One reported dead, several injured in Virginia Tech shootings

[Aaleel]

So people are saying that if someone is sick and receives help before they can do anything, they're fine, and the sum of their life to that point is not a waste. But if they do something before they receive help, all of a sudden that same life was a wasted one?

Makes no sense to me. We had a school shooting at my college 4 years ago when I was a junior there, and a friend of mine was the only person who died. Nothings gonna bring him back, and no one is put on this earth as a waste. Wishing death on someone or saying someone deserves to die is only wishing the pain you're going through on someone elses family and friends.

 

[Pompidou]

Isn't it easy to say "So-and-so did something(s) that's bad and they deserved to die". now that their dead. I'd challenge those who think this way to pick someone who is living and tell me that they deserve to die. I'm not saying something along the lines "all serial killers deserve to die", I'm asking which specific person deserves to die in your eyes?

I find irony that some people said Hitler "deserved to die", and a big part of that reasoning may be because he felt Jews, Homosexuals, et al "deserved to not live".

Because he felt it? No that's not the reason at all. Because he acted on it? There you go. If this Cho guy simply thought 32 people didn't deserve to live, noone would care. He killed 32 people. There is a difference, believe it or not.

 

[Rinoah]

I could have felt sympathy had he stopped and commited suicide after killing his Ex and her new bf, perhaps she fucked him around and stuff. But he went and killed a further 30 people, whom i doubt most had any negative - if any - interaction at all with him.

I agree with the opinion that however harsh it may be, he is defective and deserved death. Tbh i'm not sure why he was allowed in public if he was judged mental.

 

[Veovis]

Shit happens.

People die.

Life goes on.

Some say he was just crazy. Maybe he was pushed to that extreme. He had mental problems, obviously, but I doubt the social ousting did anything to help his self-depreciating nature. These things dont just happen out of the blue usually. Especially when he wrote himself a manifesto and all.

Innocents died. That's sad, i'm sure. But not everyone who was shot was innocent. What he did wasnt right, but that isnt to say his enviroment had nothing to do with it happening, either. We all know how much people can be assholes to other people, especially when theyre weird or abnormal.

It just goes to show you, you cant treat people like shit and expect nothing to happen. Maybe this should be a lesson to everyone in this weepy united states about how to treat others.

 

[Zephayra]

I could have felt sympathy had he stopped and commited suicide after killing his Ex and her new bf, perhaps she fucked him around and stuff. But he went and killed a further 30 people, whom i doubt most had any negative - if any - interaction at all with him.

The first girl who was murdered was not his ex girlfriend, and the guy murdered right after her in the same dorm was not her boyfriend. He just killed them for the sake of killing.

 

[Bustaballs]

Shit happens.

People die.

Life goes on.

Some say he was just crazy. Maybe he was pushed to that extreme. He had mental problems, obviously, but I doubt the social ousting did anything to help his self-depreciating nature. These things dont just happen out of the blue usually. Especially when he wrote himself a manifesto and all.

Innocents died. That's sad, i'm sure. But not everyone who was shot was innocent. What he did wasnt right, but that isnt to say his enviroment had nothing to do with it happening, either. We all know how much people can be assholes to other people, especially when theyre weird or abnormal.

It just goes to show you, you cant treat people like shit and expect nothing to happen. Maybe this should be a lesson to everyone in this weepy united states about how to treat others.

That's another way to look at things.

 

[Taurothar]

Honestly, I'm not going to argue one way or the other about his deserving of sympathy. I don't believe in judging others based my moral compass. What I will say is that I believe that everything happens for a reason.

This shooting happened for many reasons, most of which we'll never know. Everyone at that school who ever treated Cho badly is equally at fault. Let me clarify that I don't mean that they're responsible for his or the other 32 deaths. What I mean is that even if people don't seek out help, they might need it. I'm sick and tired of seeing people treat others that they don't know badly.

