Post by Keith on May 28, 2007 12:11:54 GMT -8
In only a day's time, the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia that claimed the lives of 33 people including the gunman Cho Seung-hui had not only become a national incident but also an international incident as well. In various sorts of manners has the VT shooting affected numerous people if not anybody. Though I'm not a student at VT, I happen to still be a college student, a former substitute teacher, and an Asian-American.
For a moment, I didn't think that colleges were susceptible to mass shootings until I saw the news report on Monday April 16th, 2007. All the school shootings in the past with the exception of University of Texas took place on public schools. As a college student, it makes me think about the possibility of a shooting taking place just about on any college campus. It's a scary thing to fathom but it's a strong possibility. Sadly, it's been made into a grim reality by Cho Seung-hui. Recently I saw on the news that NBC had received a package that was probably from Cho and it's already been handed to the local authorities.
Perhaps we'll get a glimpse as to what was going through Cho's mind. There was a whole segment on the Oprah Winfrey show with Lisa Ling interviewing people at VT. There was a psychologist that Oprah interviewed that made a bunch of valid points. The colleges and universities need to take a good look at the budget and see how much they spend on security and psychological assistance. The psychologist said she bets that the colleges spend much more on athletics than they do on the more important stuff. That's a valid point. You can have a bunch of star players on a team, but they're not going to be able to protect you from a troubled individual going on a shooting spree.
The damage has been done, and now people are speaking up about Cho. If Cho has had a bunch of problems in the past, why didn't they do something about it. Shouldn't they have tracked his behavior. As a substitute teacher, I've taught in plenty of classes with problematic children that needed more help than Cho. The paraprofessionals that assist the teacher have ABCs which is a behavior chart that tracks down the behavior of such students. They should've done the same thing with Cho. No institute of higher learning is immune from having highly problematic students. Afterall, college is usually the next step after graduation from high school.
They recently received a picture of Cho with the tactical vest and two handguns. Question remains to be answered, how did Cho manage to obtain these items?
But what's done is done. Cho's dead and the death he has caused will forever be in the history books as the bloodiest shooting in the United States let alone the bloodiest school shooting. As an Asian-American, I'm still reeling over the fact that it was an Asian person. But it shows that anybody is capable of such an act depending on the circumstances that led to what happened. Skin color doesn't neccessarily mean what kind of person you're going to be. A friend of mine said it's all about circumstances and I have to agree with him.
I hope there's no backlash against the Asian community let alone the Korean community. Cho's actions hit the Asian community hard. Lisa Ling explained on Oprah that most of the Korean students received phone calls from family all the way in Korea urging them to leave the country to avoid a possible persecution and backlash. Unfortunately, it's a huge possibility. After 9/11, Arabs and Arab-Americans were subject to all sorts of persecution and backlash. VT may probably be no different.
Recently, the South Korean government had issued an apology to the United States due to Cho's actions. The gunman being Korean had made that much of an impact. A friend also told me that the United States servicemen stationed in South Korea are not allowed to leave post for the time being. The Virginia Tech shootings has made this much of an impact. The story on the Virginia Tech shootings has reached publications throughout the world, especially in Asia. There's a news report coming in from Singapore and another one coming in from Seoul, South Korea. One South Korean student was shocked when his compatriot entered the classroom and started opening fire.
Gun control is back on the United States agenda. It should've been on the agenda a long time ago. I do not know why gun control is a sensitive subject? It's simply put, make tougher gun laws. Instead of mourning over the past, we need to take a good look at the loopholes in the law that enables just about anybody to get a hold of the gun. I'm reading the forums on foreign news publications, and the people posting definitely look down on the weak gun laws in the United States.
Only thing we can do is take a good look of what had happened and the chain of events that had happened. But it's going to take awhile though. What disgusted me the most was on Monday as soon as the VT shooting happened, Jack Thompson who's a Florida lawyer, a well-known right-winged religious zealot, and a well known anti videogame crusader managed to get on FOX News and pointed the finger to videogames for Cho Seung-hui's behavior.
I happen to be an avid gamer and I've played some of the most violent games out there. But that doesn't drive me to go shooting people. Cho said that he wanted to get back at the rich kids. Where does videogames come into play? It doesn't... I'm not that much older than Cho by maybe about a little less than two years.
The Virginia Tech shooting is one of the most tragic events in United States history, I find it very repulsive that some opportunistic vermin like Jack Thompson would try to use this for this "crusade" he's been on for the last decade. I'm not just disgusted that Jack Thompson decided to jump on the wagon, I'm more disgusted that he quickly jumped on it to further his cause and own political agenda. It just shows how in events like this, people like Jack Thompson have no decency at all.
