks</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4871">Russia plans world&#39;s longest tunnel to link to Alaska</a>
• <a href="http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/Special/Posada%20Carriles-Bush/Cprosecution070416839.htm">Cuba: Posada prosecution in US or extradition to Venezuela</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4924">Fallen Angel</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4840">Pet food contamination: Melamine now found in rice</a>
• <a href="http://peeringintodarkness.com/ctd/?p=4899">Australian officials puzzle over missing yacht crew</a>

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Original Source: P.I.D. Radio
<a href="http://pidradio.com/?p=357">http://pidradio.com/?p=357</a>

This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License</a>.

P.I.D. Radio

2007-06-16

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

eng

Viata de roman a eroului din SUA

Profesorul Liviu Librescu, romanul erou al Americii, impuscat mortal intr-un amfiteatru al Universitatii Virginia Tech din SUA in timp ce incerca sa-si salveze studentii din fata atacatorului sud-coreean, a copilarit la Focsani, unde a trait din plin ororile antisemite.

Aici locuiau bunicii lui din partea mamei, aici a avut domiciliul fortat tatal sau inainte de a fi trimis in lagarele de exterminare din Transnistria si tot aici a cunoscut-o pe sotia lui, Marilena Semian, fiica unui stomatolog cunoscut in acele timpuri, cu care s-a casatorit in 1968.

Sotia, medic de profesie, a urmat liceul de fete din Focsani. Ulterior si-a urmat sotul in Israel si mai apoi in Blacksburg - SUA.

<b>Prigonit de legionari si de comunisti</b>

Profesorul Liviu Librescu se numara printre cei care, inainte de 1989, au cerut Institutului Yad Vashem din Israel, memorialul dedicat celor sase milioane de evrei omorati in timpul Holocaustului, decorarea Reginei-mama Elena cu titlul de „Drept intre popoare".

In corespondenta electronica purtata cu corespondentul EVZ in Vrancea, profesorul isi amintea de prigoana impotriva evreilor. „Au fost ani de suferinta, cand tatii nostri, al meu si al sotiei mele, au avut domiciliul fortat.

Tatal meu a fost deportat de aici in Transnistria dupa ce a lucrat o vreme in munti, la Soveja, intr-un batalion de munca", scria profesorul Liviu Librescu cu putin timp inainte de masacrul din Virginia.

Cu toate amintirile neplacute, profesorul isi amintea cu placere de Focsani, orasul unde a urmat scoala israelita si mai apoi Colegiul Unirea. La 60 de ani de la Holocaust, profesorul Liviu Librescu si-a amintit de copilaria sa petrecuta intr-o atmosfera profund ostila evreimii.

„In anii copilariei, inaintea inceperii razboiului, Focsaniul a constituit pentru mine orasul in care veneam cu parintii sa-mi vizitez bunica, Paulina Finkelstein, si familiile surorilor mamei mele. Impreuna cu parintii, Izidor si Mina Librescu, locuiam atunci la Ploiesti. Tatal meu era avocat, dar, din motive rasiale, in tot timpul razboiului a fost radiat din barou.

Tatal meu a fost dus la lagarul de la Teius. Dupa desfiintarea acestuia, a fost trimis cu domiciliul fortat la Focsani.

In 1942, ne-am mutat la Focsani pentru a ne reuni cu tata, dar vremurile potrivnice au facut ca el sa fie luat la munca obligatorie, dupa care a fost deportat in Transnistria. Dupa razboi s-a intors cu sanatatea mult subrezita si cu moralul foarte scazut.

Tata a reintrat in barou, dar in anul 1948, cand regimul comunist s-a instaurat la putere, a fost din nou radiat pentru motivul ca s-a opus „democratizarii baroului"", spunea profesorul Librescu.

<b>Fortat sa demisioneze</b>

In ciuda pericolelor si a greutatilor intampinate de familia sa, Liviu Librescu a urmat Politehnica la Bucuresti, Sectia de aviatie. A ajuns un nume important, dar a trebuit sa renunte la tot ca sa poata pleca in Tara Sfanta.

„Pentru a-mi putea depune actele de emigrare in Israel a trebuit, in anul 1975, sa-mi dau demisia si am fost fortat sa stau trei ani fara lucru", le-a dezvaluit profesorul prietenilor sai din Focsani.

„In Israel am fost atestat profesor la Tel Aviv University. In 1985 am plecat la Virginia Polytechnic Institute in SUA. De atunci, lucrez aici, ca profesor la Engineering Sciens and Mecanics Department, si imi place foarte mult munca mea", a continuat profesorul.

Liviu Librescu a fost coleg de scoala, la Focsani, cu Zvi Ben Dov, fost director in cadrul Aeroportului International „Ben Gurion" din Tel Aviv, actualmente director general al organizatiei A.M.I.R.

<b>„Important e sa nu ne uitam trecutul"</b>

„Pe Liviu Librescu il pretuiam mult si eu, si sotia mea Edna. De Paste i-am trimis felicitari si mi-a raspuns cu multa amabilitate.

I-am scris ca plecam la Focsani sa vizitam orasul copilariei noastre si l-am invitat sa vina cu noi intr-o excursie de suflet.

Liviu mi-a raspuns ca, din pacate, nu poate sa fie cu noi pentru ca era implicat in unele proiecte la universitate, desi i-ar fi placut sa revada locurile copilariei. Mi-a spus ca este important sa nu ne uitam trecutul", ne-a spus Zvi Ben Dov. El a adaugat ca profesorul va fi inmormantat in Israel.

<b>EROU NATIONAL</b>

<b>Si-a salvat toti studentii!</b>

Moartea tragica a profesorului Liviu Librescu a fost deplansa ieri de presa internationala, de studentii de la Virginia Tech, de profesori, si nu in ultimul rand de rudele sale.

Eroismul dascalului de 76 de ani, care si-a salvat intreaga clasa, a fost evocat in declaratiile oficiale facute ieri de reprezentantii universitatii americane.

