The Transformation Begins
April 20, 2007
The transformation from perpetrator to victim has begun.
SEOUL, South Korea – Cho Seung-Hui was a worry to his family because he did not speak much as a child, and after the family emigrated to the United States doctors thought he might be autistic, relatives in South Korea said Thursday.
Family members said there were even concerns the boy might be mute.
The South Korean student killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech on Monday, the deadliest school shooting in modern U.S. history.
Former classmates said as a schoolboy in the United States, Cho’s speech problems and shyness made him a target for bullying and ridicule.
“From the beginning, he wouldn’t answer me,” Kim Yang-soon, Cho’s great aunt, said in an interview with AP Television News on Thursday. “(He) didn’t talk. Normally sons and mothers talk. There was none of that for them. He was very cold,” she added
“When they went to the United States, they told them it was autism,” said Kim, 85, adding that the family had constant worries about Cho…
“Among the 32 killed were bright students who could have contributed greatly to society, and it’s a big loss for all of us,” the cardinal said. “As a South Korean, I can’t help feeling apologetic about how a Korean man caused such a shocking incident.”
There is no root cause that excuses violence. By focusing on everything but the acts of violence and the personal responsibility of the perpetrator of that violence, we encourage and justify future acts of violence.
April 20, 2007 at 10:48 AM
I don’t see this as an excuse for violence, but rather one factor that helps to explain it–at least in this case. His diagnosis may answer quite a bit as to how things could have gone this far.
At the same time, it also raises many questions. How did Cho get a gun if diagnosed with a mental disorder or disability such as autism? Were school officials unaware? Did his parents ignore the situation? Did they fail to notify others of Cho’s situation?
No, this is not an excuse and it is not focusing on other things outside of the violence. Cho is the killer, after all. A disorder or disability is relevant.
What it is, however, is an attempt to understand and comprehend this horrible situation, including the violence that Cho unleashed. To overlook factors and circumstances such as this is to be foolish and careless.
I can’t imagine how an attempt to understand this situation will, in your words, “encourage and justify future acts of violence.”
April 20, 2007 at 10:56 AM
If acts of violence are given a ‘pass,’ or ‘tolerated,’ then it is inevitable that violence will escalate.
I wrote, “When violence or threats of violence are considered legitimate forms of political or social expression, inevitably violence or threats of violence will manifest themselves.Terror has becomes an accepted form of political and social expression, that status granted by those who most profess to be non violent or peaceful.”
There proliferation of violence is the result of our excusing violence, elsewhere.
The level of violence is schools is new.
Guns are not.
April 20, 2007 at 11:06 AM
because he did not speak much as a child
What crap.
Millions of children speak late and are completely normal. Thomas Sowell is the father of one of them and has written two books on the subject The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late, and Late-Talking Children, which I highly recommend.
April 20, 2007 at 11:13 AM
I agree fully with your self-quote. However, noting and analyzing the fact (or potential fact) that Cho Seung-Hui was diagnosed with autism is neither ‘tolerating’ nor ‘giving a pass’ to the horror he created.
If anything, I think it may signal a tremendous failure, even a chain of failures, for which this horrific event may have even been averted if people had recognized and properly handled Cho’s autism, depression, delusions, and resulting social isolation. His autism is relevant and, likely, a critical piece of the puzzle needed to make some sense of the tragedy.
Yet, I would NEVER say that we should tolerate a situation like this–I’m saying quite the opposite, actually. For that matter, I would never suggest that we should tolerate terrorism, or rape, or any of the spectrum of violent acts which exist and are possible. That includes Cho and his violence. But I would like to understand how and why people become motivated or even compelled into carrying out acts of violence, because I feel that understanding these motivations are critical to the prevention and detection of future violence.
Cho may have been a victim as well. A victim of the circumstance of his birth, of neglect by his parents, of his schools and various officials along the way, the list goes on. But in no way does it somehow excuse or suggest that we tolerate or accept his obscene violence.
April 20, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Cho was not a victim- We were the victims.
No matter what else, we were the victims.
April 20, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Of Cho’s violence at Virginia Tech? Without a doubt, SC&A. Without a doubt.
April 20, 2007 at 2:52 PM
I’ve already had two conversations at work this morning of the “this kid couldn’t help it, he grew up feeling like an outsider, he got made fun of in high school really bad” variety. I don’t buy it; I was bullied daily from age 7 until graduation and I’ve never killed anyone (I wrote some stories where I disposed of various football players in creative ways for English class; ten years before Columbine they got me an A and a “right on!” from the teacher…).
My co-workers watch TV for all their news; the networks’ push to blame everyone but the guy who pulled the trigger is effective.
