Letters to the Editor
crashtestdummy
Published Letters: 1
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Color-free violence
[Read the article: Killer reflection]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Asian-to-asian, I think Jeff Yang's concerns are misplaced.
Misplaced because the whole "disturbed" creative writing meme attached to Cho's oeuvre may lack credibility to begin with. Hello? Anything by Quentin Tarantino. Brett Easton Ellis & American Psycho. Seven. The Cell. Crash (Hunter/Spader). Saw. Dahmer the film. Bully et seq.
Granted, we don't know what Cho submitted to Lucinda Roy that prompted Roy's suggestion of counseling. Still, after reading 2 plays reportedly written by Cho recently posted online, it'd be difficult to label either more "disturbing" than most of the seemingly normalized, arguably "disturbing" mainstream fare above.
We don't deny the "race" component of Cho's identity that could spark indiscriminate violence, other pernicious bigotry against Asians. That's real enough to anyone who remembers Vincent Chin and "Buy American." But Yang & certain media enablers predictably overlook the fact it was Cho's classroom behavior to fellow classmates that, combined with his writing, so concerned his instructors.
If Yang needs a color-free guide to risk factors associated with such behavior, he could start with Watson/Fischer/Andreas/Smith in "Pathways to Aggression in Children and Adolescents" (2002) [1], which also discusses "school shooters."
Yes, those factors are ubiquitous and pervasive thanks to our "culture." No, Yang shouldn't feel exclusive nor excluded just because of his race.
J. Ahn
Notes
[1] http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~ddl/articlesCopy/WatsonFischerPathwaystoAggrssn.HER2004.pdf