Librescu a murit blocand usa clasei cu trupul sau, timp in care toti studentii au sarit de la fereastra salii de curs situata la etajul al doilea al cladirii.

Unul dintre cei doi fii ai sai, Joe Librescu, a povestit pentru postul american de televiziune CNN ca este mandru de gestul eroic al tatalui sau. „Era unic in mai multe privinte. Se considera un fel de ambasador al Israelului in aceasta parte a lumii", a declarat Joe Librescu.

<b>STEAUA ROMANIEI</b>

<b>Decorat post-mortem</b>

Presedintele Traian Basescu l-a decorat ieri, post-mortem, pe profesorul Liviu Librescu. Seful statului i-a acordat ordinul National Steaua Romaniei in grad de Mare Cruce.

Potrivit unui comunicat al presedintiei, decoratia i-a fost acordata „in semn de inalta apreciere si recunostinta pentru intreaga activitate stiintifica si pentru eroismul dovedit in timpul tragicelor evenimente de la Virginia Polytechnic Institute". (Laura Gafencu)

<b>Neadaptat la societate</b>

<b>Asasinul, un solitar incarcat de ura</b>

Autorul masacrului de la Universitatea Virginia Tech, soldat cu 32 de morti, a fost identificat, insa personalitatea sa si motivele ce l-au impins la aceasta crima oribila raman invaluite in mister.

Principalul obstacol in calea realizarii unui portret cat mai exact il reprezinta faptul ca era un tip solitar, fara prieteni care sa poata povesti despre el. In opinia expertilor, cei mai multi criminali in serie sunt insi singuratici, cu dificultati de adaptare la societate.

Criminalul din Virginia, Cho Seung-hui (23 de ani), un sud-coreean emigrat in SUA impreuna cu parintii, la varsta de 8 ani, era o enigma pentru colegii sai. Nu vorbea cu nimeni, lua masa singur la cantina si respingea orice tentativa din partea celorlalti studenti de a se imprieteni.

Un coleg a povestit ca, in urma cu un an, la inceputul unui nou curs de literatura engleza, Cho a fost singurul care nu si-a trecut numele pe lista, punand in loc un semn de intrebare. Profesorul chiar l-a intrebat: „Semn de intrebare e numele tau?".

„Nu se apropia de nimeni. Nu vorbea niciodata", a povestit studenta Julie Poole. Mai mult, tanarul cu care impartea camera de camin, Joe Aust, a relatat ca abandonase de mult orice incercare de a se apropia de Cho. Nu-si spuneau nici macar „buna dimineata".

La fel s-a intamplat si in dimineata crimelor. Cand s-a trezit, Aust l-a vazut pe Cho deja la calculator, poate punand la punct ultimele amanunte ale planului sau dement. Nu si-au spus o vorba. In mod ironic, in momentul in care a patruns in cladirea Norris Hall, unde a ucis 30 de studenti, Cho si-a salutat victimele: „Buna, ce mai faceti?".

<b>Gelos pe copiii de bani gata</b>

Biletul conceput de Cho Seung-hui in dimineata masacrului lasa sa se intrevada ura pe care o nutrea fata de colegii sai. In mesajul de adio, criminalul are cuvinte dure la adresa celor pe care ii numeste „copii de bani gata" sau „sarlatani". El denunta, de asemenea, dezmatul care domneste in campus.

Ura lui Cho fata de colegii mai instariti este explicabila, in conditiile in care provenea dintr-o familie modesta. Inainte de a emigra in SUA, parintii sai duceau o existenta destul de grea, intr-o periferie a capitalei sud-coreene, Seul.

In America, parintii au reusit sa cumpere o spalatorie ecologica si sa duca o existenta decenta, fara a-i putea insa oferi fiului cine stie ce. Potrivit presei de la Seul, care urmareste cu mare interes drama din SUA, parintii criminalului sunt internati, in stare de soc.

Ei ar fi incercat sa se sinucida dupa aflarea teribilei vesti, tatal taindu-si venele, in timp ce mama a baut o substanta toxica.

<b>Obsedat de violenta</b>

Colegii si profesorii avusesera de-a lungul ultimilor ani suficiente semnale ca tanarul sud-coreean este ciudat. In 2005, sefa departamentului de creatie literara, Lucinda Roy, a atras atentia conducerii facultatii de engleza ca Cho Seung-hui este un tip cu probleme.

Acest lucru era evident din lectura a doua texte scrise de baiat, ce dezvaluie obsesia pentru violenta si furia ce-l macinau.

Unul din texte a fost publicat pe internet. „Richard McBeef" este o piesa intr-un act despre un baiat de 13 ani care isi acuza tatal vitreg, aparent fara motiv, de pedofilie si de asasinarea tatalui sau natural.

Dincolo de lipsa evidenta de talent, piesa socheaza prin limbajul violent al copilului, care planuieste sa-l omoare pe tatal vitreg cu o drujba. In celalalt text scris de Cho este vorba despre trei elevi hartuiti de un profesor. „Atunci cand citeam piesele lui Cho era ca un cosmar.

Piesele erau pline de o violenta macabra si faceau referire la arme la care eu unul nu m-as fi gandit", spune colegul sau Ian McFarlane.

<b>GELOZIE</b>

<b>Scanteia care a aprins fitilul</b>

Problemele sentimentale sau, mai degraba, lipsa lor par sa fi jucat si ele un rol important in drama ce a indoliat America. Prima victima a lui Cho Seung-hui a fost Emily Hilscher, o bruneta cu ochi albastri in varsta de 18 ani. Potrivit martorilor oculari ai primului act al dramei, Cho s-a dus la 7.00 dimineata in caminul unde statea Emily.

Cei doi s-au certat, in scandal intervenind un alt student, presupus a fi iubitul actual al fetei. Cho i-a impuscat pe amandoi. Nu s-a stabilit cu certitudine daca el avusese o legatura sentimentala cu fata. Politia a declansat urmarirea unui alt fost iubit al lui Emily. In momentul in care il interogau pe respectiv, politistii au fost informati ca in campusul universitar se trage din nou. (Jacqueline Prager)

<b>Reteta masacrelor</b>

<b>O traditie a violentei si arme la indemana</b>

Marginalizarea sociala, problemele legate de virilitate, violenta glorificata de productiile cinematografice sau de televiziune si usurinta de a procura arme ar putea fi, potrivit sociologilor, ingredientele care au condus la masacrul de la Universitatea Virginia Tech.

