The Virginia Tech shootings: why are people so surprised?
Forgive me for asking this question, but why on earth is everyone seemingly so surprised that another crazed gunman took aim at innocent people? Considering the number of easily obtainable guns, and the lack of easily obtainable treatment for people with mental health issues, I am surprised we don't see these kinds of bloodbaths on a more regular basis. Also, to be surprised at this time in the year is completely ludicrous as well.
It's Hitler's Birthday on the 20th. Remember the Columbine shootings? They were done in "honor" of Hitler's Birthday. Remember the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City? That was done in honor of Hitler's Birthday. The list goes on.
Even when it's not Hitler's birthday, there are still more than enough nutcases in this country, and more than enough easily obtainable guns to keep the blood flowing.
I am not going to get into the gun rights debate. It's a debate that can't be won. There are good points on both sides of the debate. Besides, it's not about the guns, it's about the lunatics that can get their hands on them with considerable ease. Even if they stopped manufacturing new guns today, there would be an ample supply available until the sun became a red giant and toasted the Earth in the process. Of course, the same can't be said for ammunition, but you can rest assured that as long as there is a United States of America, there will be companies making rounds!
The specter of mindless violence like that we saw today will never leave this country. There is no way. We are way too in love with guns for that to happen. We are also way too into glorification of the gun. We are also not very much into treating the mental illnesses that underlie so many of these wanton and reckless attacks of mindless death and destruction.
That's a potent and deadly mix. How could it be otherwise?
On a daily basis, there is some story about someone dying at the business end of a gun. Whether it's a gang war, a drug deal gone south, marital woes, or a crazed lunatic taking out a dozen or so people before he takes himself out, the stories never stop. Perhaps, because I live in Dallas, a city that spent some time as a murder capital, I have a unique perspective on this issue. While I realize that Dallas isn't unique in the US when it comes to gun-related deaths, the fact that Dallas is in Texas, a place where we dearly love our firearms, especially the hand-gun variety, it just seems that there are more people dying here of gunshot wounds than for just about any other reason.
Perhaps it's for this reason alone that the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech are not even close to a surprise. Hell, just yesterday, some crazed asshole shot his two daughters and then himself. I am sure there will be a story on tonight's news about someone or other who was killed by a high velocity copper-coated lead projectile. As sure as I am sitting here when I should be in bed, tomorrow will dawn with news of another gun murder in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Hell, there might be a couple.
That's just the American way.
So can we please drop the false sense of outrage and surprise when the number of people killed at one time is over five? The only difference between the death of three and the death of ten is the number of shell casings left at the scene of the crime. The intent is the same. The motivation is the same. The lunacy that would fuel multiple deaths is the same. The only thing that differs is the number of corpses taken to the morgue; that's all!
If there is real outrage, then let's prove it! Improve the mental health system in this country. That will go miles in putting a dent into the problem of rampant gun deaths in this country. Since there is no way that the NRA is going to disappear tomorrow, we need to address the problem in another way. The best way to do that is to make mental health services available to all. Getting rid of the stigma attached to mental health issues might help, too. Throwing the idea of glorifying the gun might not be a bad idea, either.
However, I don't see that happening. The core of our beliefs would have to completely change. That's simply not going to happen. We are in love with death, destruction, and mayhem. The state of the "entertainment" industry should be proof enough of this. How many movies are being released that aren't drenched in blood? Not nearly as many as those that are! How many shoot-'em-up video games are there on the market?80-90%?
As long as we keep teaching how to kill, people are going to kill. As long as we keep pretending there isn't a mental health crisis in this country, people are going to continue rampage killing. As long as we glorify the gun, and solving problems at the business end of that gun, the blood will continue to flow. How could it be otherwise?
In the words of Joseph Stalin: "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." In the case of rampage murders in this country, those deaths are both tragedies and statistics at the same time. If we don't do something to fix the problem, the statistics are going to keep on growing. The tragedies will continue to mount until we come to a point where the surprise de jour isn't rampage murder followed by the inevitable suicide of the one doing the rampage, it will be the lack of such mindless blood-letting!
Blessed be! Pappy
http://www.bear-upstairs-studio.com
Harpist, unemployed blue collar worker, and Bush basher living deep in the heart of Texas.
Thank you so much for a job well done in your article concerning the Virginia Tech massacre. You brought up the point of mental illness and that is what we must all focus on. We must recognize the possible warning signs in order to save mankind. Your's is a well reasoned and logical thought process of what happened in that human tragedy. Keep up the great work.