I see it every day of my life in college, 99% not to me but to those around me. The people in this country (America) are far too judgmental for our own good. Just because someone is a little different, or outside the fad community, they are ridiculed for the way they live their life. I'd put a huge bet that this was a prime driving factor behind Cho's motivation, and combined with a mental illness, lead to the shootings.

I really do not know how we can fix the social prejudices that have really cemented themselves in our younger generations. Hell, if I did know, I'd be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for fixing one of the largest issues of violence in world history.

One thing that everyone should take away from this tragic event is to treat those around you, alike and different, with a lot more respect. Instead of shrugging off the kid who sits alone in classes or at a dining hall, at least make an effort to talk to them in a friendly manner or include them somehow. It could make all the difference in the world to someone to have someone to talk to instead of sitting in silence. I know for me it's very hard to be depressed when I'm around friendly faces.

 

[Rinoah]

The first girl who was murdered was not his ex girlfriend, and the guy murdered right after her in the same dorm was not her boyfriend. He just killed them for the sake of killing.

Really because initial reports said they were and that was why they thought it was an isolated incident and he ran off...because he had killed his ex and her new bf. Thus not closing the college.

 

[CmdrFly]

A man's worth is determined not by how he treats those who surround him, but by how he treats someone who he has nothing to gain from.

One thing that everyone should take away from this tragic event is to treat those around you, alike and different, with a lot more respect. Instead of shrugging off the kid who sits alone in classes or at a dining hall, at least make an effort to talk to them in a friendly manner or include them somehow. It could make all the difference in the world to someone to have someone to talk to instead of sitting in silence.

I think this is exactly what he wanted as a result - people in general to be more accepting. It's pretty clear from his manifesto that he was not a popular guy and was lashing out against the "upper class" of his regional generation.

Unfortunately Cho pushed his desires to the extreme, and those who he found to be prime opposition to his ideal were slaughtered. So now the popular kids have this thorn in their side that, if they mistreat the wrong person, may come back to cause even deeper lacerations.

We don't know if his victims were innocent. Maybe half of them had caused him great pain in the past and this was his revenge, with some innocents mixed in as shrapnel targets.

Regardless of his reasoning, he still crossed the line in his retaliation. I'm not sure I could face his parents and tell them their son was worthless but it would definitely be running through my mind.

 

[Zephayra]

Really because initial reports said they were and that was why they thought it was an isolated incident and he ran off...because he had killed his ex and her new bf. Thus not closing the college.

Initially it was thought that, but police and friends of the victims have confirmed that the young woman had no previous relationship with Cho, and it was highly unlikely that she even knew him. The young man killed right after was the R.A., who rushed to help her.

 

[Zodiaque]

Isn't it easy to say "So-and-so did something(s) that's bad and they deserved to die". now that their dead. I'd challenge those who think this way to pick someone who is living and tell me that they deserve to die. I'm not saying something along the lines "all serial killers deserve to die", I'm asking which specific person deserves to die in your eyes?

I find irony that some people said Hitler "deserved to die", and a big part of that reasoning may be because he felt Jews, Homosexuals, et al "deserved to not live".

Now that he's dead has nothing to do with it. I'd be saying give him the lethal injection or the electric chair if he had lived. I don't believe in allowing a murderer to live once he's crossed that line, especially as badly as he crossed this line. We have a social responsibility to get rid of these kinds of people so that they don't continue this behavior.

I think this whole argument all boils down to where you stand on the death penalty issue.

And with regards to Hitler, it didn't matter who he believed deserved to live or not, his ACTIONS are what would have anything to do with this conversation. He was a killer, therefore he deserved to die.

Some people believe in it strongly like myself, and others don't understand it, and we're never going to see eye to eye on it or agree, and that's ok.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

[Zodiaque]

So people are saying that if someone is sick and receives help before they can do anything, they're fine, and the sum of their life to that point is not a waste. But if they do something before they receive help, all of a sudden that same life was a wasted one?

