By Bian-lian Huang
Both the right-wing and mainstream media have confidently declared that Seung-hui Cho, the Va Tech student who killed 32 classmates on Monday, was a lunatic--thus the reason for his murderous actions.
Clearly, Cho was not mentally well. But what brought on such violent outbursts? The right-wing media and their mainstream counterparts are silent on this question.
Emerging evidence point toward a troubled young man who was psychologically tormented by his community--namely the people at Virginia Tech and Greater Blacksburg. Imagine a troubled Asian kid in a predominantly white college in a white, rural Southern town. Imagine being called "gook" and "chink." Imagine being made fun of because of your Asian, "foreign" appearance.
Alone and psychologically under siege, Seung-hui turned inward and brooded. Thus, stories from classmates and roommates of his being taciturn and "anti-social." And the more he turned inward, the more people made fun of him or ostracized him. We learn from Hamlet that melancholy can breed madness, and this was evidently the case here.
Virginia Tech and Blacksburg bear blame--at least some portions of it--for turning a troubled kid into an angry killer...
1 comment:
Thank you for asking the questions few seem to. Good one.
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