"As long as an audience is attracted to his bigotry, and politicians and pundits tolerate his racism and chauvinism to promote themselves, Don Imus will continue to be a serial apologist for prejudice"
Cho Seung-Hui murders thirty two students before killing himself at Virginia Tech. The question is, why? Well, he told us why -- because he was picked on ever since he came to America when he was eight years old. Sure other kids are picked on too, but we all know that some kids are picked on way more than others. I remember all the constant cruel comments made by my peers all throughout Elementary school, Junior High, and High School. Even after we leave High School, we continue to live in that same kind of climate that we endured as children. Barack Obama (a potential Presidential candidate for 2008) calls this, "a coarsening of the culture" and he believes that, "all of us have become a little complicit in this kind of relaxed attitude toward some pretty offensive things," some of those things being rap singers and radio talk show hosts. For example, the talk show host Don Imus was a role model for (then) 15 year-old Tom Leykis, so it should come as no surprise to hear radio talk show shock jock Tom Leykis constantly flap his lips on his radio show about how most women in general are bitches and/or golddiggers and how to legally avoid having personal or business relationships with women. Clearly we constantly tolerate intolerance. I think we can add sexism and bigotry and racism to that as well.
Just like the "war on drugs", everybody chooses the wrong target for our problems. The problem with drugs isn't the pushers and the dealers, it's with the relentless demand for the drugs. If there was no demand for drugs, there would be no drug problem. But how many people fighting the war on drugs target the reason why people want drugs? Zero. Likewise the issue with mass murders at our High Schools and Universities aren't with people like Mr Cho, but with their peers. It wasn't Mr Cho who needed counseling, it was his peers who were insensitive to his feelings and made fun of his English and his Spanish. It was his peers when he advertised their alienation from him by signing his name with a question mark, when they ridiculed him instead of reaching out to him. It was his Elementary school teachers for not paying attention or turning a deaf ear when they see children cruelly picking on other children. People would rather be in denial that the real problem isn't with people like Mr Cho, but with us as a culture, a culture that preys on the weak or helpless or naive.
It is no coincidence that the two of the greatest heroes to Mr Cho were Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of the Columbine massacre. Many other school-ground killers and would be killers have expressed the same exact sentiment and that is why there have been numerous copycat Columbine murders since then. This isn't going to go away. The honest feelings these people have and the honest complaints they have aired are real, and until we start listening to what they are telling us from their hearts, we will continue as a Nation to be inundated and embarrassed by the never ending barrage of school-ground mass murders. It's time to say no to the lies and the callousness and insensitivity, and the excuses for not listening. Mr Cho was not "friendless by choice". Mr Cho was not "twisted" or "sick". Mr Chos only real crimes were he was weak, helpless, and naive and for living in a culture so coarse that it had to pounce on him for not being one of the "beautiful people" like the rest of us Americans think we are.
You can't say I didn't warn you...
Asa H. Coon goes on a shooting rampage at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio.
Steven Kazmierczak goes on a shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois
George Sodini goes on a shooting rampage at LA Fitness in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, killing three women and himself. The question is, why? Well, he told us why -- at least indirectly he told us. It wasn't because he was psychotic, although that would be comforting to alternate diagnosis that he was a normal person like you or me but had enough bad experiences to "tip him over the edge". All one has to do is pay attention while reading his diary to see what the actual reason was...
"May 25, 2009: I was invited to a picnic, and I went. An older woman there, out of the blue, asked if I liked high school. Then quickly asked if I was picked on very much. Intersting why she would ask that". Well that is interesting why she should ask that. How could she know that he was picked on unless word was getting around that this guy was picked on when he was in High School because George Sodini talked too much about it?
"Now that I am on the topic of family and people I know, I might as well make a summary of sorts to show where things stand...Michael Sodini - A Boss, my brother...Always the big bully, twice the size of most others. When he bullied or harassed someone, it was the other person who 'deserved it'. It was always about him. Way to self absorbed, too. Still is. Used to like to embarrass guys in front of their girlfriends...He took those bullying 'skills' into the business world". Wow! Doesn't that sound hauntingly familar? George Sodinin and Cho Seung-Hui could have been twin brothers for all we know.
"...Any of the 'Practice Papers' left on my coffee table I used or the notes in my gym bag can be published freely...Some people like to study that stuff. Maybe all this will shed insight on why some people just cannot make things happen in their life, which can potentially benefit others". Wow! This too sounds hauntingly familar -- AUGUST 1ST, 1966. Charles Whitman goes on a shooting rampage at the University of Texas at Austin, killing 14 people and wounding 32 others before being killed himself. Just immediately before the rampage began, he left a suicide note stating, "If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts...donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type". A subsequent autopsy was conducted, per Charles Whitman's wishes, and a brain tumor was found. Maybe we should respect George Sodini's "suicide note" as well -- who knows what we will find? Afterall, not all "cancers" are of the physical kind.
Alex Youshock goes on a bombing rampage at San Mateo High School in San Mateo, California. Although no one was killed, Alex was carrying 10 pipe bombs, a 2-foot sword, and a chain saw. Clearly Alex meant to do harm and it was luck that one of his teachers had the courage and sense to stop him. Of course, the point is that Alex was another hero to, let me predict this ahead of time, the bullied and downtrodden that our society routinely ignores and shuns, a society that thereby contributed to his desperate act of extreme violence. When the details come out, I will keep you posted.
Lisa Nowak, an astronaut for NASA, is accused of stalking and attempted murder. NASA then admits that being an astronaut places great stress upon a person, as if to say, "What else would you expect?". This only proves that NASA is good at doing technically-oriented things, but terrible at human psychology. Becoming an astronaut is one of the least stressful events a person can go through, but becoming an instant celebrity just because they are an astronaut is a highly stressful event -- especially when they don't deserve to become a celebrity. Astronauts are prematurely called "heroes" before they even have a chance to do anything truly heroic. All they do is their job -- pushing buttons and following instructions, just like they are told to do. Anyone can do that. That isn't heroic. Sure their life is on-the-line, but so is a cops, yet who contributes more to the health and welfare of society? Who deserves more thanks? The real heroes of outer space are the people who go unrecognized for their accomplishments. Astronauts don't have the right stuff to go into space, it's the engineers and scientists who have the right stuff to design and build and pioneer in their field to make space travel even possible. As always, the press is looking for the right stuff in the wrong place; putting pressure on people who don't need the pressure. Isn't it time someone in NASA acted like an adult and told the childish press to stay away from astronauts because they are not the focus of the space program, nor should they be. They are the least important part of the space program and rightfully so.