Only thing we can do is learn and do our best to make sure events like this do not happen again. What Cho did was a devastating blow not just for the Asian community, but for everybody. Unfortunately, with events like these vermin like Jack Thompson will use this to further their own agendas without giving regard to everybody else. What Cho did was inhuman. What someone like Jack Thompson is doing trying to further his own agenda with the VT shooting is just as inhuman.
www.helium.com/tm/284318/shooting-virginia-blacksburg-virginia
For a moment, I didn't think that colleges were susceptible to mass shootings until I saw the news report on Monday April 16th, 2007. All the school shootings in the past with the exception of University of Texas took place on public schools. As a college student, it makes me think about the possibility of a shooting taking place just about on any college campus. It's a scary thing to fathom but it's a strong possibility. Sadly, it's been made into a grim reality by Cho Seung-hui. Recently I saw on the news that NBC had received a package that was probably from Cho and it's already been handed to the local authorities.
Perhaps we'll get a glimpse as to what was going through Cho's mind. There was a whole segment on the Oprah Winfrey show with Lisa Ling interviewing people at VT. There was a psychologist that Oprah interviewed that made a bunch of valid points. The colleges and universities need to take a good look at the budget and see how much they spend on security and psychological assistance. The psychologist said she bets that the colleges spend much more on athletics than they do on the more important stuff. That's a valid point. You can have a bunch of star players on a team, but they're not going to be able to protect you from a troubled individual going on a shooting spree.
The damage has been done, and now people are speaking up about Cho. If Cho has had a bunch of problems in the past, why didn't they do something about it. Shouldn't they have tracked his behavior. As a substitute teacher, I've taught in plenty of classes with problematic children that needed more help than Cho. The paraprofessionals that assist the teacher have ABCs which is a behavior chart that tracks down the behavior of such students. They should've done the same thing with Cho. No institute of higher learning is immune from having highly problematic students. Afterall, college is usually the next step after graduation from high school.
They recently received a picture of Cho with the tactical vest and two handguns. Question remains to be answered, how did Cho manage to obtain these items?
But what's done is done. Cho's dead and the death he has caused will forever be in the history books as the bloodiest shooting in the United States let alone the bloodiest school shooting. As an Asian-American, I'm still reeling over the fact that it was an Asian person. But it shows that anybody is capable of such an act depending on the circumstances that led to what happened. Skin color doesn't neccessarily mean what kind of person you're going to be. A friend of mine said it's all about circumstances and I have to agree with him.
I hope there's no backlash against the Asian community let alone the Korean community. Cho's actions hit the Asian community hard. Lisa Ling explained on Oprah that most of the Korean students received phone calls from family all the way in Korea urging them to leave the country to avoid a possible persecution and backlash. Unfortunately, it's a huge possibility. After 9/11, Arabs and Arab-Americans were subject to all sorts of persecution and backlash. VT may probably be no different.
Recently, the South Korean government had issued an apology to the United States due to Cho's actions. The gunman being Korean had made that much of an impact. A friend also told me that the United States servicemen stationed in South Korea are not allowed to leave post for the time being. The Virginia Tech shootings has made this much of an impact. The story on the Virginia Tech shootings has reached publications throughout the world, especially in Asia. There's a news report coming in from Singapore and another one coming in from Seoul, South Korea. One South Korean student was shocked when his compatriot entered the classroom and started opening fire.
Gun control is back on the United States agenda. It should've been on the agenda a long time ago. I do not know why gun control is a sensitive subject? It's simply put, make tougher gun laws. Instead of mourning over the past, we need to take a good look at the loopholes in the law that enables just about anybody to get a hold of the gun. I'm reading the forums on foreign news publications, and the people posting definitely look down on the weak gun laws in the United States.
Only thing we can do is take a good look of what had happened and the chain of events that had happened. But it's going to take awhile though. What disgusted me the most was on Monday as soon as the VT shooting happened, Jack Thompson who's a Florida lawyer, a well-known right-winged religious zealot, and a well known anti videogame crusader managed to get on FOX News and pointed the finger to videogames for Cho Seung-hui's behavior.
I happen to be an avid gamer and I've played some of the most violent games out there. But that doesn't drive me to go shooting people. Cho said that he wanted to get back at the rich kids. Where does videogames come into play? It doesn't... I'm not that much older than Cho by maybe about a little less than two years.
The Virginia Tech shooting is one of the most tragic events in United States history, I find it very repulsive that some opportunistic vermin like Jack Thompson would try to use this for this "crusade" he's been on for the last decade. I'm not just disgusted that Jack Thompson decided to jump on the wagon, I'm more disgusted that he quickly jumped on it to further his cause and own political agenda. It just shows how in events like this, people like Jack Thompson have no decency at all.
Only thing we can do is learn and do our best to make sure events like this do not happen again. What Cho did was a devastating blow not just for the Asian community, but for everybody. Unfortunately, with events like these vermin like Jack Thompson will use this to further their own agendas without giving regard to everybody else. What Cho did was inhuman. What someone like Jack Thompson is doing trying to further his own agenda with the VT shooting is just as inhuman.
www.helium.com/tm/284318/shooting-virginia-blacksburg-virginia
