Can't stick it on Korea

By Zhang Xin
[ 2007-04-24 15:42 ]

Last week, in the immediate aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, some people apparently tried to stick it on Korea, or China, or Asia in general, all on the strength of such weak arguments that Cho Seung-Hui was an immigrant from Korea, that he was sometimes (mis)taken as Chinese, or that he's Asian-looking.

I read somewhere that a Korean retorted, quite correctly, that Cho left South Korea at the age of eight and spent most of his formative years in the States so they can't possibly stick it on Korea. Cho, who killed 33 people including himself on Virginia Tech campus on Monday, April 16, 2007, was 23.

Likewise, you can't stick it on China. At least once Cho was mistaken as Chinese. "In high school, Cho Seung-Hui almost never opened his mouth. When he finally did, his classmates laughed, pointed at him and said: 'Go back to China.'" (Va. Tech shooter a 'textbook killer', Associated Press, April 19, 2007).

Nor can you pin it on Asia. After all, almost all East Asians look the same to the less discerning American eye.

Whom do we stick it onto, then?

If I have to assign blame, I will stick it first on Cho, obviously, then on gun control or the lacks thereof in America, then on pop culture and on society at large.

I, for one, believe it is not as far-fetched to blame it on society at large than on a specific target such as Korea. Society at large, you see, both yonder across the oceans and here in this country looks too much up to what is called success but has too little respect for and tolerance of what is considered to be failure. I mean, only by contrast do we tell success from failure. So theoretically for society as a whole, these two are equally important - we should therefore reserve a degree of respect for those who fail, who come up short but also run.

School bullies, for example, pick on practically anyone who's not regarded as "one of us". You may get glared at, jeered and sneered at for one of these perfectly harmless "crimes" - that you come from another country (or another province for that manner), that you don't get ushered to school by a sedan car, that you speak a non-local dialect, that you have an odd accent, that you have a physical disability or simply a harelip, that you have a mental problem.... The list goes on and on.

In the mainstream society of one-upmanship, pop culture craves for bringing up heroes (American Idol, or the Super Girl in China) and in the process create as a by product victims and villains, of whom Cho is but a latest and most disturbing example.

No doubt, blaming it on society at large is in vain. Cho himself tried to do it, and what consequences did he come to? Cho argued in his manifesto, sent to the NBC in between the murders, that he was out to avenge rich "brats" with had their "Mercedes", "gold necklaces", "cognac" and "trust funds". But he had no argument, really - none of the above justifies the shootings.

But, as a lesson, we as individuals need to be constantly reminded of the social callousness we often displays toward the weak and underprivileged.

In the same time society advocates winning, it'd best advocate also tolerance and understanding towards losing. By all means win, but please maintain a healthy respect for those who fall behind.

It's called "live and let live". In this age of wealth and profligacy in many places, we instead may advocate "thrive but let survive".

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Original Source:Chinadaily.com

<a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-04/24/content_858747.htm">http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-04/24/content_858747.htm<a/>

Zhang Xin

2007-07-18

Na Mi

eng

What If It Happened Every Day?

By Keith Boykin, in <a href="http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/politics/">politics</a>
Tuesday, April 17 2007, 10:24AM

The news was gruesome and alarming. Reuters reported that at least <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM628011.htm">30 people</a> were shot yesterday in a deadly gun rampage that rocked a city once known for its <a href="http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/baghdad.htm">safety</a> and <a href="http://islam.about.com/cs/history/a/aa040703a.htm">scholarship</a>. By now, you&#39;ve heard about the story, and many of us have already stopped paying attention.

But I&#39;m not talking about the deadly school shooting in Virginia Monday morning. I&#39;m talking about the deadly violence in <a href="http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx">Iraq</a> that goes on everyday. While most of the world was understandably horrified by the campus shooting at Virginia Tech yesterday, almost no one paid attention to the 30 people who were <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM628011.htm">shot and killed</a> in Baghdad on the same day. The shock and horror of watching such dramatic violence in Virginia immediately resonated with Americans. But here&#39;s something else to ponder. What if it happened every day? What if we saw that kind of carnage in our communities every night on the evening news? It sounds far-fetched, but that&#39;s exactly the situation that faces many Iraqis almost every day of the year.

