Back to VT.

Anyone read the guy's single act plays - Richard McBeef and Mr. Brownstone? Interesting reading. The guy was obviously a troubled lad and people did notice, there was just nothing that could be done. If every weird cat was thrown in jail they would be even more over-populated than they already are. Just a sad turn of events that would have been very difficult to avoid. If every person that had a grievance turned into a shooter, there would be a lot more of these mass killings. The fact is that mass killings are pretty rare. Weirdos are not. Again, we can't lock them all up. We can't even help them if they are not receptive. By all accounts he was not really interested in establishing contact with anyone other than some girls who rejected him. The amateur psychologist in me says that he possibly had a rough upbringing and that he just couldn't fit in. I am interested to learn the contents of the disturbing note he left in his room after the first incident.

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As for the rest, they only thing I can really say is that the people like Tom Delay using this as a soapbox to front their personal agendas are fucking assholes.

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“I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.”

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

And the thing with the tapes is ridiculous, too. It is not gratifying to the killer to view his rantings. He is dead. His rise over every aspect of the rampage has already come and gone. It looks like people would rather talk about what some some guy with annoying hair is singing for karaoke on TV or what a bunch of fools camping on some island think about each other than why 33 families will never see their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and siblings again. I really believe the furor over the media coverage is due to the cognitive dissonance from showing people that their particular bias is without basis. The don't want to face up to the fact tat it was the choice of one sick and disturbed individual, and a choice made willfully. It wasn't gory movies or violent games or eeeeeevil guns that made him do it. It was his own decision try to get even with a world that he thought was persecuting him. It was his own inability to cope life and his own withdrawal from social connection that forced him into the corner he thought others had trapped him in. It is not difficult to reach out to others, and it is not difficult to find help when there is desire to. It is unpleasant to have to deal with the fact the that some people choose follow a path which propels them to madness and murder. But sometimes life's unpleasantness must be addressed.

In light of the single assailant and his choice of weaponry, I'm honestly astonished at the sheer number of casualties, and I can't help but wonder how I would have reacted in a similar situation. Run? Play dead? Human shield? Rush the gunman? All I can really say for sure is that I truly admire Liviu Librescu's actions, and I really hope that he receives official recognition for his behavior.

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that's a link to a piece by Tom Plate re: getting rid of guns. There are two things I find wrong with his piece:
1. his willingness to absolve Cho and instead place the blame on gun law. He said that a Korean didn't kill those people, a 9mm and .22 did. Sorry but that's BS. The reason all those people are dead / injured now is CHO and that's it!
2. He thinks the mantra, "guns don't kill people, people kill people" is absurd. Sorry but as far as I'm concerned a gun is only as safe as the person holding it. The same is equally true for a knife or even a car.

I'm not a gun enthusiast. I don't own a license or a gun but I may some day should I still be afforded the right. I would be stupid to say that guns don't make the job of killing people much easier but that doesn't make them bad IMO. If Cho WANTED to kill a bunch of people and he didn't have access to a gun, he could just drive a car through them. He could set fire to a dorm. He could sneak through the dorm at night silently killing people. The fact is there is one common denominator and that's CHO. He's the bad guy here, not guns.

All that said I think that allowing a green card holder to get a license and buy a weapon is a little too relaxed or my liking. Mass law is stricter than that. No resident aliens need apply.

[ 04-20-2007: Message edited by: Mad Max ]

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