Letters to the Editor
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"My point is that the sword of cultural pride/shame cuts both ways"
What the hell kind of point is that? That's the kind of truism you could say about ANY country.
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Call me naive.
Isn't it safe to say that after 15 years of continuous residence, starting when he was eight, the shooter was an American? The same reactionaries who complain about violence in our media are somehow unable to see the evidence that this tragedy was domestic as can be. My instinct says that the only significance to the shooter's having been born in Korea is that people who are small-minded and scared have a convenient reason to write him off as "totally unlike them," proving once again that Americans have raised racism to an art form.
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Students are the best example
Listen to the students of VA Tech. They were so fair and balanced that I wonder how we lose these minds when they grow up! They all were not saying anything that show anger, not blaming anyone, and showing so much maturity that I am proud of them. All the knee jerk reactions and the racial stereotyping will obviously be lurking in their mind as media keeps pouring these questions in their head. The question to ask is following: this troubled student was virtually invisible because he did not fit the popular culture. He was lost in crowd of 26000 students where no one knew him. The best counseling is a chance for a young mind to exchange ideas in an accepting environment. The main question is how each one of us should make sure that we knock on our next door neighbor, the next dorm room, and make all the effort to talk to such individuals. A student of Cho's nature will never get invited to the parties; he'll be immediately be branded as a weirdo and ostracized. The teacher who suggested counseling also did the right thing but I guess too little and may be too late. Finally, he had the raining to use the gun; I wonder how? He practiced this killing and no one noticed! I wonder how detached we are so that we do not pick up such signs.
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A troubled kid doesn't have a geography
In regards to the other 99.999% of Korean students at US colleges-
When I was a writing tutor at my university, many of my standing appointments were with Korean students. And they were some of the sweetest, most kind, and flat-out fun people I had the pleasure of helping along the road to a college degree.
I sincerely hope that this incident doesn't make it harder for the current crop of Korean students studying abroad.
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It's the Math
Gee wiz, I thought for sure it was not because he was Korean but because he was exceptional in math. I've always been suspect of people who were really good in math, now this cements it. All colleges should start profiling people who are good in math.
--end sarcasm
From a position of absurdity, Cho had been in the country for 15 years, since the age of eight. At this point he was more of American culture than Korean. Further more, to even remotely link this to illegal immigrants or race is beyond contempt.
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what does it matter if he was Korean?
Upon hearing that an "Asian male" had shot students at Virginia Tech, I wondered if I had ever heard a breaking news story where the racial identification of a white male had been maybe the second word of the report. No, don't think so.
The tragedy of the shooting is monumental and far-reaching; personally for those directly affected, culturally for those who live or study in Virginia, and nationally for all of us living here in the US.
No discussion of the race of any of the parties involved will help in any way to solve, mitigate, or explain this seemingly senseless crime. Perhaps some clear, thoughtful journalism could help us understand what happened yesterday; but it can do nothing as long as it leans on the "not one of us" message that was the lead of every story I heard.
I'm tired of it. Tired of MSM writing by rote, explaining by superficials, and draining a true tragedy of its horror by hurrying to get something, even if it really provides no real information or insights, on the air or the page.
I hope for change. But not with breath held. Sadly.
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Pot calling kettle black?
Mr. Leonard claims that Abiola Lapite's comments on the VT massacre on his Blog "[demonstrates] with embarrassing panache exactly why some people should not be given the keys to the Internet." Alas, the perceptive reader of both Mr. Leonard and Mr. Lapite will see that the exchange only demonstrates either Mr. Leonard's lack of reading comprehension skills or common sense.
First, here is the precise entry that so perturbs Mr. Leonard: The calm efficiency with which Cho Seung-hui murdered so many people "immediately suggested someone with a level of rigorous military training that only South Korean males can generally be expected to have."
Now, Mr. Leonard interprets this statement to mean only that Mr. Lapite is prejudiced against Koreans. But does he not consider the fact that South Korea has a rather lengthy compulsive military service requirement, and that Mr. Cho may have gone back to Korea to serve? Jewish-Americans of Israeli descent occasionally go back to Israel to serve too. In particular, the South Korean government is notorious for forcing even Korean-Americans who have given up their Korean citizenships to serve as well. There is nothing from Mr. Lapite's entry itself to suggest that he is prejudiced against Koreans, nor that his presumptions were unreasonable.
Lastly, I do know Mr. Lapite personally, and 1) if anything, he is the "stereotypical" cosmopolitan not give to harboring racial prejudices, and 2) I'd wager he is a more intelligent man than you are and more fit to have his opinions taken seriously than you.
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Shooter was Korean? All that says to me is
Korean kids can be just as screwed up as white kids.
Way to assimilate!
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Some of the Koreans in my community are "very tightly wound"
There is a large Korean community in my area and there are many in my kid's high school.
My child reports kids who say they will be beaten if they don't get 100's in the hardest math classes available. Some cry when they get a 95 on a test.
I have a lot of respect for the intelligence and hard work the Koreans exhibit.
But, yes, there is a "stereotype" based on personal observation, that many of these kids are pressured beyond what is right to excel.
So call me racist if you will, but I have often wondered what was going to happen to some of these extremely intelligent, but obsessively driven kids.