No flaming from me, I wish we could do that but ... "Every" establishment? If you go look out the window, how many establishments do you see? What about places with a woman's owner? a young manager ? the kindergarden teacher ? I think someone suggested a real firearm and that would have been stupid. A stun gun is a better choice, yet I don't think it can even be done. I think we do have law enforcement, i.e, the police officers, SWAT team, FBI, ... we need more of them and/ or create an environment where they can do their job effectively.
I also think if you do that, the 1st thing a criminal would do when he enters such establishment is to take out the owner/ manager. You end up at the same place.
Well, there is a law that requires you to have a public restroom in a place of business. There is also a law that requires a business owner with a storefront to have the place undergo a health inspection. There are several laws that exsit for any business, so maybe this becomes one of them. Even better solution- make sure every female carries one in her purse, since the number of rapes and killings are disproportionately undertaken by males (and I'm a guy). I just think this type of protection would allow for someone like this to be disarmed without killing him/her. If it helps to prevent or minimize even one incident such as this, maybe it's worth considering. Also, it would help if the press heavily publicized all cases in which potential attacker's plans were thwarted by the police. But you know that's not going to happen.
Man reading some of the victim's MySpace pages is freaky. There are actually messages pleading for them to call friends and family.
CNN reported that they were told by rescue workers that as they were removing the bodies, the victims cell phones were going off. Too much info IMO
I didn't want to sift through the 23 pages but has anyone seen the foxnews interview on their website w/ Cho's ex roommate? I don't know the exact term or what it's called but the interviewer kept trying to bait Cho's ex roommate into questions that tried to make Cho appear worse than he already is. "When you were his roommate, do you remember if Cho watched any movies?" "uh....yea....he would watch like wrestling or Spike TV" The lady is reaching too hard for some kind of spicy exclusive. Link to vid of interview
NO JOKE also from nbc Based on emerging accounts of his behavior before his deadly attack at Virginia Tech, Cho exhibited three characteristics that the experts say are common among school shooters: He didn’t “just snap” but instead acquired the weapons weeks earlier. He was considered a threat by others, even though he didn’t make any explicit threats. Fellow students and teachers raised concerns about his behavior. umm, can you be a bit more specific? the media is trying to paint this whole thing as being totally avoidable based on PSHYCOLOGICAL treatment. as if there was enough info to incarcarate them, now the media wants to paint themselves as EXPERTS in judging who is crazy or not?????? UNBELIEVABLE
I haven't watched enough news on the event to actually compare with other stations/networks. It's just I found it pretty unreal how she kept trying to pry for something when there isn't anything to pry..especially when Cho's ex roommate is pretty much flat out telling her there weren't any serious or concerning actions he saw from Cho.
i wonder what is next, media is going to blame his roommate for not looking more carefully???? this has become a farce
Yeah. On other networks they have asked victims, people who have lived with him, and others involved with the tragedy all sort of questions trying to get the next big thing out the story. Chris Matthews is trying really hard right now on Hardball.
There's a lengthy interview of 2 of his roommates on CNN. Seemed like all they asked was for the kids to recount all the strange stuff that happened while they lived with him. They talked about trying to get him to open up, inviting him to eat often and even to parties. Then they mention when the campus cops were in their room and they found out he had been stalking a girl he chatted with on AIM. Cho mentioned something about killing himself and one of the roommates told the police and that's what led to him getting sent to a psychiatric ward. Nothing about violent movies, tv, or games though. They did mention that he listened to Collective Soul's "shine down" all the time and would write the lyrics to songs he listened to on the walls. The roommates mentioned warning a girl in their dorm he was chatting with that he was a stalker and one considered following him to see if he was stalking other girls. They both seemed aware that he wasn't right, and I think they did the best they could. The teacher also alerting police makes it seem like people tried. The failure was probably when he was evaluated that they didn't dig deeper and let him go.