Sincerely,
Mary MacElveen!
by
Mary MacElveen (229 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 26 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 7:39:33 AM
You are correct that mental heath is the issue here, but the mental heath SYSTEM we have is not the solution - it is the PROBLEM!
Shootings of this kind inevitably trace back to the PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATION the person was taking - drugs which the FDA has specifically placed black box warning labels on that they may cause VIOLENCE and SUICIDE.
Yes, this man was disturbed for a long time in his life, according to reports from people that knew him in his neighborhood, but there is a difference between "disturbed and introverted", and "willing to commit mass murder". The fact of the matter is that these psychotropic drugs that are doled out with increasing frequency in the world (and especially in this country), tend to take a person who is simply "disturbed" and under the guise of making the person "feel better" essentially remove from the person the only thing that keeps them from being seriously harmful to others - their concience. So the person, with thier concience numbed out (because the drug numbs out those pesky "bad feelings" we humans have - like one's scruples) is now free to commit the things that would have never manifested outside of the person's fantasies.
So let's not make the very mistake that the drug companies are banking on. Let's not chant the party line that their marketing departments feed us. Let's address the real issue - the psychiatrist/drug-company clique that has the world's youth in its sights!
by
Chris Owens (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 12:54:04 PM
...and thank you for your comment. My standard wake-up ritual is to hop on line to check my email. This morning, when I did that, I was greeted with the picture of Cho Seung-Hui, Virginia Tech Senior, and craven mass murderer.
What's the headline: the first comment before his name? Say it with me, class: "Quiet student, campus killer." At this point, I could go for the obligatory, "...it's always the quiet ones..." cliche, and I did. However, I really don't buy that, and I never will.
Even though there always exists some grain of truth in the cliche, the absolute truth is there is always, ALWAYS a clue or two that the person in question has left prior to the shooting. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold left a myriad of clues. The loonie who shot up the Amish children in Pennsylvania left clues. Tim McVeigh left clues!
Perhaps the biggest clue is the reticence of the individual to speak. Why is that never a tip off to anyone that the seething volcano on two legs is getting ready to erupt? Why is it when people run across someone who's too "quiet", they don't step in to see if the lava is building there just under the surface and getting ready to erupt into mass murder?
"Am I my brother's keeper?"
This is the question we should be asking in such situations. If there are clues left before the actions of such individuals, is it not our societal responsibility to be on the lookout for people who may be "too silent," or who may be anything but when it comes to spouting their intent to cause reckless mayhem on a grand scale? I say, "yes, it is!"
However, in this day and age of everyone walking around like a complete automaton; cut off from societal interaction by the Ipod, the video game, and, dare I say it, the computer, we have become accustom to dwelling within our own space. We ignore EVERYTHING that exists beyond our comfortable cocoon; the cone of silence we erect around ourselves to keep the world at arm's length. Then, when the inevitable happens, and someone like Cho Seung-Hui invades our reality with their seething insanity, it's an all out surprise.
As I said in the original article, it's not a surprise when it happens, it's a surprise when it doesn't. Always, someone like Cho Seung-Hui sends out clues, messages of intent, cries for help, whatever you wish to call it. Always, those clues, messages, and cries for help fall upon willingly deaf ears, and go unseen by willingly blinded eyes. Well, that is until the clues turn into deaths via hot lead injections. Then we can see. Then we can hear, as the gunshot reports can only go unheard by truly deaf.
Then it is too late. Are we our brother's keeper? No, we aren't, and perhaps that's the real root of the problem. As humans in a society, we have a responsibility to each other, and to the society at large. It is our responsibility to maintain a wary eye for men such as Cho Seung-Hui, Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, Timothy McVeigh, Charles Whitman, and so on. Perhaps if we were being our brothers' keepers, the kind of mindless violence we witnessed at Virginia Tech would become a surprise when it happens, instead of yet another incident which propels yet another name onto the infamous list of rampage killers.
The clues are everywhere!
There was a special on last year about rampage killings. It put forth a list of some fairly clear signs that someone is going to "go off" and begin rampage killing. Klebold and Harris left clues on their blogs, as well as in written school essays, and some criminal behavior before they went to Columbine to exercise their bloody scenario. Other mass murderers have left numerous clues before they ever put a clip into a gun and cocked it to put one in the chamber.
Some of the warning signs sited are as follows. The loss of a job is a dead giveaway, pardon the pun. Yet another is talk of violent action and death. Yet another is the stockpiling of weapons and ammunition. Yet another is reticence. One of the clearest is the verbal clues that the person in question has reached a state of, for lack of a better term, personal hopelessness.