„Nu trebuie sa atribuim aceste crime doar problemelor mentale ale unui individ, ci sa ne concentram asupra ansamblului de factori socio-culturali ce joaca un rol in acest tip de violenta", spune sociologul Joseph Gasper, citat de AFP.

Acesta subliniaza usurinta extraordinara cu care orice american isi poate procura o arma. El ii da ca exemplu pe cei doi liceeni care au comis in 1999 masacrul de la Liceul Columbine, din Colorado, care gasisera armele in propriile lor case.

„Nu cred ca o sa putem vedea vreodata strazile Americii fara arme, astfel ca e important sa ne concentram asupra factorilor psihologici si sociologici daca vrem sa intelegem si sa prevenim fenomenul."

Un articol de Silvia Vranceanu, Andreea Romanovschi
<a href="http://www.evz.ro/article.php?artid=301201">Integral in Romania libera</a>

<a href="http://www.evz.ro/">Evenimentul Zilei</a>, 19 apr 2007

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Sursa Originala: <a href="http://www.hotnews.ro/articol_70182-Viata-de-roman-a-eroului-din-SUA.htm">http://www.hotnews.ro/articol_70182-Viata-de-roman-a-eroului-din-SUA.htm</a>

Evenimentul Zilei

2007-06-15

Adriana Seagle

Cristian Pantazi (cristian.pantazi@hotnews.ro)

ron

Virginia Tech, Imus and Curve Balls

[Philosophical Musing on Media Culture]

By Carl Davidson

20 Apr 2007

The universe throws curve balls at us, now and then.

It seems to want to wake us up, and teach us lessons in impermanence and interconnectedness.

Take the killings at Virginia Tech.

A strange, quiet young Korean man, Cho Seung-Hui, writer of tortured and violent plays and screeds, makes his own solipsistic martial arts-gangsta video of himself, and sends it to the media, in the course of slaughtering 32 people, then killing himself.

The media sensationalizes it. MSNBC ratings go through the roof as its images are repeated, to millions and millions, then all the networks join in the frenzy. As expected, other troubled youth respond, in copy-cat fashion, often only with words, and scares shut down numerous classes across the country. At the same time, discussions of &#39;healing&#39; get underway.

Talk show commentators are having a time of it. I hear both liberal and conservatives alike carry on about &#39;looking in the face of evil&#39; and trashing the notions of illness and therapy. Rush Limbaugh and one caller on his show go on about how the Korean youth is an &#39;America hater,&#39; &#39;suicide bomber,&#39; and simply evil. Retired FBI guys talk about &#39;training&#39; students to be able to respond better, and hiring tougher &#39;security.&#39; People debate police tactics, censorship and guns.

Then a British paper goes to a tiny hut in Korea, and a reporter talks to the boy&#39;s grandparents, who say he was a bad kid and &#39;deserved to die&#39; for his sins.

But the grandparents also reveal the poverty of his parents as they immigrated to the U.S. Most important, they reveal their grandson was diagnosed early with autism, but the poverty all around prevented them from doing much about it, either in Korea or here.

Autism is recently growing with unusual speed in the US. Parents, rich and poor, are desperate for help, since dealing with an autistic child is often beyond any couple, however well off.

One radio personality, Don Imus, takes up their cause. He helps grow their organization for families of Autistic children, and raises millions. His wife, an environmentalist, believes toxins, perhaps in vaccines, are partly to blame, and demands independent research. Wealthy pharmaceutical companies and the Wall Street Journal counter-attack, smearing the couple. But Imus is relentless, and blasts away at their money-grubbing and lies. Largely through his efforts, a compromise measure, offering some relief, gets through Congress, but he pushes on for more substantive solutions, and raises millions more.

Now the effort has stopped, or is at least severely reduced. Imus, as we well know, also indulged in racist, sexist and chauvinist commentary and locker-room &#39;jokes,&#39; repeatedly, and finally went too far. He realized it, blamed himself and tried to make amends. He promised changes in his show, but accepted whatever he got, saying he had dished it out long enough, now it was his turn to take it.

But a groundswell wanted more. They wanted his show shut down, period, and it was. Many people declared victory over racism and sexism, and to a degree, it was. The media moguls preened about their new-found responsibility and the need for change.

At least until 32 people died at Virginia Tech.

Now we have a new wave of violence featured in the media, and Imus is old news, history.

And we have a new wave of blame, and a new staking out of moral ground against evil.

But you can make a good case that untreated autism, rooted in poverty, was the root cause of what happened at Virginia Tech, however terrible the consequences and the suffering visited on those who didn&#39;t deserve it in the least, just as the Rutgers women didn&#39;t deserve it in the least.

The whole thing reminds me of Thich Nhat Hanh&#39;s long poem, &#39;Call Me by My True Name.&#39; It&#39;s about looking deeply, in the poem, about a Thai sailor, and his raping and killing Vietnamese boat people. It&#39;s too long a story to retell here, but do yourself a favor and read it, or better yet, listen to it sometime.

But given this latest curve ball, I think I&#39;ll wait a bit before declaring either Don Imus or Cho Seung-Hui, connected in this curious way, to be evil, or at least, in the case of Imus, who&#39;s still with us, beyond public redemption.

<b>Related</b>

<a href="http://carldavidson.blogspot.com/">http://carldavidson.blogspot.com</a>

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Original Source: <a href="http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/77298/index.php">http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/77298/index.php</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain">Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication</a>.

