Virginia Tech

My blog is a platform for me to express thoughts about my life, and things I find entertaining or weird. I rarely write about anything that the general public would call "news". I don't really feel qualified to do so, as I do not actively seek out knowledge of the disturbing, inhumane, and sometimes insane things that "bleed and lead" on US media outlets. That, and frankly I doubt my insights would be worth the effort on most topics. Still, the events at Virginia Tech have managed to penetrate even my self-centered little world. It is difficult to escape the video footage of Cho rambling on about his disturbing agenda, but what gained my attention were the photos of Cho smiling. In those photos he looks like an average happy college student. He looks like many of the young Asian males with whom I work at the gaming company. He looks small, harmless, and happy. It is chilling.

I admit that I was drawn into watching some of the disturbing videos he made. Like most testosterone-filled males, I wondered why nobody attempted to disarm this small college kid once it became apparent that he was on a mass killing spree. The truth being, of course, that it is very easy to "think tough" in hindsight, sitting safely in my bedroom, without bullets flying in my general direction. I thought about how his suicide was the ultimate act of cowardice. If he believed he was justified, why was he afraid to stand tall and take credit for his actions? I've had these thoughts, and many more regarding this tragedy, but they still weren't enough to inspire me to write about this in my blog. The thing that really impacted me emotionally was when I stumbled upon this:

Victim Page

This web page shows pictures and information about the victims. It is one thing to hear a kill total, it is another to see the smiling faces of those who were slain. Many of those who were killed were happy, hopeful college kids. They were enjoying college, and were working on making lives for themselves. Like so many, I was guilty of giving much attention to the psychotic ramblings of a killer. I was giving him (posthumously) exactly what he wanted. It is clear in his videos that he wanted to the world to pay attention to his insane speeches. Now, thanks to the media, he is getting exactly what he wanted.

I decided that the absolute least I could was to post a link (above) to the victim site, so that the slain and their families might get some of the attention that the media is bestowing upon the killer.