If someone who has been under an extreme amount of pressure suddenly takes on a less stressed-out air, then look out. Much like the suicide victim who goes from a state of extreme depression to a state of seeming joy right before they are found hanging, spraying their brains all over a wall, or taking that lethal overdose, a sudden break in the emotional storm clouds means a decision has been made. Once that point comes, there is usually no turning back.
The time to act is before that point comes. Waiting until afterwards means lots of body bags, lots of extra gurneys with corpses on them, and lots more money in the hands of the undertakers. Ignoring the clues is a deadly game. It's time that society stopped playing that game. The next body could be mine, or yours.
Stop ignoring the obvious!
To quote The X Files, "The truth is out there." It must become our responsibility to look for that truth. There are sites on the Internet that list the warning signs, not only for rampage killing, but for suicide as well. If we are truly outraged and disgusted by the wanton violence that men like Cho Seung-Hui commit, then we have to do our part.
Making more laws, getting into gun law debates, and pointing fingers at the government or others WILL NOT solve this problem. The plain and harsh truth in all of this is American Society has become so disconnected, so discordant, and so fractured, no one wants to engage themselves even one millimeter beyond their cocoon of comfort. This is not a good thing in the least.
This is the kind of attitude that allows men like DUBYA to continue their treasonous rampage against We The People. This is the kind of attitude that allows a company like Enron to bilk its employees and investors out of billions. This is the kind of attitude that allows a company like Halliburton to do its dirty work. And finally, it's the kind of attitude that allows a man like Cho Seung-Hui to perpetrate the largest wholesale slaughter in history (so far, anyway...rest assured someone will eclipse even his number of dead).
It is our duty as citizens to be ever vigilant. It is our duty to keep our eyes open. It is our duty to help our fellows whenever and wherever possible. For far too many years, we have ALL shirked our responsibility in this area. Look at the mess it has caused! Look at the death, demise, destruction! Isn't it time we got down to causes and conditions instead of fucking around with symptoms that continuously point to the same disease over and over again?
I sure hope so. Frankly, I am tired of hearing about the destruction wrought by people like Cho Seung-Hui. It is past time we all do our parts. We can either cure our societal cancers, or we can let them grow and metastacize until all of society becomes completely cancer-ridden. Is that what we really want?
You be the judge. I know I don't want to see that!
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 1:42:18 PM
...it's also an oversimplification. It doesn't take into account the actions of people who haven't take psychoactive compounds, anti-depressants, etc. For every person driven to murderous rampage by drugs, there are ten or more that are driven to commit these acts because they are receiving NO MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT AT ALL! It is not the drugs, it is the lack of concern; the lack of facilities; the lack of funds to make mental health services available to all who need them.
There is also an incredible stigma attached to mental illness. We, as a society, tend to look down upon those who, generally through no fault of their own, are on a scale from slightly to criminally insane!
Why must this be? Unlike AIDS, cholera, or hepatitis, mental illness isn't contagious. While closed head injuries that damage the frontal lobes can render people who were otherwise "normal" insane, that's the exception more than the rule. And even at that, that's not caused by a contagion, that's caused by physical trauma. While it's also just as true that torture can render someone insane, once again, it is not a contagion that causes that form of insanity.
Even though science has recently come to make a hypothesis that toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease borne from cat urine might cause or exacerbate schizophrenia in humans, there is, as of yet, no clear proof that this is the case. Even if it is the case, humans don't transmit toxoplasmosis to each other. Cats are the vectors in that case.
The point remains that insanity isn't catching! So why the need for the stigma? I have known a few insane people. I have never stigmatized them. I may have pulled back from then when they went off their meds, but that's not stigmatizing. I am not a mental health professional, so I am of little use to someone in the throes of their insanity. I offer as much help as I can, then it's up to them.
If the stigma remains, less people will get help, and more people will die. If we, as a society, don't recognize that the cost of not treating the the mentally unstable far outweighs the cost of a decent psychologist, there will be no end to the arrival of men like Cho Seung-Hui on the scene. It's time we all realize that we can no longer afford to let men like Cho Seung-Hui fester into criminally insane mass murderers. Until the time comes that there is a radical shift in the societal paradigm vis a vis, providing mental health services to everyone, we can rest assured that at least once every six months, we'll hear about another mass murderer gunning down innocent people. It's a given we'll at least hear about it around this time every year.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 2:08:43 PM
Wow! Let me first say that I thoroughly appreciate this thread and, though yesterday's tragedy has brought this discussion to the fore-front, perhaps some good may come of what is truly a very sad sad incident...