April 20, 2007 at 2:56 PM
I totally disagree with this definition of Cho as being autistic. It seems as though ‘autism’ would be an easy way to explain his horrible, horrible behavior. Behavior that we don’t understand. As a friend of mine said to me this morning, even a high-functioning person with autism would have definite issues, if not impossibilities, in planning and following through on such an elaborate ‘plan’ as Cho seemed to have.
Antisocial? Severely depressed? Psychotic? Quite possibly. I just will not be convinced that his estranged relatives in another country are correct with autism as a diagnosis. And definitely not as a reason, as if there could be a reason to create such horror.
April 20, 2007 at 3:39 PM
There have been little taps here and little taps there into the reporting that has been leading up to this 33rd “victim.” I’m surprised it has taken this long, but perhaps it has been because the media has been so busy visiting his dorm room that we didn’t get here sooner.
Should we consider putting “not guilty by reason of insanity here lies the 33rd victim of VT041606″ on his tombstone?
I have never been one for the “insanity” plea, especially where murder is concerned (is it ever brought up in other than capital crimes?). The fact that someone is “insane” does not change the murder and loss that has taken place. The individual had their chance and their psyche came up wanting….sorry, but you lose. We cannot change that as much as we might like to but that is the way it is.
The “victim” that brought 32 others with him. That’s just swell!!!
April 20, 2007 at 4:04 PM
I agree with Fausta and Angela Marie, you can’t posthumously diagnose autism based on a kid not talking till later and having trouble as a child. I have two kids with Asperger’s Syndrome and I’ve heard all the “Isaac Newton/Albert Einstein/pick your famous smart person was autistic!” stuff and I think most of it is crap, similar to trying to claim Alexander the Great was gay in the modern definition of the word. I don’t know what the impetus is behind trying to define Cho as autistic– maybe autism is a convenient scapegoat diagnosis because it’s so poorly understood by the population at large. But I can certainly see why people, psychologically, would want to dress him up in the nearest available mental illness.
April 20, 2007 at 4:07 PM
Your point is well taken.
That said, whatever did ail Chi, was clearly a mental illness.
April 20, 2007 at 5:26 PM
I have to deal with someone I consider mentally ill. The basic problem is narcissism (total lack of empathy, but has learned to act empathetically because it brings attention; extreme hypochondria) and there are periods when she obsesses for weeks about nonexistent problems. She has never been diagnosed. The few people who have known her over a long time recognize that she is different or strange, but most only see her when she is basking in their attention and seems normal.
Although I recognize that she is sick, I don’t feel that she is a victim. To the contrary, her sickness has victimized others. The only thing that has ever helped is setting clear and strong limits, but there are always “understanding” people who feed her narcissism by letting her get away with unacceptable behaviour. This only encourages the next episode of craziness. I have no idea how one would ideally handle such a person, but none of the dozens of doctors she has seen over her life has ever offered any suggestions. She was never a potential murderer–just a run of the mill crazy.
April 20, 2007 at 6:04 PM
I think this is an important thought:
“autism is a convenient scapegoat diagnosis because it’s so poorly understood by the population at large”
April 20, 2007 at 7:45 PM
Dereliction says “I don’t see this as an excuse for violence, but rather one factor that helps to explain it” If you go to http://www.wordpress.com and check out all the blogs you can find about this murderous monster you will find at least 3 sympathizing with him and excusing him if not harolding him as a hero of the downtrodden. Dereliction, you are seriously underestimating the evil sickness that resides in the minds of those on the Left.
You continue “What it is, however, is an attempt to understand and comprehend this horrible situation” but the fact is that there is only one thing that we need to comprehend, namely that NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and all the alphabet news outlets are responsible for creating this monster by the constant airing of anti-white and anti-american propaganda just like they are also responsible for Jesse Jackson and La Raza and all the rest of America’s problems including Al Queda which they give aid and comfort to everyday on the air..
April 20, 2007 at 7:54 PM
The transformation has begun, and continues apace with this article from the “Seattle Post-Intelligencer,” in which a guest columnist lauds the “concern” of her niece at Virginia Tech. The niece wonders whether the massacre might not be in part the fault of the murderer’s schoolmates, who did not “reach out” to him, or even her own fault for “unfriending” him from her Facebook after learning of his stalking activities.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/312145_vatech19.html
We are looking at an industry – no longer a cottage industry – dedicated to socializing us into the learned helplessness of abused children, taught to believe that if they weren’t so “bad,” if only they were very, very good, then daddy wouldn’t beat them, mommy wouldn’t scream at them, and uncle wouldn’t try to grope them. Those who learn well are held up as role models in the media.
It is we who are being transformed – into accepting victims.
April 20, 2007 at 8:08 PM
We are all the victims of the alphabet networks and I say there is grounds for a class action lawsuit against them. All the Virginia Tech Victims can join together and sue NBC for wrongful death brought about by their glorification of crime, and so can we, every time any crime happens, especially copy-cat crime.
April 20, 2007 at 11:49 PM
expat! You must know my sister!!