Virginia Tech Killer Identified

[KarenCee 3]

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

Stop it. He is *NOT* the victim here. He's a worthless piece of chit and the only good thing about this story is he offed himself.

He probably knew it would be better to do that than spend time in an American jail. Or any jail. Not that I'm excusing him or anything...just offering my opinion.

[mawilson 2,133]

Hence why this ###### will happen again and again in the 'US' until someone

wakes up and realizes the real problem is one which affects society as a whole..

And just what might that be?

[Sheriff Uling 3]

abdounjen,

Because such a person is most in need of god's mercy.

Yodrak

why should god have mercy on someone like that? ughhhhhhhhhhh....

Amen...

[Alex+R 0]

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

From three or four kids that knew him who've got stuff up on the internet, (e.g., his roommate, the 2 people from his playwrighting class), it sounds like many people did try to make an effort to befriend him, but it was useless. Living in a college dorm, I'm sure he had many opportunities to make friends. College students aren't high school students, and isolation has to be a bit of a choice. I feel sorry for him for being a disturbed and tortured person, not because of what others may have done or not done to him.

edit: double post

Edited April 17, 2007 by Alex+R

[wong_watkins 1]

That son of a b!thch he's going to rot in hell..

[almaty 19]

Im NOT guessing. He was demon possessed. What he did was pre meditated. Like I said, you just don't chain the door when you know there are a lot of people inside . It's called mass murder.

yeap, and file off the serial #s off the guns

[chri'stina 190]

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

From three or four kids that knew him who've got stuff up on the internet, (e.g., his roommate, the 2 people from his playwrighting class), it sounds like many people did try to make an effort to befriend him, but it was useless. Living in a college dorm, I'm sure he had many opportunities to make friends. College students aren't high school students, and isolation has to be a bit of a choice. I feel sorry for him for being a disturbed and tortured person, not because of what others may have done or not done to him.

edit: double post

I agree in this case.

I am a person who does support the idea that people should make an effort to reach out to people who seem to have no friends, etc. But that can't always be the reason for someone doing wrong. We can't just blame his fellow students.

Hence why this ###### will happen again and again in the 'US' until someone

wakes up and realizes the real problem is one which affects society as a whole..

As if the US is the only country with problems.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Hence why this ###### will happen again and again in the 'US' until someone wakes up and realizes the real problem is one which affects society as a whole..

LOL...tell us what else we can do to make our society a better one for you to live in.

As I mentioned earlier I don't think you can point to a single causative factor - that's why so much time and energy is spent demonising movies, TV, videogames, rock music (and indeed firearms). They are all incidental and none of them really explain why a guy went nuts with a pistol, or why a person would respond to say... romantic rejection, or loss of a job in the way that they do. In fact, guess where the blame was levelled after Columbine...an 8-year old video game...

My guess is that deep down such people are fundamentally insecure and have pathetically bad self esteem. But what can you do with that?

Incidentally, I believe college-age kids have the highest rates of depression and suicide compared with other age groups (at least that was the case in the UK). Several of the people on my course at university had mental health issues of one kind or another - whether it be self-harm, eating disorders, alcoholism and drug addiction, or just general depression and despondency

Edited April 17, 2007 by erekose

[Fandango 1,440]

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

Stop it. He is *NOT* the victim here. He's a worthless piece of chit and the only good thing about this story is he offed himself.

I agree. Plenty of people are lonely and they don't go off and murder 33 people. Either the kid was evil or he was seriously mentally ill...and I mean SERIOUSLY.

I triple agree

[derekkj 0]

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

Stop it. He is *NOT* the victim here. He's a worthless piece of chit and the only good thing about this story is he offed himself.

I agree. Plenty of people are lonely and they don't go off and murder 33 people. Either the kid was evil or he was seriously mentally ill...and I mean SERIOUSLY.

I triple agree

Quatro agree.

[Robor007 0]

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

Stop it. He is *NOT* the victim here. He's a worthless piece of chit and the only good thing about this story is he offed himself.

the kid's last action shoulda been his first.

Same as all hostage situations or murder suicides.

We should blame ourselves as a society when this happens. A young immigrant child, where 34 deaths and hundreds of relatives and friends in sheer pain right now all could have been prevented if someone perhaps said "hi" or "want to hang out". I feel so awful for this misguided kid, and 33 people were all victims of his misguidance.

Stop it. He is *NOT* the victim here. He's a worthless piece of chit and the only good thing about this story is he offed himself.

While I went through my fair share of depression in the teenage years, I can't understand the level of hopelessness that a person must feel if they seriously think that topping yourself is the only solution. This is on a whole other level and even more inexplicable - it seems there is a bit of ego involved given the reports that there was a romantic interest involved. The "if I can't have her, no-one will" rationale perhaps?