As a person who has had a long struggle with mental illness, and to varying degrees has found relief with very few conventional treatments, I feel somewhat obliged to toss in my few cents worth -hoping, as I may, to not offend anyone who may contribute more to this discussion...
Though I'm no fan of Big Pharma's advertisements in magazines and almost every other form of media, I do think some medications have remarkable effects when it comes to treating some mental illnesses. I don't think that saturating us with sales pitches constantly is something that should be allowed at all -how many doctors are happy that their patients are diagnosing themselves and demanding a prescription of the latest 'miracle' drug they saw while tuning into whatever Kool-Aid they watch every night? Of course, that may just be a luxury of people who have insurance or a good bit of money to spend... None-the-less, it's not right.
The lack of funds and, as usually follows, any form of even modest insurance policies generally make even a rudimentary diagnosis impossible -unless, as has been my case before, a court of law intervenes and consequently orders psychiatric evaluations and/or therapy to be fullfilled as a term of sentencing or atonement. Even then, the treatment is, at best, hardly comprehensive. Expedition seeming more important than improvement! Often, in those circumstances, after a short period of detainment in whatever jail or mental facility seems fitting or available at the time, the afflicted finds him or herself clutching a bottle of pills at the nearest bus-stop after signing several statements promising to not harm themselves or others thereby releasing whomever of any legal responsibility springing from their further actions... when you'd just about sign anything to get away from the kinda shit you've just experienced! It's pretty easy to figure out the kinds of things you need to say to get out of those situations... and then it's on to make sure you don't wind up there again! Smile, nod, and lie while you light the room on fire with your thoughts!
Thankfully, I'm quite stable now and have never been one to worry too much about what others might think of me -but I can really see that there are plenty who would be effected and affected by the stygma of mental illness and the like... Like those without any form of insurance, they may not get the help they need for fear of embarassment or a label being attached to them for the rest of their lives. The isolation this causes can further exacerbate the problems until rational thought no longer has any hand in it what-so-ever! Coming from a rather subversive and unconventional background (and figuring in similar off the map thinking and philosophies I've followed -which may or may not have been inspired by my condition), I can relate to this sort of isolation well. I guess it's a kinda preconditioning of sorts... but it's something I've known well for most of my life. The ridicule and inability to blend has always tended to inflame the passions of misanthropy as well. So much so, that the self-hatred and loathesome patheticism often bled out into full fledged fantasies of 'revenge' and reprehensible acts that would 'make the whole world remember my misery'... 'exacting a toll' so to speak. I'll reasure you though, that my intrinsic compassion has always over-ridden that sort of thinking, but, obviously, in some people more primal instincts come out on top -either overcoming a person's humanity or, perhaps, filling the void where love and compassion should take residence. For me, that was never an issue -the medication that finally worked served better to just keep me in view of one of my dark places and helped me to control a desire to explore what recesses I might find access to! But I am one of the lucky now. I have insurance and a very fine doctor, finally. If I did not, I would increasingly be able to understand how a person could, in a moment of irrationality, break free of societal bounds and, in a violently selfish act, cause such grief and loss to so many while expressing my own pain. As of now, I can understand only suicide -but never murder.
Having rambled on like this, what are we to do? To treat mental health issues, you must be somewhat wholistic in approach (body, mind, spirit)... how do we even begin to diagnose and then treat the system that, many times, causes the problems it is meant to solve?
Is what that young man did any different from a suicide bomber when it comes right down to it? Regardless of ideology, murder and death are murder and death...
Sincerely and in sadness,
-Bid
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 678 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 5:32:46 PM
Virginia Tech is Nothing to the Murder Committed by Bush
That's right Pappy and I fully agree. And who needs mental help are the NRA people who constantly hammer the right to bear arms and their mistaken belief that it keeps the Constitution intact, something President Bush calls a God damn Piece of paper.
I shrill in anger when I hear Bush giving his prayers to those who were victims at Virgina Tech. when he said nothing about the thousands of innocent children, women and grandparents murdered in Iraq for his lying war. He is in my view worse than the Mr Cho who killed those students.
Governor Kaine of Virginia should be ashamed of himself because I loathe his lack of leadership in supporting gun control in the USA.
What gets me is Jesus never used a gun, never advocated committing violence to harm anyone but did good things, and he was killed for it. In fact he lives today by defeating death, by showing how his love is life here and after. Then to hear people who say they believe in Jesus carry guns, and promote war..is in fact mental illness. They are liars. If they believe in Jesus they would do as he does.
