Letters to the Editor
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Stereotypes work both ways...
I think part of the reason there has been less anti-Asian backlash than a lot of people feared is because school shootings are not part of the Asian stereotype (quite the opposite -- Asian people are generally portrayed as being more docile, unless there's kung fu involved). There is a stereotype for school shooters, and it's disaffected middle class white people. That's why some people were so convinced at first that it had to have been a Muslim Asian person: We have a stereotype for Muslims too.
Obviously stereotypes are not a good thing. But they exist. Is it possible that it is more stereotypically unremarkable for a Korean man to be quiet and not talk to anybody? Sure. There are lots of people who seem to be that way. Is it possible that a white guy who was quiet and never talked to anybody might have triggered warning signs earlier too? Sure. But maybe not. There are a lot of quiet, introverted people who never go around killing people.
The real difference is a mental health one. Lt. Colonel Grossman (a (former?) West Point Psychology professor) wrote a book "On Killing", in which he states that most people have a very difficult time killing other people in war. Some people, however, do not. They are sociopaths. (He places no negative value judgement on the word, since killing people is what armies do.) How to tell the quiet, introverted people from the quiet, introverted sociopaths?
There's the trick.
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Susan Sunflower: I'd like to pull your petals off
"I'm still wondering why someone so good at math became an English Major and wonder if it was fall-back degree for someone unable to muster the requisite concentration and discipline to pursue math or engineering ... degrees much more likely to result in well paying employment."
Are you serious? Sure, I concede your last point--An English degree is less likely to result in a well-paying job than, say, engineering or mathematics.
But come on... pursuing an English degree because one is "unable to muster the requisite concentration and discipline..."
WHOA. I don't know what school you went to, or what major you decided to pursue... but it seems as if your experience with the study of English remains tethered to experiences gained from the requisite gen ed requirements for most universities... a fast-track introductory course--a little Eliot here, a smidge of Chaucer there--revolving around the standard five-paragraph essay, or book report class presentation, one that is designed for you left-brain squares who are unable to walk around the great themes of literature without tripping on nuance, or stumbling on irony.
When you can rattle off a lucid paragraph summary of Finnegans Wake, or discuss the finer points of heroic comparison in Chapman's Odysseus vs Spencer's Faerie Queen--then maybe you can talk.
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Stereotypes?
I think that when we talk about stereotyping people, we're suggesting that we're libeling or slandering them by ascribing traits to them that may not be true, for no other reason than their race, ethnic or social group, etc .... Many mass murderers, most of whom are indeed white, are described in the media as "quiet loners." Does that description libel or slander them in some way? Not if the description is true. And a great many of them, if one takes the time to read their stories, can be described that way. "Smart but quiet" seems to be an apt description for the three Asian killers in the this story, unless my grades in school were a lot worse than I thought. So I'm wondering how is that a stereotype? How else could their personality be described? If I ask what a person is "like," I'm not asking for a full, footnoted psychological profile and bio. Give us an example of a "smart but quiet" Asian killer who is in fact gregarious and dumb as a post, or a Caucasian killer described as a "quiet loner" who is in fact president of the Toastmaster Club, and you'll have a point.
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Brilliant
Thank you. As the tide of media mediocrity and silliness continues to wash up what is supposed to wash up -- mere sand or junk -- plastic bags and beer cans -- your piece was the first beautiful, collectible seashell I have found. Thanks for reminding me to consider my Asian or Asian-descent friends and their feelings. Extraordinary as this might sound -- I hadn't really thought of that (although I had feared the racist backlash). Thanks for giving me something to think about -- not just grieve over.
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psychosis
Frankly, anyone who thinks that taking a view of psychosis through a cultural lens will reveal something of value is just plain stupid. What a waste of time. Mental illness is disease, plain and simple. To understand and treat it, one need's to use microscopes and shit. Maybe some good math, too. Anyone who proposes that Cho's status as Asian-American caused him to murder 32 people should get exactly what they deserve: a vehement and mocking laugh in the face.
(Of course, how to get treatment for those who need it is a different story and perhaps the cultural stigmas are worth examining.)
Finally, Gang Lu was a Ph.D. candidate in physics. "Smart but quiet" applies nearly across the board for that group. Do you really think he was characterized this way because he was Asian?! The community-at-large might want to believe that his nationality made him "fundamentally foreign," but those of us who have attended grad school in physics know that we are *all* seen as different and apart. In fact, I think smart people everywhere should be in an uproar. Why are serial killers *always* characterized as clever?
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today
Informed by all that happened this week, today, would making "Sat-Ans School" hold the same meaning for you? Would you WANT to make it??
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Most serial killers are white?
Are there no serial killers in India? Would they be white as well? I think white people tend to do more of everything in this society b/c there's more of them.
There are cultural differences among our groups but they don't explain mass murders, or wouldn't there be more committed?