I was with my ex-wife for nearly 7 years and while things weren't great I thought we were working it out. Just before the end of our marriage I found out she was romantically involved with her boss. Nice, eh? Needless to say that didn't work out. Anyway, I can't say I considered anything as crazy as murder suicide but I can say was miserable and depressed. It took me several months to adjust to living alone again. Oh, and going from a DINC to a SINC is *not* easy. Hopeless and depression are one thing. Premeditated mass murder is another.

[chri'stina 190]

Hence why this ###### will happen again and again in the 'US' until someone wakes up and realizes the real problem is one which affects society as a whole..

LOL...tell us what else we can do to make our society a better one for you to live in.

As I mentioned earlier I don't think you can point to a single causative factor - that's why so much time and energy is spent demonising movies, TV, videogames, rock music (and indeed firearms). They are all incidental and none of them really explain why a guy went nuts with a pistol, or why a person would respond to say... romantic rejection, or loss of a job in the way that they do. In fact, guess where the blame was levelled after Columbine...an 8-year old video game...

My guess is that deep down such people are fundamentally insecure and have pathetically bad self esteem. But what can you do with that?

Incidentally, I believe college-age kids have the highest rates of depression and suicide compared with other age groups (at least that was the case in the UK). Several of the people on my course at university had mental health issues of one kind or another - whether it be self-harm, eating disorders, alcoholism and drug addiction, or just general depression and despondency

As Caladan mentioned, I also learned in psych classes that certain disorders appear in people around these ages(20's). It can be dormant and then come out when they hit a certain age. That wouldn't be the only reason, but it could be a reason for so many in that age group.

[DeadPoolX 9]

As Caladan mentioned, I also learned in psych classes that certain disorders appear in people around these ages(20's). It can be dormant and then come out when they hit a certain age. That wouldn't be the only reason, but it could be a reason for so many in that age group.

One of the many possible reasons we, as a society, tend to see psychological disorders surface in young adults during their college years, I think, has relatively little to do with biology. Indeed, if biology were the only culprit, then junior high and high school would be worse off due to the chemical and hormonal imbalances of puberty.

Instead, I feel that it's because we have a group of young individuals who, for the first time in their lives, are out "living on their own." They are away from their families and most importantly, the constant watch of their parents. They are relatively free to do what whatever they wish. This newfound freedom is often a joy to many college-bound students (and some take it to the extreme as they tend to party hard, get drunk and experiment with drugs), but with freedom ultimately comes responsibility. These responsibilities are often new and different for the college Freshman and some have a difficult transition, going from "high school child" to "college adult."

Many students have traveled great distances to be at the college of their choice, some going as far as another country. This means they have left not only their families and friends behind, but everything they knew and were accustomed to before as well. Some of you who have already made the leap to permanent resident or citizen here in the United States can understand how difficult a process that can be -- and you're not an 18-year-old, fresh out of high school with no real life experience either!

I think it's the sudden bombardment of freedom and responsibility , coupled with the loss of everything and everyone they knew and understood all at once that overwhelms many students. Sure, the majority can handle it in some fashion or another, but there's a sizable minority that has a lot of problems dealing with it. These are students that can become a problem down the line, if certain events take their course.

While most campuses offer free psychological services, college students -- like their counterparts in the workforce -- tend to shun the idea of seeing a psychologist because that must mean they are "crazy" and who wishes to admit that, right? Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. A temporary bout of depression is a far cry from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and even if the student had one of the more serious ailments, he or she could help themselves by seeking treatment as soon as possible.

So while yes, I'm sure there is some biology involved in the process, I think there are far more external factors than many readily recognize. This doesn't excuse those people (student or otherwise) who "go off the deep end" and use violence as a means to solve their problems. Mass-murdering people in a rampage-style shooting is never the answer. However, if we look at this deeper, perhaps we can figure out why it happened and maybe be able to prevent some of these shootings from happening again.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

You can read the two plays he wrote for his playwriting course through a link on CNN's main news story about the killer. They are very disturbing, not just for the violence but because of their subtext. I seriously wonder if he was himself sexually abused by a teacher or an adult in a position of authority and has never had a way to deal with the anger and rage. The stories are about authority figures who abuse their authority and hurt children or young people. His anger has smouldered all these years, finding expression in creative writing but finally erupting in the massacre of yesterday. Something happened to this young man when he was too young to defend himself and no one else was there to protect or defend him. He has apparently been giving hints of his disturbed psychological state for some time, according to the comments of those who went to school with him. Just as disturbing as his plays and state of mind is the fact that it got this far without someone intervening and getting him some help. It is a tragedy all around.

Edited April 17, 2007 by Kathryn41

[chri'stina 190]

Uhhhh I just read the plays. They are not normal IMO.

Why wouldn't the professor of that class, who is grading the papers, think something is up with this kid. I am not just saying about getting him help, but questioning him about his ideas for the writings.

I guess after the fact it's easy to say that.