Carl Davidson

2007-06-10

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication

eng

What May Come: Asian Americans and the Virginia Tech Shootings

By Tamara K. Nopper | 04.19.2007

April 17, 2007

Like many, I was glued to the television news yesterday, keeping updated about the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech University. I was trying to deal with my own disgust and sadness, especially since my professional life as a graduate student and college instructor is tied to universities. And then the other shoe dropped. I found out from a friend that the news channel she was watching had reported the shooter as Asian. It has now been reported, after much confusion, that the shooter is Cho Seung-Hui, a South Korean immigrant and Virginia Tech student.

As an Asian American woman, I am keenly aware that Asians are about to become a popular media topic if not the victims of physical backlash. Rarely have we gotten as much attention in the past fifteen years, except, perhaps, during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Since then Asians are seldom seen in the media except when one of us wins a golfing match, Woody Allen has sex, or Angelina Jolie adopts a kid.

I am not looking forward to the onslaught of media attention. If history truly does have clues about what will come, there may be several different ways we as Asian Americans will be talked about.

One, we will watch white media pundits and perhaps even sociologists explain what they understand as an "Asian" way of being. They will talk about how Asian males presumably have fragile "egos" and therefore are culturally prone to engage in kamikaze style violence. These statements will be embedded with racist tropes about Japanese military fighters during WWII or the Viet Cong—the crazy, calculating, and hidden Asian man who will fight to the death over presumably nothing.

In the process, the white media might actually ask Asian Americans our perspectives for a change. We will probably be expected to apologize in some way for the behavior of another Asian—something whites never have to collectively do when one of theirs engages in (mass) violence, which is often. And then some of us might succumb to the Orientalist logic of the media by eagerly promoting Asian Americans as real Americans and therefore unlike Asians overseas who presumably engage in culturally reprehensible behavior. In other words, if we get to talk at all, Asian Americans will be expected to interpret, explain, and distance themselves from other Asians just to get airtime.

Or perhaps the media will take the color-blind approach instead of a strictly eugenic one. The media might try to whitewash the situation and treat Cho as just another alienated middle-class suburban kid. In some ways this is already happening—hence the constant referrals to the proximity of the shootings to the 8th anniversary of the Columbine killings. The media will repeat over and over words from a letter that Cho left behind speaking of "rich kids," and "deceitful charlatans." They will ask what&#39;s going on in middle-class communities that encourage this type of violence. In the process they may never talk about the dirty little secret about middle-class assimilation: for non-whites, it does not always prevent racial alienation, rage, or depression. This may be surprising given that we are bombarded with constant images suggesting that racial harmony will exist once we are all middle-class. But for many of us who have achieved middle-class life, even if we may not openly admit it, alienation does not stop if you are not white.

But the white media, being as tricky as it is, may probably talk about Cho in ways that reflect a combination of both traditional eugenic and colorblind approaches. They will emphasize Cho&#39;s ethnicity and economic background by wondering what would set off a hard-working, quiet, South Korean immigrant from a middle-class dry-cleaner- owning family. They will wonder why Cho would commit such acts of violence, which we expect from Middle Easterners and Muslims and those crazy Asians from overseas, but not from hard-working South Korean immigrants. They will promote Cho as "the model minority" who suddenly, for no reason, went crazy. Whereas eugenic approaches depicting Asians as crazy kamikazes or Viet Cong mercenaries emphasize Asian violence, the eugenic aspect of the model minority myth suggests that there is something about Asian Americans that makes them less prone to expressions of anger, rage, violence, or criminality. Indeed, we are not even seen as having legitimate reasons to have anger, let alone rage, hence the need to figure out what made this "quiet" student "snap."

Given that the model minority myth is a white racist invention that elevates Asians over minority groups, Cho will be dissected as an anomaly among South Koreans who "are not prone" to violence—unlike Blacks who are racistly viewed as inherently violent or South Asians, Middle Easterners and Muslims who are viewed as potential terrorists. He will be talked about as acting "out of character" from the other "good South Koreans" who come here and quietly and dutifully work towards the American dream. Operating behind the scenes of course is a diplomatic relationship between the US and South Korea forged through bombs and military zones during the Korean War and expressed through the new free trade agreement negotiations between the countries. Indeed, even as South Korean diplomats express concern about racial backlash against Asians, they are quick to disown Cho in order to maintain the image of the respectable South Korean.

Whatever happens, Cho will become whoever the white media wants him to be and for whatever political platform it and legislators want to push. In the process, Asian Americans will, like other non-whites, be picked apart, dissected, and theorized by whites. As such, this is no different than any other day for Asian Americans. Only this time an Asian face will be on every television screen, internet search engine, and newspaper.

Tamara K. Nopper is an educator, writer, and activist living in Philadelphia. She is currently finishing her PhD program in sociology at Temple University and is a volunteer with the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, an anti-war and counter-military recruitment organization (<a href="http://www.objector.org/">http://www.objector.org</a>). She can be reached at <a href="mailto:tnopper@yahoo.com">tnopper@yahoo.com</a>

e-mail:: <a href="mailto:tnopper@yahoo.com">tnopper@yahoo.com</a>
Homepage:: <a href="http://www.objector.org/">http://www.objector.org</a>

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Original Source: Philadelphia Independent Media Center
<a href="http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2007/04/38736.shtml">http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2007/04/38736.shtml</a>

Free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere.

Tamara K. Nopper

2007-06-10

Brent Jesiek

Free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere.

eng

The Tangled Thicket of Cho seung-hui, Don Imus, YouTube and American Idol

April 21st, 2007

Cho seung-hui, the Rutgers University women&#39;s basketball team, the students and Virginia Tech all form a tangled thicket nourished by the American media, overgrown with too many words, too many pictures and too many answers to too many bad questions. We, the American people struggle to navigate this thicket, for during the last few weeks we have only become more confused as if we have lost our sense of direction.

You can enter any of these words in a search engine and lose all hope of finding any rationality, any thread that will lead you out. Technorati lists 152,000 blog selections for Virginia Tech, 23,000 for Cho and 4,788 for the Rutgers&#39; team. With new posts on all of these each day, there are enough words that it would take a person probably a year to read them all. And yet we all seek a way out of this thicket of information, a clear path, a why that puts the last few weeks all in perspective.

