On the Virginia Tech Tragedy

April 20, 2007 by maureen.ulrich.

I have a few thoughts about the catastrophic events unfolding in Blackburg, Virginia. I have two daughters in university. I can’t even imagine how the families and friends of the slain are coping with their anguish. It’s incomprehensible.

I watched an interview on Larry King Live with two former roommates of Cho Seung Hui. As they spoke, I kept thinking, I’ve known people like Cho, taught students like him. Did he have a healthy connection with even one human being? And if he had, would this tragedy have occurred?

I am not making excuses for Cho. I am not saying we should feel sorry for him. I don’t know very much about him, except that he was deeply disturbed and violent and angry.

I do remember the way many Asian students were talked of when I was in university. It shocks me to think that these stereotyped attitudes could lead to something as horrific as the senseless deaths of 33 people.

Will there be a backlash against South Koreans and other Asians – a visible minority? I’m certain there already has been. The tragedy just keeps evolving.

In a recent blog, I talked about censorship. I said I don’t support it, and I still don’t. No one should have forbidden NBC to show Cho’s “manifesto.”

They just should have known better.

When you see or hear something ugly, you don’t need to repeat it. I don’t need to see Cho’s quick time video clips. I don’t need to see the ravings of a madman. It’s not my right as a news consumer.

To replay them repeatedly is tasteless, cruel, and opportunistic. It’s not anything even remotely close to journalism.

One of the worst developments in recent history is the advent of 24 hour news broadcasts. The distinction between news reporting and tabloids is becoming hazier all the time. Have you checked out the CTV website lately? In a word — cheesy. It’s just an indication of how tough the competition must be in the struggle for ratings.

Virginia State Police Col. Steve Flaherty stated at a recent news conference that he is “disappointed” that NBC News chose to air the “disturbing images.” As others have pointed out so eloquently, NBC has done exactly what Cho wanted. They have turned him – whatever he is — into an instant celebrity.

The good news is that Cho’s fame won’t last. The next big ticket news item will obliterate him. Unfortunately he will remain a cult hero to people on the fringe (both of society and of mental stability), just as Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were Cho’s idols.

And now for gun control.

In time I’m sure strong arguments will be made about how “someone should have done something” and “someone should have seen this coming.”

Many people recognized that Cho was an extremely disturbed young man. His behaviour was reported to authorities. He was detained on more than one occasion by police for harassing young women.

I’d just like to know why it was so easy for someone in such a questionable mental state to buy handguns.

Violent, unstable people have always walked the face of the planet. However, current technology gives these people the tools to wreak havoc. Hitler was not the first leader to espouse antisemitism, but thanks to Zyklon B, he had the means to do it oh so efficiently.

So much hatred and violence in this world we live in. So much sadness.

And yet, when I think of the heroism of a university professor, surviving the Holocaust in order to give his life, decades later, protecting his students, I suddenly remember — there is far more courage and compassion in this world than the media could report in a lifetime. We just have to remind ourselves of it everyday.

We mustn’t let the tragedy of what happened on that dark day overshadow the beautiful and brilliant lives of Virginia Tech’s slain professors and students.

Walk out of the darkness and step into the sunshine. Feel it on your face. Life is still good.

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