Instead American society is a lie from Religion to Government.
by
Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 7:43:49 PM
I think I understand your point, but not everyone believes in Jesus... and to clear up your point shouldn't you say hypocrisy instead of mental illness? The teachings of Christ simply cannot be a springboard for either side in the debate as religion has little bearing in the situation except to underline the notion that we all fall short of our aspired marks and often act hypocritically -some more than others... Like the old joke goes about Mr. Heston's acclaimed role in 'The Nine Commandments'...
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 678 comments)
on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 8:02:48 PM
You are probably right about calling it hypocrisy because when you are a hypocrite you know the difference between right and wrong. But I also think mental illness develops when people who are hypocrites are unable to break their two sided selves in recognizing what they need to do in order to stop their hypocrisy. Some people who do not believe in religion do know that there is a right and wrong. In America we teach kids and students that it is OK to have a gun, instead of being allowed to teach that guns are not OK, that throughout American history we have witnessed more and more killings by having more guns. When do we start moving in the opposite direction? What have we got to lose? Being Killed? I highly doubt that, its at an unprecedented level now.
The people who say everyone should have a gun would stop crime is completely insane. I can see a killer come into a room and start shooting with people shooting back and the killer winning the battles, to have new people enter a room and see people firing not knowing who the bad guy is and start shooting people who are shooting the bad guy. It is insane to think guns stop violence. It creates more. The NRA is hypocritical and mentally incompetent. Universites need classes that support anti-gun lessons, and to help people resolve their anti social behavior. Cho who is from S. Korea was in the US for several years, and S.Korea has had its troubles with the US as the US continues its occupation in S.Korea because of the N.Korean troubles. I am sure he was aware of these things.
by
Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 6:22:31 PM
You're dead right. I just did a piece on my blog "Words & Music" that more or less echoed your work, tho not quite. You're a harpist? That's great! I'm a trombonist/recorder player.
by
L. RETZACK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 41 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 1:31:54 AM
...I have a responsibility as a writer here, and one of, at least I hope, high standards when it comes to writing as accurately as I can. To simplify what I mean, let me repost this email from Rob Kall, and then go from there...
BEGIN FORWARDED EMAIL......
You're robert. right?
If so, please check out the comment below.
Rob Kall
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: William Mandel < wmmmandel@speakeasy.net>
Date: Apr 17, 2007 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: OpEdNews Submissions Progressive Perspectives on VA Tech
To: rob@opednews.com
I read that Robert Raitz article. I happen to be a
specialist in Soviet affairs, author of five books on that
country. I have read all ten volumes of Stalin's collected
writings and speeches. That "quote" is an invention.
END FORWARDED EMAIL......
The quote in question, "One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic," has been, apparently falsely attributed to Joseph Stalin. I had heard the quote before, and looked it up via the Internet using the keywords death statistic tragedy. This search through Google netted 1,150,000 responses, all of them attributing the above mentioned quote to Joseph Stalin. I was under the impression this was accurate. According to Mr. Mandel, it is not. Since he is the expert, I will yield to his expertise on the topic. Perhaps he should go to some of the websites brought up by this search, and tell them as well. I apologize for this bit of misinformation. I will, as always, endeavor to do better in the future.
As to replying to your message directly, let me begin by saying my heart goes out to you. In my time, I have become associated with three men who were, at the very least, paranoid schizophrenics, with varying degrees of insanity. One was right as rain, except for a hand tick when he was off his meds. The other was off in his own world, with or without his meds, but much more "out of it" without. I didn't even know the last one had a problem until he came back from Virginia to Texas.
I realize that there are many who are helped by medicines specifically made to treat mental health issues. I am not a doctor, and it would be completely out of line for me to say that someone should stop taking their meds. Anyone who would is, in my mind, acting in an irresponsible manner. If they aren't your attending physician or psychologist, their opinion means dick!
While it is true that the drug companies are obviously pandering to hypochondriacs just to increase their profitability, it would be lunacy to say that nothing they do has helped mankind as a whole. Obviously, the extension of human life that we enjoy today is, in no small part, a product of the pharmacology industry. Of course, that discussion is completely off topic.
More to the topic, I heard today that the killer, Cho Seung-Hui, not only gave plenty of clues, he also had allegedly engaged in violent behavior before this tragedy occurred.
Apparently, the warning signs were very clear to his play writing teacher. The signs were obvious enough to her that she went to the police and campus security about them. She even went as far as to have him removed from her class. If that's not a red flag waving then, what the fuck is???