That the media have become such a tangled thicket rather than a clear voice represents perhaps the only generalization we can draw from these events and an indication of what has happened to America&#39;s sources and ideas about information. During past tragedies-the Kennedy assassination, Jonestown, the space shuttle explosion-somehow the media brought us together and enabled us to not only have a common source of information but also a shared sense of perspective.

Just the opposite has occurred over the last few weeks. Instead of coming together we have thousands of information sources; instead of a shared sense of perspective we have something resembling a cubist painting crafted by a random group each with their own paints, brushes and sense of reality. Trying to come together has become an exercise in frustration, disappointment and even anger.

The equilibrium many have found may even be misleading, for it comes from linking with a group of like-minded people who share their own prejudices and views of the world. So instead of finding a way out of the thicket they only wander in circles, going round and round in the same place, but thinking they have found the true path. The gun control people, the gun nuts, the racists, each have their own sources, each of which views the events through a different set of glasses. It is as if one saw green where another saw red.

It is ironic that as the mainstream media have become more concentrated, the rest of our information sources have fragmented becoming the equivalent of those drug store magazine racks with titles and content that remain a mystery to those who are not part of whatever group to which that publication caters. We have an information system that in a metaphorical way reminds me of our increasing income gap, with a small amount at one end who have a lot and a lot at the other end who have only a small amount.

The concentration of the American media has had what systems people would call an unintended consequence, for with that concentration has come increasing distrust produced by that very concentration. When you are so concentrated and so big it is very hard to hear disparate opinions, harder to evaluate them, and all but impossible to find a insightful analysis.

That distrust in turn fuels the alternative media, for when people feel they are not listened to they turn to other sources. Those sources are most likely to be those whose web pages reflect their own minds. And because of our natural diversity, those alternative sources continue to multiply.

Other factors also are at work. One I term the American Idol myth. That show exists in part because of the first premise-that the media are so concentrated they can no longer truly connect with people and so they neglect natural talents that in another time would have been stars. But it also exists because more and more people hunger for their thirty minutes of fame in a society that gives people little personal reinforcement. Then there is the most troubling part of it all: egos that drive many to think they ARE good. You can find all these themes in Cho&#39;s video and writings.

Now transfer the previous paragraph to the world of information rather than entertainment. Our information sources no longer connect with people. People in turn think their information or research is as good as the experts. Pretty soon information and misinformation, truth and rumor become quickly entangled. You can find these themes in coverage of the shootings.

In a society without any common definitions of what is good and what is trash, what is valid and what is fantasy, it is not surprising that people should often wander over the line between them. And it should also not be a surprise that when they wander over that line they should also wander over the line between what is moral and what is hellish, what are values and what are prejudices. Don Imus, Cho, certain blogs and YouTube videos all have that in common, for their minds were in themselves tangles of their own egos, a false reality, and ultimately a lack of values.

Another factor is that the line between public and private no longer exists any more than the line between talent and trash, information and garbage. One of the most fascinating parts of both the Rutgers and Virginia Tech stories is that for the victims the media became almost as serious a problem as the perpetrators. In a story in this week&#39;s <em>Sports Illustrated</em>, the Rutgers women speak of being harassed by so many microphones and cameras that they were unable to lead normal lives. They talk about having to find ways to sneak to class so the media would not catch them or trying to escape the media in various way only to find the microphones have again invaded their privacy. One picture that sticks in my mind from Virginia Tech is of a banner hanging from a dorm saying "Media Stay Away," for those students, especially anyone with even the remotest connection to the shootings or the killer was hounded unmercifully.

Think of each of these as maps that could help lead us out of the tangle. The lines between expertise and trash, information and misinformation, public and private have blurred as if someone spilled water on the map so everything ran together. That is what we have to guide us out of that thicket.

The good news is that history tells us this information chaos is characteristic of changing times, especially times of large changes in how we understand and organize information. Marshall McLuhan saw this as driven by changes in media, so as we move from print to Internet just as we moved from oral sources to print, there is a period of unrest. Such periods, though, by their vary nature produce a flowering of creativity, some of which is not recognized until long after.

So in that thicket lie geniuses. The message, then, of chaotic times is paradoxical for it asks that instead of closing our minds and walling off alternative realities we need to remain open to them. As anyone who has been in the woods can tell you, the way out of a confusing thicket is not to keep walking circles, but to carefully mark where you are and then explore various alternatives. It would be tragic if after the last two weeks America was to become more suspicious, more rigid, more judgmental.

Posted by liberalamerican

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Original Source: <a href="http://thestrangedeathofliberalamerica.com/2007/04/21/the-tangled-thicket-of-cho-seung-hui-don-imus-youtube-and-american-idol/">http://thestrangedeathofliberalamerica.com/2007/04/21/the-tangled-thicket-of-cho-seung-hui-don-imus-youtube-and-american-idol/</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported</a>.

Ralph Brauer

2007-06-08

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

eng

More Notes for Cho

Cho&#39;s Hokie stone is littered with notes.

Original source: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincupp/470150253/in/photostream/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincupp/470150253/in/photostream/</a>

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Cupp

Kevin Cupp

2007-06-07

Chad Newswander

Permission:
Photo Courtesy of Kevin Cupp
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincupp/470150253/in/photostream/

eng

Asian Identity of Virginia Tech Gunman

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

By now, I&#8217;m sure everybody has heard of the tragedy that took place yesterday, Monday April 16, at Virginia Tech University. Words cannot adequately convey the profound shock and sadness that I feel about this unthinkable human catastrophe. As an educator, a parent -- as a human being -- I am struggling to come to grips with the enormity of what happened but at the least, I want to convey my deepest, most sincere condolences to everyone affected by these killings.

You may have also heard that gunman has been <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070417/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting" target="_blank">officially identified</a> as an Asian American -- <strong>Seung-Hui Cho</strong>, a 23 year old senior English major at Virginia Tech who originally immigrated from South Korea in 1992.

