Letters to the Editor
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autism
According to this article: http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/7101526.html
Cho's parents were told that he was autistic. This makes so much more sense to me. His parents were aware that their son was different, but they were given a plausible explanation for his behavior.
To me this case will only highlight our nation's need for a national health care system along with stricter gun laws. With a national heal care system, maybe Cho would have seen more doctors earlier.
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From what I've seen of the killer's videos on NBC, he wasn't all that bright, after all
He demonstrates his bad taste in movies, spouts garbage that doesn't really make sense, and tries to talk tough while shouting the poetic truths of high school journal keepers (props to Lee Reynaldo). Sounds like a real douchebag. If only he had just blown his own head off on film without taking anyone else with him. A pity.
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according to a NYT article, Cho has something amounting to a speech defect ...
(it may have been some sort of affectation -- deep voice, mumbling -- rather than a "real" mechanical/anatomic speech defect) but it was present since anyone can remember, back in middle school, so he always strenuously avoided talking ... fwiw. oh, and it is remembered by some classmates from middle and high school that he got teased and picked on A LOT because of it.
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Paul in KY
"Any white male who claims he is being discriminated against & society has it in for him, etc. etc. is by definition a whining pussy crybaby."
Wow.
Thanks for proving my point.
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Color-free violence
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
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Asians, and Deadeye Dick
Seriously, the only people I've heard talk about the fact that the shooter was Asian are Asians. I haven't seen a single quote, in person on in print, caring that the individual was Asian, other than to specify his national origin, except from self-conscious Asians. And even then, the quotes were more to point out his lack of citizenship than anything else.
I'm reminded of the father in Vonnegut's "Deadeye Dick", who takes responsibility for his son accidentally shooting a neighbor. When the community absolves them both of responsibility, he insists that he cannot be forgiven. When even the police chief tries to reason with the father, he will not let it go. As a result, the officer is left with no choice but to arrest him, despite everyone's misgivings.
My point: if Asians keep insisting that they are responsible, eventually they will be treated as such, regardless. On behalf of my Asian friends, and reasonable people everywhere: Please stop now.
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white shooters
Yes, the fact that most shooters are white does show something about white men. I am a white women. I consider white men extra dangerous. Are they? I have no true idea. But my instinct is to suspect them. I always usd to wonder, if the door opened suddenly and it was a strange man, which one would I be most afraid of? WHite, for sure. Esp if he was big, over weight, and a little bald.
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Say What?!
Emily responded by quoting one of my passages slamming white men who claim discrimination & then said that proved her point! WTF?!
I'm certainly not discriminated against. I've got it good, I'm a white male.
Why don't you reread my post before you make a further ass of yourself.
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Reading too much
I think Mr. Yang reads too much into the coverage. Yes, the shooter has been described "smart and quiet." Let's step back. He didn't talk to anyone, including the people he lived with. Check the box for quiet. He attended Virginia Polytechnic, a school with very rigorous academic standards. Check the box for smart. I don't see how that is a sterotype. As for the frequent mentions of ethnicity, I don't know that those are necessarily surprising either. Mass shootings are not uncommon in the United States. What is uncommon is for non-white males to be the perpetrators of mass shootings. In fact, while the D.C. snipers were active, news casts frequently repeated, correctly, that the most likely suspect was a white male. That the shooters were not white males was news. I think the same rationale applies here. Based on the law of averages, we all expected the shooter to be a white male. That he was not is surprising enough to qualify as news.
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Korean insularity
When I visited South Korea I found that Koreans had a sense of collective responsibility that was quite admirable. I was asked many times by Koreans how I felt about thier country and they seemed to feel that it was partly thier duty to see that I formed a positive opinion of "The Land of The Morning Calm"
For instance - I stayed at a hotel in Seoul that was accustomed to mostly busineess guests who dressed in suits. Because I had long hair and wore jeans and tee shirts, the hotel manager, fearful that I'd leave without paying my bill, asked me to let him keep my passport. When I told a Korean friend about this, he asked to see the hotel manager. My Korean friend told the hotel manager that his mistrust of me was an insult, and that he would bad-mouth the hotel to his business friends if my passport was not returned at once.
My passport was returned immediately.
This is not relevant to the sad story of Cho Seung-Hui, but I am reminded of this kind of Korean "collectivist" thinking when I read reports of the shame felt by South Koreans and thier unnecessary feelings of contrition for the acts of this creepy loner/loser. (I read that there were false reports in Korea that Cho's parents had committed suicide) Every culture and race of people has self-pitying assholes like Cho who have no compassion for others, but I found Korean people as a whole to be, for all thier rigid formality, humane and generous.