Moreover, the campus police seemed to ignore him after he shot his first two victims. They assumed (wrongly) that he had gone off campus. While I can understand, to a point that is, the kind of thinking that might have been prevalent, I still find it incredibly hard to believe they didn't even try to lock down the campus.
This is 2007! Weren't five Amish kids just killed less than six months ago? Weren't a dozen killed in Littleton, Colorado? Did Columbine happen or didn't it? Have we learned nothing?????
It seems so! How is it a play writing professor can notice the danger inherent in this madman, yet the police completely miss it? Why weren't they combing the place looking for him? Why didn't they even TRY to lock down the campus? Is there not some blood on the hands of the campus police? Yes, there is!
I realize that it's easy for me to sit her, cool, calm, and collected in my loft apartment doing a bit of armchair computer quarterbacking on this issue. Come on, people. How much intellect does it require to know that you lock down a campus until you KNOW you either have the shooter, or know for a fact he is no longer there. How many lives could have been saved if they had just taken an OUNCE of precaution? Just one bit...how many kids would still be alive right now to mourn the two who were killed before all hell broke lose?
Moreover, could the lives of the first two victims had been spared if the warnings of Cho Seung-Hui's play writing professor had been taken seriously? Moreover, given the reports of probable violent acts on the part of this man, how could the warnings, the REPEATED warnings have been ignored? If being proactive is supposedly such a good thing, why weren't the cops more proactive?
The answers will come in time. Let's just hope that we learn this lesson this time around. If not, we'll be forced to wallow in a morass of maudlin misery the next time this happens.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 1:32:10 AM
...at the sight of DUBYA there. His hypocrisy is just completely unbelievable! How can he, with a straight face and a seemingly clear conscience, say that he feels for the victims of this tragedy, when he obviously doesn't feel dick for the thousands dead in Iraq?
Once again, he's playing politics. It is, to me, the height of disgusting for him to even be near that place. How dare he even think to speak of tragedy when it only takes less than a day for thirty-two Iraqis to meet their deaths in Fallujah or Baghdad? He is such a revolting hypocrite, he makes me want to puke. If Dante is right, and there are levels of hell, then I hope that Satan's making up a nice special place for DUBYA and his gang of mass murderers! May he rot in that hell until every star in our universe, and all those parallel to ours burn out!
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 1:38:24 AM
Yes, there are many here among us who think that Jesus, and the religion bastardized in his name, is a load of hogwash. While I don't begrudge someone their individual beliefs, I do have a problem with the ineffectual twerps among us who feel that the only thing they can do about something happening is to pray for the victims, or about the situation.
I know that we all deal with grief in our own ways. I would never want to take that right away from others. However, there comes a point when praying is nothing more than pious mental masturbation.
If more people had taken the time to investigate Cho Seung-Hui, perhaps there wouldn't be so much praying needed. Perhaps the cops were praying that he was no longer on the campus. If so, we see what fruits were born out of those cops' worthless prayers!
Where are the calls for prayers for the three thousand dead Americans killed by DUBYA's arrogance, hypocrisy, and mendacity? Where are the prayers for the innocent Iraqi women and children killed in this senseless war? Where are the prayers for those soldiers whose lives have been permanently damaged for a rich man's lie?
They are NO WHERE! Fuck the pious if they can be so selective for whom they pray! I think that flags in this country should be flown at half-mast until the stupidity in Iraq ceases!
Perhaps it may seem callous of me to say what I just said. So the fuck be it! I am sick to death of the false piety I see and hear going on around me as the death toll mounts in an illegal and immoral war! Either god cares for all, or he cares for no one. If it's the former, then every dead American killed by the hand of DUBYA and his henchmen deserves unending prayer. If it's the latter, then shut the fuck up!
Your worthless prayers mean nothing! Maybe instead of praying, you should write your congressmen, or maybe even the asshole in the White House. Maybe if the cops had been working proactively instead of praying, there might be thirty-two less dead people in Virginia tonight. Maybe instead of praying, those pious people should be working to effect change in a society that stigmatizes the mentally ill, and denies them access to real help.
Stop using the Rabbi Christ as a fucking crutch! It's revolting, and it's taking the "lord's" name in vain! Do something with your will besides the empty mental masturbation that is praying. Pray in one hand, shit in the other, see which one has more in it.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 2:00:10 AM
Yes, I am a harpist. As far as musical instruments go, it's pretty cool. I am even getting air time on some queer radio stations. Of course, that's all beside the point.