If the shooting in Virginia tells us anything about human society, it should tell us that violence is far too common in the world. It&#39;s not just an American problem or an Iraqi problem, it is a global problem. What kind of world do we live in where young students have virtually unfettered access to sophisticated deadly weapons that can be used to kill their classmates and teachers? And how did we become desensitized to the tens of thousands of civilian casulaties in a war we&#39;re still fighting in Baghdad?

I don&#39;t think it is possible to stop every murder or every killing that takes place in this country or abroad, but I do believe we have a responsibility to promote the conditions for peace.

For all the talk about our Christian values in America, we are an extraordinarily violent society. The FBI reported <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_01.html">1.4 million</a> violent crimes in the U.S. in 2005 and more than 16,000 murders. That&#39;s a drop from the record high figures in the early 1990s but it shows that we are still far too violent.

Through elective wars, capital punishment, gang violence, and media depictions of violence, we demonstrate our collective societal preference for violence as a solution to our problems. I don&#39;t know what motivated the young student in Virginia to shoot up his classmates, and I don&#39;t know what motivates the suicide bombers in Iraq to blow up their neighbors. But I do know that we have a duty to promote peace in this country and abroad.

Imagine the impact that could be made if America lead an international campaign for peace instead of a war on terror. Imagine the goodwill we could generate if we diverted some of the $500 billion we&#39;ve spent on war in recent years so that we could build hospitals, schools, and housing throughout the undeveloped world.

Imagine the difference it might make if our leaders dropped some of the macho rhetoric and talked about service, duty and community responsibility? I know there will be much discussion in the next few days about gun control and mental health counseling and legislation, and I welcome that conversation. But we should also ask ourselves about the world we&#39;ve created and what each of us can do to make it better and more peaceful.

The Virginia shooting was shocking, in part, because it was so unusual. Unlike the Iraqis, we&#39;re not accustomed to seeing such large-scale violence on a regular basis. Or, more precisely, we&#39;re not accustomed to seeing it here in the United States, because clearly we know it&#39;s happening in Iraq. But what if it happened here everyday? That might be the tragic catalyst that would finally inspire us to do something positive and constructive about the violence in our country and the rest of the world.

It would be tempting to point to the shooter in Blacksburg and isolate him as the problem. But the problem and the solution don&#39;t lie outside of us. They answers are within.

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Original Source: keithboykin.com
<a href="http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/04/17/what_if_it_happ">http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/04/17/what_if_it_happ</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0</a>.

Keith Boykin

2007-07-17

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0

eng

Guns Don&#39;t Kill People, Kids Who Play Video Games Kill People...

April 18, 2007

<i>I apologize in advance for the tone of this piece. I thoroughly appreciate the devastating gravity of the situation, and I extend my heartfelt condolences to those families and friends affected.</i>

Blacksburg, Virginia.

Less than a week ago, nothing would have sprung to mind. In fact, many would not even have known this small town existed.

Now, for obvious reasons, it&#39;s on the map.

The events of April 16 serve as a reminder - a reminder that society is imperfect; that society is unpredictable; and that society is unprepared.

In fairness to those involved, the events at Virgina Tech could not have been predicted with any ease. What happened was not a commonplace, run-of-the-mill, every-day happening.

I won&#39;t even go so far as to say that what happened could have been prevented - there is no reasonable way of knowing that. What I will do, however, is take a few quick shots at the aftermath.

Everyone has their own concocted theory on how to respond to this type of situation. Pat Brown, for example, argues that whoever was the owner of the weapons used in the attack should be held accountable for the deaths of each and every student and professor on Monday. She believes that somehow, this would prevent a psychopath from acquiring the weapons they would choose to employ for such causes.

The real world begs to differ, Pat.

What we need to take away from the Virginia Tech Massacre is very simple - there are people out there that need help. Guns didn&#39;t kill those students; the Asian man didn&#39;t kill those professors; what transpired at Virginia Tech is exactly what happened at Columbine, Taber, Montreal, and every other mass shooting.

These people were neglected.

Do I believe in any way that whatever circumstances the shooter may have been put through justify his actions? No. Reciprocity, particularly when it involves violence, solves nothing.