Makes no sense to me. We had a school shooting at my college 4 years ago when I was a junior there, and a friend of mine was the only person who died. Nothings gonna bring him back, and no one is put on this earth as a waste. Wishing death on someone or saying someone deserves to die is only wishing the pain you're going through on someone elses family and friends.

Just to clarify, I never said his life was a waste, although he wasted his life by doing what he did and killing himself.

What I said was, after he killed his first person, he deserved to die in my opinion.

 

[Pompidou]

I think this is exactly what he wanted as a result - people in general to be more accepting. It's pretty clear from his manifesto that he was not a popular guy and was lashing out against the "upper class" of his regional generation.

I wasn't a popular guy. I've always been a fairly typical nerd (not the fat sweaty type, but the skinny clumsy type). I got picked on in gradeschool, beaten up now and then for my lunch money - fairly typical schoolday antics, really. I imagine a modest proportion of the QCDN population could be called some sort of nerd or geek. Others here probably got picked on quite a bit. There are lots of people in Cho's lower social standing. He never fit in? So what? People won't be more accepting. If sympathy is going to suddenly be doled out to the nerds and geeks of the world, and I don't think it should, save it for the ones who don't go on murderous rampages. Cho deserves nothing, and any ideals he was striving for in his manifesto were negated by his actions.

 

[Taurothar]

I wasn't a popular guy. I've always been a fairly typical nerd (not the fat sweaty type, but the skinny clumsy type). I got picked on in gradeschool, beaten up now and then for my lunch money - fairly typical schoolday antics, really. I imagine a modest proportion of the QCDN population could be called some sort of nerd or geek. Others here probably got picked on quite a bit. There are lots of people in Cho's lower social standing. He never fit in? So what? People won't be more accepting. If sympathy is going to suddenly be doled out to the nerds and geeks of the world, and I don't think it should, save it for the ones who don't go on murderous rampages. Cho deserves nothing, and any ideals he was striving for in his manifesto were negated by his actions.

Who are you to say that? Shouldn't there be a goal that the only outcasts are such by choice?

 

[Pompidou]

I think I'm a realist when I say that. Would I like a world where all people live in equality, and everyone is happy and the world is filled with love and joy? Sure, who wouldn't? I don't think people will ever, as a society anyway, get to a point where there are no outcasts. We have too much genetics in the way, I think. The rules that define who's on top and who's outcast may change now and then, but not by much. You have to figure, the concept of what makes a person popular (good looks, social graces, etc) have been with us for centuries. Believe me, I'd love to find myself on par with the social elite because the playing field has been levelled through understanding and acceptance, but I won't lie and say I think it'll ever happen. All people might be created equal, but unfortunately, once you exit the womb, all equality crashes to an end, and reality sets in. For better or worse, in real life, some people are presumed better than others.

 

[Sneakypants]

The furthest I can see going with feeling bad for a murderer, is in regards to crimes of passion. Like how his intent was to kill his Ex, and the new guy. BUT, even that wasn't done in a heated passion. It was coldly planned.

Still, some people want to feel bad for him, and say all life is precious and other such complete horseshit. For the sake of the discussion, we'll just say the first 2 victims were a crime of passion, which, in my eyes is understandable. It doesn't make it right, but I can understand a knee-jerk reaction. This wasn't a knee-jerk reaction, but again, like a "B" movie, we'll just "go with it"...

Now, if we are feeling bad for the murderer after taking 2 lives, who do we feel bad for after he takes 30 more, in what is now clearly not a crime of passion?

Some people here seem to even think feeling bad for Hitler is acceptable. That's about the most ridiculous thing ever. I have to believe that would not come out of your mouths in person, IRL. Quite honestly, you'd be taking a big risk with your health by uttering those words in public.

So yeah, it's almost a shame this kid didn't get to kill millions of people. Then we could feel really, really bad for him. He's just so fucked up and needs some hugs, right?