As I had predicted, it has come to pass that there were, in fact, warnings about the behavior of Cho Seung-Hui, the shooter. Oh yes, it seems, much like Klebold and Harris, he put his murderous and mentally perverse thoughts and desires down in writing. It was disturbing enough to his play writing professor that she recommended him for therapy, and she also gave repeated warnings to the campus police.
Not only that, there are unconfirmed reports that he engaged in violent behavior before he went on his rampage. He supposedly had stalked some women on campus, and had started a fire in a dorm room. If it turns out this information is true, this coupled with the warnings from his professor prove there was negligence on the part of the campus police. If that is shown to be the case, then it's time that the cops in question found themselves new jobs. Perhaps they might want to try a field where their fuck-ups won't be so bloody!
It really doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this shit out. It is now known that he purchased a nine millimeter just over a month ago. He seemingly then purchased the .22 in the past week. He had been planning this for a month. That's a month that something could have been done to intercede. What was done? Seemingly, nothing!
People who are going to commit suicide tend to perform many similar rituals. People who are planning to rampage do the same thing. His amassing weapons and ammo should have been a complete and total give away. How did this go so unnoticed? Could it be that no one wanted to notice?
It could be. It seems nowadays that it's a lot easier to ignore shit hoping it goes away, or praying for *whatever* to go away, stop happening, whatever than it is to take real action. It has been shown that there is a propensity in this society to push off on others unpleasant work and reality.
These incidents NEVER happen in a vacuum. When on Earth are we going to realize this? These things NEVER happen without warning! When on Earth are we going to realize this? The signs go unnoticed because people simply don't want to notice them. When on earth are we going to realize this?
It's about time that the realization sets in. We have had since Charles Whitman's attack in the sixties to figure it out. How many more rampage killings will happen before someone catches the clue bus and steps in BEFORE the shit hits the fan, or in this case, the bullet hits the bone? When will we wise up?
Never?
Probably
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 2:23:38 AM
Pappy, call me cynical if you wish, paranoid or mentaly ill (seeings that appears to be in vogue right now) however I find it rather intriguing that the perp of this incident should go to the trouble of filling off the serial numbers of the weapons he used.
I'm trying to convince myself for a valid motive for such an action, especially as it's claimed he intended to shoot these victims and then himself, so why on earth would he file off the serial numbers to prevent weapons being traced ?
I also notice one of his victims was Professor who at times, was quiet vocal in his condemnation of the current administration.
Question arises, was he the intended victim, and the others simply smoke screens ?
Check out the Bush family history, it's littered with such mysterious strange deaths.
Course I could just be out of my mind too and need proffesional help hey ?
by
Eddy Schmid (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 201 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 5:33:42 AM
One factor in this may be the legal limits placed on campus or even law enforcement officials that restrict their intervention in such matters... Recall any of the numerous acts of violence that have cost many truly terrified women their lives after repeatedly reaching out to the local courts and police... In many ways, the system is designed in a 'Catch-22' fashion -wherein you'd just about have to be mortally wounded before any action can be legally taken to protect you! Just see what happens when you try to get something done about a stalker... Obviously, that's something that has even come to light in the V. Tech case! In many instances, (as satired in Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil') some of the easiest remedies to a situation cannot be applied until after requisite forms are filed to request further forms to request an inquiry to see if an incident merits that sort of attention in the first place... That's a bit exagerrated, but I'll hope you get my point!
Then there's the 'it can't happen here' or the 'it can't happen to me' mentality that slaps you in the face about halfway through the event you dismissed as completely unlikely to happen... I've been personally guilty of this too many times to even count! Being robbed by knife point is certainly never expected, but having it happen three different times in three different places, you'd think, would've made me paranoid enough to be extra cautious -but the fact is, I was never prepared and even these days I'm always mentally kicking myself when I feel the horrible realization that something bad is already well under way and really happening to me!
That's not even to mention dereliction of duty on behalf of those charged with protecting us. And then there's just human error -bad calls...
But, like you pointed out, Pappy, what about the waving red flag instances??? Couple those with any of the above interferences and you've got one hell of a disaster just waiting to happen!
Two weeks ago, a close friend of mine, recently diagnosed with the onset of a debilitating mental illness, was able to purchase a very high powered handgun (commonly used, I'm told, to put bullets through the thick skulls of boars and hogs) along with friggin' hollow tipped bullets... This after several hospital stays and heavy medication to help him quit pre-meditating... I love him to death, but he's the last guy I'd want to know had a gun and was even remotely suicidal... We found the gun, thankfully, and it was back to the hospital for him and back to the gunshop for the firearm! But why in the fuck, given his history, was he allowed to purchase one in the first place???