Look at NY Times trying to spin this off as a racial thing (connection between Cho and a Korean movie): http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/updates-on-virginia-tech/ Here's a comment by one of the readers: Mike Nizza, I think it is irresponsible to try to make a tenuous at best connection between a movie pose and the pose in Cho’s photo. It seems an awful lot like trying to spin a connection between Korean pop culture and Cho’s behavior. No mention of Tarantino’s Kill Bill? No connection to be made between poses in Boondock Saints and Cho holding two guns in his outstretched hands? Is that because neither of those films were Korean? Do you think since the gunman was Korean he only watches Korean movies? Stop making generalizations and stop trying to paint all Koreans with the same brush. It’s cheap and it’s bush league. And who writes “very nearly similar”? Yeah, I caught that before it was edited. — Posted by Dave Somehow I knew this would happen.. All these MEDIA groups trying to TOP eachother in getting the NEWEST news, and INNOVATIVE explanations even if that means EXPLOITING a tragedy for their own benefit.. Have one more thing to keep people GLUED to their TVs.. Can you imagine all the money CNN is making right now from commercials?? They're going to milk this for all its worth, for as long as they can. I'm glad we have free media in this country because it allows us to stay informed, but at the same time, media tends to CREATE news even when there isnt news. It's a double edged sword. They're job is to report, not to cause further controversy and stir up unnecessary tension.
i really am disgusted with the media's slobbering all over this tragedy -- and how it reflects our culture.
A couple more comments: I can’t believe all the apologies coming from South Koreans appearing on yesterday’s Lede comment roll. I also can’t believe the US media reference to Mr. Cho as being a ‘native’ of South Korea. - Very disagreeable. Like Mr. Cho I immigrated to the US from South Korea at about the same age. Like Mr. Cho I have lived way more in the US than in South Korea, though I am about 40 years of age. In fact, as a naturalized US citizen, I consider myself more American than Korean. Mr. Cho appears to be a lonely and disturbed individual who got what he wanted in death, what he failed to get in life: Compassion and attention. As his juvenile plays evidence, there is obviously developmental challenges he faced that he never overcame being so isolated. While I’m proud of the fact that unlike the South Korean government’s knee-jerk fear of American racism against South Koreans in the US, most Americans see Mr. Cho as a victim too as well as the the 32 other innocent victims of his. South Korea, don’t cry for me. After this sad tragedy, whether it is in regard to gun control or the responsibility of society to reach out to the disillusioned or freedom of express vs. the need to protect society or protecting individuals vs. protecting the entire community, Americans in large part today appear to agree that we still have a long way to go in ever fine tuning the balance between society and individualism. Definitely, as an observer, I believe that we have come a long way and justifiably proud of this American fact. In the end, a perfect balance may prove illusive. — Posted by Charles Park I am also disturbed that the media keeps portraying Cho as “a native of Korea” and the related rumors that circulated on Monday night, like Fox News’s report that the killer was a Chinese national from Shanghai. Cho attended high school, middle school, and at least some of elementary school in the US. He was in no way an “international student,” though many of his victims were. I am a white American whose ancestors have been in this country for several generations, but I oppose stirring up racial hatred. In part, though, I blame the Korean embassy: why do they keep apologizing for Cho? Gun shootings are an American problem. If Cho had grown up in Korea, he still may have become a depressive, suicidal maniac, but it virtually certain that he would not have taken the lives of 32 others. — Posted by Chris I personally don't agree with South Korea's government response to this event. They should be sending their condolencese but I do not believe they should be apologizing. I do however understand where they are coming from. I can see how the Korean government may feel the need to take some responsibility because he is a "product" of their country. Even though he was raised here, the fact is he was born there. I believe that lone fact is the reason is behind the apologies. They also feel it is necessary in order to help protect the 2 million Korean population in the US from future prejudice and angry backlash. Koreans by culture are a very close knit tight community, they have always been very proud of their culture and strong comradery amoung Koreans exist. Also for many years, Koreans immigrants have prided themselves as hard working, being family oriented, and excellence in education. This incident goes against all of that which is why many Koreans feel ashamed that he comes from Korean descent.
I don't understand why people are getting defensive about calling him a native of South Korea. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he was a citizen of South Korea? Technically that would make him a native of South Korea. Yeah I know he had a green card. It's unfortunate Koreans feel they have to apologize, and it's similar to Arabs/Middle East/Muslim people apologizing after a fanatic blows himself up. Every group has its crazies. Most people understand that...the apologies are for those who don't.