The Associated Press article cited above notes that he was referred to school counselors after his instructors found his creative writing rather disturbing. The <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070417vtech-shootings,1,176236.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed" target="_blank">Chicago Tribune</a> also reports that he apparently left a rambling suicide note that railed against &#8220;&#8216;rich kids,&#8217; &#8216;debauchery&#8217; and &#8216;deceitful charlatans&#8217; on campus&#8221; and that he had committed several strange and violent acts in recent weeks.

As a sociologist and Asian American Studies scholar, I will try to to put some sociological context into this horrific tragedy and several initial reactions come to mind:

If the gunman were White, his racial identity would go virtually unnoticed and unmentioned. However, because he was a person of color, much will probably be made of his racial identity. Specifically, because he was Asian American, much of the nation&#8217;s attention will be turned to examining what kinds of cultural characteristics may have influenced his behavior.

Also, inevitably, there will be some extreme reactions from xenophobes and people with anti-immigrant positions, perhaps along the lines of &#8220;This is what happens when we let in all kinds of immigrants, so we need to shut down our borders&#8221; or &#8220;We let in these damn foreigners and give them a chance at a better life and this is how they return the favor?&#8221; In addition, those who have anti-Asian sentiments are likely to say something like &#8220;Well, this just proves that Asians are so weird, foreign, and inscrutable --we just can&#8217;t trust them.&#8221;

Unfortunately these sorts of opinions are a classic example of confounding individual traits with group traits. In other words, yes, this one particular immigrant was responsible for this tragedy, but that does not mean that all immigrants or all Asian Americans are ticking psychopathic timebombs just waiting to go on a murderous rampage.

More likely, I think typical reactions will be along the lines of &#8220;Wow, I always thought Asian Americans were so quiet and passive&#8221; or &#8220;As an Asian, he must have been under a tremendous amount of pressure to do well in school.&#8221; Admittedly, these types of responses are a little harder to respond to because there are some kernels of truth to these particular sentiments.

For example, some Asian Americans do tend to be quiet and unassuming, although that is changing and also, much of these perceptions are based on biased media portrayals and cultural stereotypes. Nonetheless, the perception -- whether it&#8217;s true or not -- of Asians being quiet does exist. Similarly, it is also true that many Asian Americans, particular students, do experience a lot of pressure to succeed. In fact, I&#8217;ve written about <a href="http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2006/10/asian-americans-and-college-admissions/">such examples</a> before and <a href="http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2006/09/asian-american-students-still-deal-with-violence/">other barriers</a> many Asian American students regularly face.

To this mix, we can also add other examples in which various <a href="http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2006/05/rash-of-family-violence-among-asians/">social pressures</a> or <a href="http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2005/09/hmong-hunter-trial-to-start/">contentious incidents</a> have pushed Asian Americans over the edge, causing them to snap and commit murder. <strong>But does that mean that Asians are more prone to psychotic episodes</strong> that result in them killing those around them?

My answer is, absolutely not. If anything, I believe the opposite is true -- that despite having to frequently deal with various incidents of prejudice, hostility, and <a href="http://www.asian-nation.org/racism.shtml">outright racism</a>, the vast majority of Asian Americans react with dignity, courage, and perseverance. Perhaps too many still keep their emotions buried inside them and need to share their frustrations more openly in order to move beyond them, but as a group, I think that in the face of persistent examples of inequality and injustice, we do not react more violently than any other group.

Did the Virginia Tech gunman&#8217;s reasons include having to deal with racism as an Asian American? At this point, I don&#8217;t know. But if that turns out to be the case, my reaction would be the same as it was in the case of Chai Soua Vang, the Hmong American convicted of killing six White hunters in Wisconsin after a hostile encounter that allegedly contained anti-Asian profanities.

That is, many of us Asian Americans face racism as well, but we don&#8217;t go on murderous shooting rampages. In other words, my point is that ultimately, what Seung-Hui Cho did at Virginia Tech was an example of someone who was clearly <strong>emotionally unstable</strong> and that he just snapped for whatever reasons known only to him.

I would not be a sociologist if I did not also point to the culture of violent masculinity that frames mass shootings like this. My UMass Amherst colleague Sut Jhully has produced several acclaimed documentaries that detail this phenomenon, most notably the video <a href="http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaGenderAndDiversity/ToughGuise" target="_blank"><em>Tough Guise</em></a>. For now, I will leave it up to him and others who have greater expertise in this particular sociological context to contribute their analysis.

In the end, this entire episode is an opportunity to remind Asian Americans and anyone else out there who are facing emotional issues or challenging situations that there are resources out there for them to access in order to more constructively deal with those pressures before they get out of hand. Suffering in silence doesn&#8217;t help anyone.

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Original Source: C.N. Le / CNLe.net
<a href="http://www.cnle.net/2007/04/asian-identity-of-virginia-tech-gunman/">http://www.cnle.net/2007/04/asian-identity-of-virginia-tech-gunman/</a>

C.N. Le

2007-06-06

Brent Jesiek

C.N. Le (le@soc.umass.edu)

eng

Immigrant Status of VA Tech Gunman: Does it Matter?

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Following up on my <a href="http://www.asian-nation.org/headlines/2007/04/asian-identity-of-virginia-tech-gunman/">last post</a> about Seung Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman, the evidence that&#8217;s coming out seems to suggest that among other things, he felt ridiculed for his social class background (at least in comparison to the &#8216;rich&#8217; kids that he railed against in his suicide note and video) and for being quiet -- but apparently not specifically for being Asian.

In other words, it does not seem that he was lashing out in reaction to incidents of racial prejudice or discrimination. I personally feel somewhat relieved to know that prejudice can now be removed from the equation. Why is that comforting to know? Because to me, it means that Asians and Koreans on the one hand, will not have to engage in the &#8220;<strong>blame game</strong>&#8221; with non-Asians on the other (specifically those who would have been the perpetrators of prejudice against him).

Nonetheless, a different aspect to the media&#8217;s coverage of his situation has gotten my attention and that of many others. Specifically, a lot of analysts, commentators, and observers have brought up the fact that he originally immigrated to the U.S. from Korea. One example of this is to refer to him in the traditional Asian way of using the surname first -- Cho Seung-Hui, instead of the American version-- Seung-Hui Cho.