Why was Dahmer's last victim, under-aged, naked, and drugged, handed right back to him by police after escaping from his predicament???
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 678 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 11:42:09 AM
...would have to be really thin since my mattress sits on the floor.
In other words, forgive me for saying this, but I don't find any reason for anyone to start talking about conspiracies in this case.
Why did he file the numbers off the guns? Perhaps because he was criminally insane. Perhaps in his mind, he thought it would add a touch of melodrama to the affair. Perhaps it could be any reason on Earth. He's dead now, and we will never know the reason why he did what he did BEYOND his obvious criminal insanity.
Your comment shows the reason why so many who do believe in true conspiracies get labeled as kooks. While there are definitely real conspiracies that happen, there are just as many that aren't, yet get labeled as such because people either see the Reds under their beds, or it sounds cool to think the government (or whomever) powerful enough to have their hands in there pulling the strings of the marionettes.
Can you provide ANY shred of evidence that this murderous lunatic was actually part of a government conspiracy? No, you can't. At this point, the information on Cho Seung-Hui is still mostly theory. There is evidence that he stalked women. There is possible evidence he was also an arsonist. There is much evidence in his writings that he is mentally unstable. There is evidence he has been unstable for some time.
So what, he filed the numbers off the guns. Can you say, "red herring?" Given the rest of the evidence against him, I'd say any possible thought of him being a part of some great government conspiracy is wishful thinking at best. At worst, it's an attempt to give this murderous lunatic more credit than is his due. At the absolute worst, it shows the mental instability of those suggesting a conspiracy.
Even if there was some kind of conspiracy, what would it hope to achieve? The Gonzales hearings are going to go on as planned. The time interval caused by the shootings are only making things worse on Gonzales, not better. The attempt by DUBYA to use this event as a means to clean up his tattered image is doomed to failure. Congress is still not completely giving in to DUBYA. So why is there a reason for a conspiracy? Since you brought it up, convince me there is any reason (and by that, I mean cogent, sane and REASONABLE) for a conspiracy to exist in this case.
If you can do this, I might give your theory something more than a cursory snicker. If not, then I have to lay your idea, and the idea of others who have made such suggestions, that some people aren't happy until they think the government, the country, and the world is out to get them.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 12:05:06 PM
I know of what you speak. The evidence continues to mount that Cho Seung-Hui had many red flags waving over his head. I would submit that would mean the IDIOTS whose responsibility it was to keep the immediate world safe from his murderous rampage dropped the ball! What a surprise that is.
It's a sad commentary on the event to know that the cops had warnings, yet did nothing. It's even sadder to think that this could have been prevented if the Kampus Keystone Kops had gotten off their asses and locked down the campus after the initial murders.
Of course, it was only a white woman and a black man killed. The Keystone Kops put it off as a domestic dispute. Hell, that there white woman could have been fucking that black man that died as well. In that case, it's only some bitch getting her just desserts for fucking a nigger.
Oh yes, I said it. Why would I use such callous language, especially after the Imus affair? That's easy to answer. Let's look at where the event took place, shall we? Like it or not, anywhere south of Dayton, Ohio, is still considered to be part of the old confederate south. There is still much in the way of racism that exists in these areas of the world, or was I hearing things when I heard the term macacca used by a politician from this very state?
Why else would the Kampus Keystone Kops shirk their duty? Why else would they pretend that all was well, even after the deaths of two innocent people? Come on, if there was ever a reason for them to be out in force looking for a perpetrator, then would have been the time. I guess only people who watch history can learn from it. Only people who knew that it was the week of Hitler's birthday would know that anyone going off could be a rampage killer trying to add their "illustrious" name to the roll call of those who have killed to honor the father of Nazism.
But the Kampus Keystone Kops did nothing, and because of that, thirty one other people died, including the murderer himself.
What's the point of having laws or people enforcing them when they are too fucking stupid to see the reality staring them in their fat, bloated faces? The Kampus Keystone Kops dropped the ball, and this is the result. Given the choice between a gross over reaction, or having a bunch of nose-picking Bubbas sitting around picking their noses with one finger and their asses with another, I'd rather see them at least trying to earn their pay for the week.
Everyone of them who did nothing in the face of this tragic turn of events should hang their heads in utter shame. It is their inaction, much like DUBYA's in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that killed. If this seems like a harsh judgment, it is. I have a feeling I'm not the first, nor will I be the last person to have this opinion of the ineffectual morons who dare to call themselves officers of the peace.
