Virginia Tech Shootings: Newsflash!!

[OROD]

http://www.tgdaily.com/index.php?opt...701&Itemid=118

Apparently while searching Cho Seung-Hui's room, authorities made a shocking discovery. They found NO video games!! This is now causing great concern and police are frantically trying to locate the video games before they fall into the hands of another would-be mass killer. As we know from history, ALL of this centuries biggest mass murders have been driven to evil by video games... from Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Saddam to Jim Jones. Some officials are speculating that Seung-Hui may have burried the video games, or perhaps, in a fit of depression ground up the games in his blender and drank them in a shake. We're still waiting on the autopsy for conclusive results.

[noodle]

Originally Posted by OROD

http://www.tgdaily.com/index.php?opt...701&Itemid=118

Apparently while searching Cho Seung-Hui's room, authorities made a shocking discovery. They found NO video games!! This is now causing great concern and police are frantically trying to locate the video games before they fall into the hands of another would-be mass killer. As we know from history, ALL of this centuries biggest mass murders have been driven to evil by video games... from Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Saddam to Jim Jones. Some officials are speculating that Seung-Hui may have burried the video games, or perhaps, in a fit of depression ground up the games in his blender and drank them in a shake. We're still waiting on the autopsy for conclusive results.

eat your words, dr. phil and jack thompson and fox news.

[OROD]

Originally Posted by noodle

eat your words, dr. phil and jack thompson and fox news.

There ARE the same people that insist on calling suicide bombers homicide bombers.

.

[fencerbill]

To perhaps morph this thread in a positive way. There is a lot of mostly negative comment about NBC broadcasting the video, pictures and audio that the shooter mailed to them.

I don't doubt that it was painful to the students and all of the familes.

But it helped me to understand how it could have happened.

For two days people everywhere were saying "how could he have done it?" And "The campus police and authorities really blew it!"

But here's a guy who kills 2 people, mails out the videos to NBC and then kills 30 more.

Now perhaps we understand better. I am not saying people shouldn't have responded differently. But how could anyone anticipate this craziness?

[Peach]

Some of my young students (12 years old) who saw the video are rather upset by it. I'm not saying their parents should have let them see it, but it's rather hard to avoid the news.

[Philistine]

Originally Posted by fencerbill

To perhaps morph this thread in a positive way. There is a lot of mostly negative comment about NBC broadcasting the video, pictures and audio that the shooter mailed to them.

I don't doubt that it was painful to the students and all of the familes.

But it helped me to understand how it could have happened.

For two days people everywhere were saying "how could he have done it?" And "The campus police and authorities really blew it!"

But here's a guy who kills 2 people, mails out the videos to NBC and then kills 30 more.

Now perhaps we understand better. I am not saying people shouldn't have responded differently. But how could anyone anticipate this craziness?

My concern with NBC (or other outlets) broadcasting the tapes is that it appears posthumous publicity was at least a partial motivator for the shooter (not saying he wouldn't have done it without the expectation of publication).

Given the realities of media today--It's probably unrealistic to think it wouldn't be published--but it still sticks in my craw a bit, in effect giving him what he wanted.

--Philistine

[fencerbill]

Originally Posted by Philistine

My concern with NBC (or other outlets) broadcasting the tapes is that it appears posthumous publicity was at least a partial motivator for the shooter (not saying he wouldn't have done it without the expectation of publication).

Given the realities of media today--It's probably unrealistic to think it wouldn't be published--but it still sticks in my craw a bit, in effect giving him what he wanted.

--Philistine

He got what he wanted all right.

He's dead.

What do you mean by he got what he wanted? Speculating about that is a bottomless bucket of grease.

I got what I wanted, a better idea of how crazy/sane, balanced/unbalanced he was.

Again, I am sorry about any pain to the students and all the families involved. But at some time, knowing more about him may help in their understanding or lack thereof.

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Philistine

My concern with NBC (or other outlets) broadcasting the tapes is that it appears posthumous publicity was at least a partial motivator for the shooter (not saying he wouldn't have done it without the expectation of publication).

I was so shocked when I saw that they actually put his picture on the cover of the New York Times.

I don't think that giving him what he wants matters; he's dead. However, every other psychopath thinks that all they need to do to get their face on the newspaper is kill thirty people.

Instead of reporting on the killer, they should report on the victims.

[OROD]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

However, every other psychopath thinks that all they need to do to get their face on the newspaper is kill thirty people.

And they would be right.

Really, news media (especially TV) these days are total crap. All they care about is ratings, so they run the same shìt stories about Anna Nicole Smith endlessly until another lowest-common-denominator shìt story comes along. All the while there's huge things going on around the world (you know, like wars, genocide, global warming, etc), but you'd never know it.

.

[fencerbill]

One of the subjects on 60 minutes tonight was about the Secret Service interviewing people who attempted, some successfully, assasination of prominent people, presidents, John Lennon, etc. This was to develop ways to forestall future attacks. There were common denominators.

The psychologists involved then went on to interview people who attempted school shootings, Columbine, etc. Again there were common themes.

I do not wish to make a case for NBC broadcasting the recordings of the Virginia Tech killer. But the existence of the recordings will perhaps help such investigators unravel the mysteries and help to avoid such tragedies in the future.

[Philistine]

Originally Posted by fencerbill

He got what he wanted all right.

He's dead.

What do you mean by he got what he wanted?

I mean that he knew that if he committed a completely senseless act of mass violence that news organizations would fall over themselves in order to make his ranting publically available. And that this (likely) formed at least part of the reason he decided to kill as many people as he could.

The corollary, is that if this type of thing were not, as a matter of course, published, it might deter others from "copycat" actions.

But that's just my gut feeling--and I'm not advocating laws to prevent it, and in the absence of laws I think it quite unlikely that such things won't get published almost immediately.

--Philistine