Does his immigrant status make a difference in trying to understand what he did?

For many Asian Americans, the answer is no. First of all, even though he was originally from South Korea, he immigrated at a relatively early age -- 8. According to sociologists and demographers, that makes him part of the &#8220;1.5 generation&#8221; -- in between the first generation (that would be his parents) and the second generation (those born in the U.S.).

The distinction of being 1.5 generation also includes being raised and socialized primarily as an American. In other words, most of his formative schooling took place in the U.S. and by all accounts, he was perfectly fluent in English. In fact, he was so Americanized that he majored in English, rather than majors normally associated with Asian immigrants such as engineering, math, the &#8216;hard&#8217; sciences, etc.

So why is it that so many people commented and even focused so intently on the fact that he originally immigrated from South Korea?

I think the answer is that they were consciously or unconsciously trying to <strong>culturally distance themselves</strong> from him. In other words, by emphasizing that he was an immigrant, they were basically saying &#8220;He was a foreigner, an outsider -- he wasn&#8217;t one of us, he wasn&#8217;t a &#8216;real&#8217; American. &#8216;Real&#8217; Americans would never have done something like this.&#8221;

That is, even though he was basically socialized as an American, much of America refuses to accept that he was in fact an American. And with underlying sentiments like that, they only function to reinforce notions of Korean Americans and Asian Americans as <strong>perpetual foreigners</strong>. In other words and unfortunately, many Asian Americans still need to overcome the perception that they are not &#8220;real&#8221; Americans.

This particular stereotype exists even though many Asian American families have been in the U.S. several generations, even though we tend to be the most educated racial group in the U.S., even though we are the group most likely to have high-skilled jobs, and even though on the family level, we have the highest income of all racial groups.

Of course, there are specific ethnic differences in this generalization, but the point is that in virtually all other respects of what it means to be an &#8220;American,&#8221; we meet or exceed those standards. But for various reasons, most of which have to do with our skin color and distinct physical appearance to be perfectly blunt, we&#8217;re more likely to be seen as foreigners.

That is exactly what is going on in this instance, with the American media&#8217;s focus on Cho&#8217;s immigrant status. In trying to distance &#8216;real&#8217; Americans from him, American society is only reinforcing the notion that Asian Americans are not &#8216;real&#8217; Americans. In the end, even though we may grieve and cry just like the rest of American society, we still have to pay a price for what he did.

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Original Source: C.N. Le / CNLe.net
<a href="http://www.cnle.net/2007/04/immigrant-status-of-va-tech-gunman-does-it-matter">http://www.cnle.net/2007/04/immigrant-status-of-va-tech-gunman-does-it-matter</a>

C.N. Le

2007-06-06

Brent Jesiek

C.N. Le (le@soc.umass.edu)

eng

Korean Reaction to VA Tech Shootings: Guilt vs. Solidarity

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

At the risk of overanalyzing the events surrounding the shootings at Virginia Tech last week, I would like to offer one last set of observations. In my previous posts, I&#39;ve acknowledged that certainly, there are many complicated emotions and reactions to these tragic events. This also applies to Koreans and Korean Americans, for whom this event stirs up additional feelings that include <b>guilt, shame, and embarrassment</b> based on the fact that the gunman was Korean American.

As one article from <a href="http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=2d3b885a913020630dd2537a0eeaf9ed">New American Media</a> describes, many Koreans felt that Cho&#39;s murderous rampage tarnished the image of Koreans and Korean Americans and that it would lead to a backlash against them. Korean government officials have also issued repeated apologies, perhaps fearing that an association with Cho would interfere with their diplomatic and/or economic relations with Americans.

In talking about this particular issue with my Korean American colleagues, many of them observe that for whatever reasons, many Asian Americans in general, but Koreans in particular, are very quick to personalize and internalize the high-profile public failures of anyone identified as Korean or Korean American, and to therefore feel a deep and profound sense of humiliation and guilt about such events. The implication is that somehow, the entire Korean/Korean American community is "responsible" or "at fault" in some way for Cho&#39;s actions.

In contrast, many Koreans/Korean Americans, particularly younger or more "Americanized" members, feel that while they obviously share in the shock, grief, and sorrow regarding the tragic events at Virginia Tech, their community should not have to feel that they are somehow responsible for what Cho did just because he was Korean American, in the same way that Whites as a collective group were not responsible for the shooting massacre at Columbine High School eight years ago, nor any of the other high-profile school shootings in recent American history.

I happen to agree with that sentiment, but I think it&#39;s a more complicated issue than that.

The question that comes to mind for me is, where do we as Asian Americans draw the line between <b>shared guilt versus group solidarity</b>? In other words, in most other respects, many Asian Americans including myself have consistently tried to encourage a sense of pan-Asian American unity and solidarity. This effort is based on the notion that in emphasizing our commonalities and uniting as a collective group, Asian Americans can speak with a louder and more powerful collective voice in American society, rather than as isolated individuals or ethnicities.

But with that in mind, is it then a contradiction to disassociate ourselves from Seung-Hui Cho in this case, and basically say that he wasn&#39;t "one of us" and to reject any insinuation that his ethnicity had anything to do with his actions (which would also imply that some Asian American may share some of his feelings of alienation, etc.)?

Ultimately, I don&#39;t think that it has to be an either-or proposition. That is, we can still say that ultimately Cho&#39;s actions should be understood as the <b>aberrant behavior of an extremely troubled individual</b>, while at the same time saying that his mental illness could have been made worse by <u><b>feeling like an outsider and ridiculed for being different</b></u> -- sentiments that inevitably do exist among many Asian Americans.

Thankfully, even though many Asian Americans may have similar feelings of alienation, they do not react by going on a murderous rampage. Nonetheless, we as Asian Americans should recognize and advocate that (1) we be treated with respect and tolerance -- especially those who might be otherwise seen as outcasts, (2) members of our community who are emotionally troubled be actively encouraged to seek help, and (3) mental health services should be readily available and culturally-competent.

