quote:While most students could find him in his office, working past midnight, unraveling the puzzles of how water travels around the globe, he understood that the mind needed rest. In those moments, he stole away to watch one of his favorite "Star Trek" movies
It's little thinks like this that make you really understand that the victims were just like us or anyone else- not just nameless victims for the news to babble on about.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
Oh, I could rant about this one for ages.
It feels like the only thing more screwed up than the media's handling of the entire event was the event itself.
The handling of the video "manifesto" was hilariously horrid. Am I the only one on the planet that wasn't offended by the fact that NBC wanted to play it? The bastard is dead, there is no possible further benefit that he could obtain from it. How in the world is showing this one example of the utterly screwed up nature of his mind in any way demeaning or disrespectful to the victims and their families?
And don't get me started on the idiocy of Jack Thompson and Dr Phil. Seriously, it's fantastic to see them blame video games off the bat when they later found that, shockingly, the shooter had none. Zero, nada, zilch. I'm not gonna be holding my breath for retractions.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
The drive-by media has already set the precident with the Katrina reporting. Thousands of body bags? Toxic soup? Wonder if they'll give themselves pulitzers this time around too.
Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
Most likely, yes.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Dont forget the stadium full of bodies and the sharks and alligators in the river eating corpses. Or the cops shooting unarmed people in the back on that bridge for kicks...
oh wait, that really happened.
The Sun Sentinel rean some brief bios on some of the victims today- a tough read (of course highlighting only the positive aspects of their gleaming future, but still).
Nothing says "gun law reform" like a foreign visitor with a seriously spotty mental history legally buying two guns and killing 31 people.
Not gonna happen as long as the NRA is a major Republican contributor.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
I've already had this argument elsewhere, but I don't think gun control would have stopped him from getting access. The guy was f'ing nuts, and everyone around him knew it. Why wasn't he dealt with earlier?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I'll again cite Japan's gun control laws and how they have essentially no gun crimes.
Also, the media gets a LITTLE credit for having stopped plastering the coward's face all over the freaking planet, and for almost uniformly moving to tributes to the victims themselves. Too late, and it wasn't even their idea (it was at the urging of the students, families and faculty) but even a little bit counts.
Mark
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I'll then cite Japanese culture & its base inclination not to have events of this sort regardless of control laws.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
No, they just kill themselves in droves because their 20's didn't work out the way they'd hoped.
I'm worried that this guy's "success" story will do for school shootings what "Jaws" did for shark fishing.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...I don't think gun control would have stopped him from getting access."
Well, of course not. Illegal guns are everywhere. But there's no reason to say "well, we'll never get rid of all the guns, so we may as well barely try".
I think a "no sanity, no firearms" policy ought to be a no-brainer, but evidently not.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Indeed. There's billions of dollars being poured into the war on drugs, for example.
Anyway, why not start up another thread on gun control.
Mark
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nim: I'm worried that this guy's "success" story will do for school shootings what "Jaws" did for shark fishing.
That's a scary thought.
You know what really makes me sick about all this? The fact that somewhere in this world, there are people who are happy that this happened. Just thinking about it makes me physically ill. And now I'm just watching the news coverage of the shooting at the Johnson space center. WTF is going on with the world?
As for the issue of Gun control, Cho bought that Walther P22, and the Glock 19 perfectly legally. Those two particular models aren't against the law to own. (as far as I know) Why he filed the serial number off is a mystery to me. It's not like it would have made much difference one way or another.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
quote:I think a "no sanity, no firearms" policy ought to be a no-brainer, but evidently not.
It wouldn't have helped in this case. When he was released, the doctors gave him a clean bill of mental health in regards to having disorders and the like. Depressed? Yup. Disturbed? Yup. Mentally ill? Not by the book.
Posted by HopefulNebula (Member # 1933) on :
Not only are Thompson and Phil on it, but Fred Phelps is too. Here's hoping they have the grace to stay the fuck away from the funerals.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Keep hoping. That ass, Dr. Phil allready is blaming the old scapegoats of TV and video games.... Except those that knew him say Cho never liked games and rarely got into TV. He liked poetry and wrote it (poorly).
Maybe it's a good thing idiots like Dr. Phil dont know that: we dont need them telling everyone to watch out for the kid reading Frost or Wordsworth.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Guns don't kill people. Crappy poets with guns kill people."?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Exactly- if he had no access to guns he'd be making bad Smiths mix CD's for girls that aren't intrested in him, writing poetry no one wants to read and everyone else would still be alive and not talking about him.
I'm thinking we need tighter laws regulating bad poetry and The Smiths as well.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Are you a bisexual psycho rapist murderer! Please stop following me. Don't kill me!? *throws wrenches and pipes and hairdryers at Jason*
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
No, and I've never writen bad poetry to anyone or owned a black turtleneck either.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)