Cho

From the outset, DocBrain wants to make it clear he feels very sorry for the students at VT and for Cho's family. If there ever was a lose-lose situation, this was it.

In the aftermath of this horrible event, there is much spin and heat. Here are a few talking points:

1. There are many angry and disturbed people in the world. DocBrain believes it is the combination of disturbed, compulsive thinking and impulsive actions that bring these people across the line to antisocial behavior. Cho was obviously obsessed with his inner thoughts which appear to have been filled with anger and a desire to do what he believed was right. When one is angry, one rarely says or does "what is right". This was his fatal flaw.
2. DocBrain has heard commentators compare this tragedy to 9-11 in terms of a backlash against Koreans. DocBrain believes there must be a dumbing down effect on commentators! First, there are people who already hate Koreans or other Asians and they will use any event or pretext to act perversely. Second, the Cho's family, the Korean community, and even Korea, have been mourning the victims, not cheering the acts of one mentally ill young man. This was not the reaction of the arab Muslims after 9-11, where celebrations in the streets were the rule.
3. Gun control again is a hot topic. Should we control all guns? Just handguns? Would Cho have been more or less dangerous with shotguns? What if he had just done the sniper thing with a high powered rifle, scope and silencer? What if he had made several Molotov cocktails and heaved them into several classrooms? Please see #1 above. Blaming guns is like blaming the victims.
4. Should people have recognized the warning signs and locked him up or drugged him up before he did this? This would be impossible in our society which protects individuals from the concept of "pre-crime", except for those who have consumed alcohol and are driving.
5. Here are DocBrain's four horsemen: conflict, suffering, ignorance and servitude. It is wrong to inflict any of these on another person. The solution for humanity is not about understanding but about breaking the chain of consequences, not reacting to the wrongs inflicted upon us by others. But, unlike the teachings of Jesus who admonished us to never break the chain and all will be fine, sometimes people need to stand up and push back against the wrongs we see among us. There will always be those who see their own power in creating conflict, their contentment in causing suffering, their intelligence in confounding the truth, and their superiority in making others bend to their will.