He killed 32 people. Get that through your heads. He's just another person making decisions like the rest of us. If I go out tomorrow and kill 50 people, can I count on you all feeling bad for me and caring about my life too? Gee, that'd be swell.

Involuntary manslaughter is one thing. Murder (32 times over) is quite another. Remove your heads from your asses and recognize that important distinction. If you cannot, at least have the decency not to post such swill about feeling bad for the murderer in a tragic thread.

 

[CmdrFly]

There are lots of people in Cho's lower social standing. He never fit in? So what? People won't be more accepting. If sympathy is going to suddenly be doled out to the nerds and geeks of the world, and I don't think it should, save it for the ones who don't go on murderous rampages. Cho deserves nothing, and any ideals he was striving for in his manifesto were negated by his actions.

I couldn't agree more. If The Matrix was right about one thing, it would be this:

The human mind cannot survive in a perfect world. It does not understand it.

Not the exact wording but you get the drift. A world of peace and love is incomprehensible, people would start randomly exploding left right and centre if Earth ever came to such an age.

The kid claimed that he was making a difference with his sacrifice, when really he probably just wanted popularity. Well, he got it. Lot of good it does him now.

 

[Blackchaoshero]

hmmm.... all through school i was a nerd. People look at me and assume i'm the football team kind of guy but i'm the giant guy who skipped class to go read books in a quiet corner of the library. a few things have changed since then though...

people tell you to just be yourself in spite of everything. This is largely part of these sort of problems. up until modern times and all the acceptance of differences(most of which are actually really good all around, such as openmindedness to homosexuality ect) people have strove to fit a mould. that mould is of a good son/daughter, a person who is friendly and makes you happy to be around ect ect... the way this mould has been largely discarded for the new concepts of acceptance perhaps have paved the way for radical actions to seek the acceptance/popularity with the way they are that simply striving for that mould would have granted them. also it takes a lot of guts to "be yourself" if that isn't exactly a popular way to be, i never had the guts needed for it. I went on basic training and decided i wouldn't be myself, i would be someone else a lot like myself. i was that new person so thoroughly it stuck permanently. sometimes being yourself isn't the right course IMO, if the guy had tried a bit to be more what people want him to be he would have fit in wonderfully. not to say one discards what you were, perhaps it's more growing out than changing entirely, but i grew myself more into the cookie cutter... Since i did that, i've never felt closer to my family (not because they didn't love me, i think i just made myself harder to love back then), or closer to my friends/army co-workers&friends.

People have pushed the notion of the martyr being courageous... It doesn't take much courage to die for an ideal, the thing that takes real courage is living for it.

 

[Aaleel]

But saying peoples' personal beliefs, which include all life being precious is horseshit, is much more of a better thing to say, whatever.

You don't have to feel bad for someone just because they died, you can feel bad for someone because their life got to the point where they felt they had to do something like this. That now it appears that there were so many signs that people missed. That someone is now feeling the lose of a family member.

People who commit these type of acts do so because something has gone wrong in them where life is NO LONGER precious to them. The ordinary person does not kill someone. So whether something goes wrong for a moment and you kill someone, or whether something goes wrong until it is remedied by some type of help, something went wrong, and you can feel bad that someone's life got to that state.

 

[Rinoah]

But saying peoples' personal beliefs, which include all life being precious is horseshit, is much more of a better thing to say, whatever.

You don't have to feel bad for someone just because they died, you can feel bad for someone because their life got to the point where they felt they had to do something like this. That now it appears that there were so many signs that people missed. That someone is now feeling the lose of a family member.

People who commit these type of acts do so because something has gone wrong in them where life is NO LONGER precious to them. The ordinary person does not kill someone. So whether something goes wrong for a moment and you kill someone, or whether something goes wrong until it is remedied by some type of help, something went wrong, and you can feel bad that someone's life got to that state.

Or because they are crazy. I mean manhunt nearly got banned here after some idiot with mental issues went and acted it out on a classmate. Beat him to death with a hammer and tortured him and shit.