With that said, however, how do we take ownership of Monday&#39;s events? Do we pretend that this was an isolated incident - a single student lashing out at random? Did this man wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and decide that morning to take the lives of 32 innocent people?

I don&#39;t think so.

Society perpetuates the attitude and the atmosphere that leads these people to commit horrendous acts. If this young man had been cared for, appreciated, respected, and amongst friends, would there still be 32 innocent people dead? Would the thought ever have even crossed his mind that he could be capable of such an atrocity?

These murderers are not the product of their own tendencies - they are products of society, as are we all. Maybe they needed medical attention, or maybe they had deep-rooted psychological issues; that could absolutely be a contributing factor.

At the end of the day, however, someone pushed this young man over the edge, and was repaid in the most horrific kind.

DO NOT fool yourself into believing that we are not responsible for what happened. Each and every one of us, through our thoughts, words, or actions, could spur or prevent the next Virginia Tech. We point fingers at the school&#39;s administration, the local police, the county flower... ultimately, we must all hold ourselves and one-another accountable for the citizens we are.

Blacksburg, you have our thoughts and prayers. If nothing else, remember:

This too shall pass.

In mourning, this is BSPM, signing off.

Posted by keh619 on April 18, 2007 05:08 PM

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Original Source: <a href="http://blogs.usask.ca/politics/2007/04/guns_dont_kill.html">http://blogs.usask.ca/politics/2007/04/guns_dont_kill.html</a>

Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0</a>.

keh619 / Tales of a Back Seat Prime Minster (blog)

2007-07-09

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0

eng

The Politics of Pride and Shame

Michael Hurt

2007-06-21

Brent Jesiek

Michael Hurt (kuraeji@gmail.com)

eng

Virginia Tech: Laying The Blame

Karen Harper

22 Apr 2007

There will be a lot of blame dished out in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre. But one element will be missing and that is the system itself. Capitalism and the society it nurtures will remain unscathed in the big business press.

In the aftermath of another school shooting in the US, many will be asking why and some will be trying to lay blame. The shooter&#39;s parents will be blamed for how they raised him; the school will be blamed for how it dealt with his mental illness; and his schoolmates past and present will be blamed for how they teased and ostracized him. However, the blame will mostly not be laid where it appropriately belongs; on the head of capitalism and the social values that it has nourished.

No individual can be looked at out of context of the larger society, and this young man and what he became cannot be understood without first looking at the society he came from. Unfortunately, the "angry loner" type that has done these sorts of shootings in the past is not the product of an isolated genetic mutation that happens unpredictably and that cannot be prevented. Such people are a real product of their environment and the direct result of capitalism&#39;s impact on personal development and mental health.

This society promotes individuality, self-absorption, and competition over solidarity and collective struggle. Is it any surprise that some young people are so incapable of not only identifying with the group and its larger good, but also of even, in severe cases, forming any kind of meaningful relationship with another individual? These people after years of painful experiences can come to the conclusion that they are completely unloved and unlovable. Because we are social beings, this conclusion makes life difficult to continue.

Capitalism is daily bombarding our self-esteem; we are never good enough under capitalism. There is always some drug to make us happier, some surgery to make us thinner, some car or house or job that will make us more respected. The inevitable consequence of this pressure is that some people will consider themselves failures when they judge themselves up against the values of this society. In some cases this will only further increase some individual&#39;s isolation and anger.

This terrible brutal crime is an ugly, warped but nonetheless, direct product of big business&#39;‚ value system. Capitalism will continuously attempt to encourage an obsession with money, fame and the worship of individualism. This in turn will inevitably be accompanied by what we saw at Virginia Tech this week. This will not be the last individual so void of solidarity as to massacre his classmates. The outpouring of empathy towards the victims of this crime is a sign of the enormous human and working class solidarity that exists in this society. The crime itself is a consequence of the corrupt and rotten values of those who are in control at the top.

<b>Related</b>

<a href="http://www.laborsmilitantvoice.org/">http://www.laborsmilitantvoice.org</a>

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Original Source: <a href="http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/77317/index.php">http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/77317/index.php</a>

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

Karen Harper

2007-06-10

Brent Jesiek

Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication

eng