These efforts would go a long way in preventing not just tragic incidents like this, but also in reducing the difficulties many Asian American face in the complicated process of finding our identity within the complicated American racial landscape.

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Original Source: C.N. Le / CNLe.net
<a href="http://www.cnle.net/2007/04/korean-reaction-to-va-tech-shootings-guilt-vs-solidarity/">http://www.cnle.net/2007/04/korean-reaction-to-va-tech-shootings-guilt-vs-solidarity/</a>

C.N. Le

2007-06-06

Brent Jesiek

C.N. Le (le@soc.umass.edu)

eng

Cho Seung-Hui: A Lone Deranged Gunman?

<p>Thursday, April 19. 2007</p>
<p>As all of America mourns the deaths which occurred on the Virginia Tech campus, bloggers are drawing comparisons to the body count that issues daily from Iraq. See a particularly poignant post from Floyd Rudmin of <b>commondreams.org</b> titled "32 Senseless Deaths: A Chance for Empathy, Change of Heart, and Change of Course" which concludes:</p>
<blockquote>The tragedy at Virginia Tech was caused by lone gunman, probably deranged. It was a one-time event. It is finished. The tragedy in Iraq was caused by the US government, with the over-whelming support of the US Congress, most of the US media, and much of the US population. This war was planned and executed by rational men and women, none of them deranged.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The US decided to start the war against Iraq.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The US decided to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The US decided to destroy the Iraqi government and to disband its police and army.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The US decided to send too few soldiers to secure the nation after doing these destructive deeds.</blockquote>
<blockquote>And the tragedy of Iraq is not a one-time event. It is not finished. It continues, apparently without end.</blockquote>
<blockquote>By many reports, the US is now preparing to start another war, this time against Iran.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Americans feeling the shock and grief of the tragedy at Virginia Tech should look into their hearts and realize that they through their government are bringing this same tragedy again, and again, and again, and again, and again, endlessly and needlessly, to other people in the world who also have hearts that can be torn out, who also feel grief and loss when family and friends are suddenly killed when doing ordinary things of life, like going to school.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Tragic deaths force us to feel our humanity and to see we are similar to others in the world. The tragic deaths in Virginia might serve to motivate Americans to curb their militarism and to minimize the tragedies of sudden death that they have been bringing to other families in the world.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Read the <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/18/593/">full article</a>.</blockquote>
<p>It is heartening to witness a vigorous debate emerging online as people come to terms with these killings and their significance, not only for the victims and their families and friends, but for an entire culture. As Americans draw comparisons to Iraq, we who are not American are reminded that America is a house divided. I sometimes catch myself drawing hasty generalizations, styling all Americans as arrogant war-mongerers. But the comments I read online remind me that, in fact, those who share the president&#39;s world view stand in a minority. I must pause to recognize that most Americans grieve for the state of their country and fear for their safety abroad. As non-Americans, our generalizations merely implicate us in the sins we condemn.</p>
<p>Perhaps a more difficult task comes in moderating the generalizations we make as we consider Cho Seung-Hui who was the perpetrator of these killings. Every account I have read thus far refers to him as "deranged." Doubtless a person who commits mass murder is mentally ill. But the use of this particular epithet continues the media habit of drawing a causal connection between violence and mental illness. This is an oversimplification, much like the suggestion that American troops are in Iraq to stabilize a country that has no infrastructure of its own.</p>
<p>The media&#39;s continuing association of violence and mental illness perpetuates the stigma which haunts millions of people who suffer from major mental health issues. In fact, mental illness is <b>not</b> a significant indicator of violence. See this pdf document from the <a href="http://theoblog.ca/serendipity/archives/www.camh.net/education/Resources_communities_organizations/addressing_stigma_senatepres03.pdf">Centre for Addiction and Mental Health</a>. Indicators which are more significant include: youth, male gender, and history of violence or substance abuse. Let me make that a little clearer: if you are a male, that fact alone is a stronger predictor of violent behaviour than if you suffer from schizophrenia. A non-clinical list of indicators might also include such factors as availability of weapons and exposure to desensitizing materials (e.g. video games, movies, media that televise a killer&#39;s manifesto and cell phone video of shots being fired, etc). From the CAMH document comes this quote:</p>
<blockquote>"While it is true that some people who have a mental illness do commit crimes, public perceptions of mentally ill persons as criminally dangerous are exaggerated. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of people with mental illness never commit violent acts. <i>They are actually more likely to have acts of violence committed against them</i>, particularly homeless individuals who may also have a mental illness." (Italics added.)</blockquote>
<p>If the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of violent acts, then it is possible that Cho Seung-Hui only became a risk <i>after</i> he was, himself, victimized. Following the shootings at Columbine, it was revealed that the shooters, Harris & Klebold, were victims of significant bullying. The same is probably true in this instance. See here for a <a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070416/school_shootings_070415">profile of Cho</a>.</p>
<p>Let&#39;s not perpetrate a generalization about mental illness. Let&#39;s seize this moment as an opportunity to put an end to a cycle of violence by putting an end to our fears of mental illness. I would invite Floyd Rudmin and <b>commondreams.org</b> to revise their post. There were 33 senseless deaths. To state that there were 32 reveals a stigmatizing bias that we must reckon with. Otherwise, our generalizations merely implicate us in the sins we condemn.</p>
<p>Posted by <a href="http://theoblog.ca/serendipity/authors/1-David-Barker">David Barker</a> in <a href="http://theoblog.ca/serendipity/categories/8-HealthMental-Health">Health/Mental Health</a> at <a href="http://theoblog.ca/serendipity/archives/248-Cho-Seung-Hui-A-Lone-Deranged-Gunman.html">23:08</a></p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Original Source: <a href="http://theoblog.ca/serendipity/archives/248-Cho-Seung-Hui-A-Lone-Deranged-Gunman.html">http://theoblog.ca/serendipity/archives/248-Cho-Seung-Hui-A-Lone-Deranged-Gunman.html</a></p>
<p>Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5</a>.</p>

David Barker

2007-06-06

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5

eng