More Ramblings:
This quote from MSNBC's Shooting Massacre message board got me started on yet another rant:
“Our culpability in this situation, as a society, has been mischaracterized. Where we fell down was not in our lack of coddling this idiot or some misstep in guiding his defective and deviant urges towards more constructive ends. We are a society based on self-sufficiency, and those who are not self-sufficient are intrinsically barred from being full members of our society. Where we fell down was not Cho. We fell down with everyone else in that classroom. We taught them to be cowards, and then told them it was good that they were."
--MattyfromCincinnatti
First off, if you don't want to hear about it, please don't read this. We obviously know what it's about... and the last thing I need is some "8th Deadly Sin" action going down in my LJ.
That quote got me thinking... yeah, some students would have died if they'd all stormed the shooter during his "rampage"... but would as many of them died? Would Cho have had the opportunity to take an easy escape and put a bullet into his own brain pan if the students had rushed him and took away the guns and held him down? I wonder if the stoic and dumb (as in mute) sycophant would have fallen out of the cloud in lofty la-la-land, where his mind seemed to have vanished during the shootings.
The only conclusion that I have to make from that quote and from what I've briefly read online from the murderer's ironic rantings is that:
1- Society has taught us how to blame others for our shortcomings, insecurities, and misbehaviour so we can all avoid taking responsibility for our own actions
and also
2- No one cares anymore-- no one cares about anyone else besides themselves. The world is selfish.
I can honestly say that I can kinda understood what these "depressed" shooters went through. Everyone goes through it at some point or another in their life and they make a choice, which ironically enough they claim others made for them... which is the difference between me and them. See, I decided to choose for myself and not let others dictate what I can and cannot do... I bucked up and finished college despite feelings of anguish and depression and failure. These shooters made a choice too... and no matter how they justify their behaviour and rant and rave about being pushed to this end result... no matter how much they DENY responsibility of their selfish actions and murder students who are probably suffering through a life with situations as difficult as their own.
So the question isn't why did they do it, but rather how did they come to this dastardly conclusion where it's OK to hurt others to prove a point.
Well, let's take a look at society and where it stands now. How many people do you see every day doing something nice for a neighbor or stranger on the street just to help them out? How many times do you hear about brave souls putting their life in danger to save someone? In the 1930's you probably would stop and give your friend the shirt off your back without even thinking twice. Can we say the same for today's society? Can we say that parents look out for their children and teach them to be responsible for their own actions? Can we say parents listen to their kids? Can we say that those who are having children are able to raise them and teach their children that they're loved and they have constant help as they face the adversity in their lives?
The point is these kids are internalizing their whole life experience and the adversity... they're facing the selfish world through their own selfish mask and then wondering what happened.... just because some TA gave them a zero on their midterm because they thought the student didn't "try" when the student did the work right, or a physics professor told them "why bother trying?" because their first test score wasn't passing, or some idiot in an SUV would purposefully swirve to splash a student walking home in the rain days after the student's grandma died just to get a few jollies for themselves. Of course, that's speaking from my own collection of depressing college stories and explains my own bitterness, depression, and saucy disposition... but in all those sucky instances I found someone to listen and show me that there ARE people who care and who will help out when they can.
There are bad people in this world. They're everywhere. There are also good people everywhere in the world... so why didn't the kids band together to help the student? Why didn't they band together in the panicked classroom and rush the shooter? Everyone wants to talk, but no one cares to listen because no one is willing to set aside their own problems for a moment and help someone else up and off their feet and take someone from the brink of despair and gently coax them back to a world where people CARE.
... why won't this happen?
I have my own theories... but ultimately, the solution will require responsibility and selflessness... and the world doesn't seem to be trending in that direction.
“Our culpability in this situation, as a society, has been mischaracterized. Where we fell down was not in our lack of coddling this idiot or some misstep in guiding his defective and deviant urges towards more constructive ends. We are a society based on self-sufficiency, and those who are not self-sufficient are intrinsically barred from being full members of our society. Where we fell down was not Cho. We fell down with everyone else in that classroom. We taught them to be cowards, and then told them it was good that they were."
--MattyfromCincinnatti
First off, if you don't want to hear about it, please don't read this. We obviously know what it's about... and the last thing I need is some "8th Deadly Sin" action going down in my LJ.
That quote got me thinking... yeah, some students would have died if they'd all stormed the shooter during his "rampage"... but would as many of them died? Would Cho have had the opportunity to take an easy escape and put a bullet into his own brain pan if the students had rushed him and took away the guns and held him down? I wonder if the stoic and dumb (as in mute) sycophant would have fallen out of the cloud in lofty la-la-land, where his mind seemed to have vanished during the shootings.
The only conclusion that I have to make from that quote and from what I've briefly read online from the murderer's ironic rantings is that:
1- Society has taught us how to blame others for our shortcomings, insecurities, and misbehaviour so we can all avoid taking responsibility for our own actions
and also
2- No one cares anymore-- no one cares about anyone else besides themselves. The world is selfish.
I can honestly say that I can kinda understood what these "depressed" shooters went through. Everyone goes through it at some point or another in their life and they make a choice, which ironically enough they claim others made for them... which is the difference between me and them. See, I decided to choose for myself and not let others dictate what I can and cannot do... I bucked up and finished college despite feelings of anguish and depression and failure. These shooters made a choice too... and no matter how they justify their behaviour and rant and rave about being pushed to this end result... no matter how much they DENY responsibility of their selfish actions and murder students who are probably suffering through a life with situations as difficult as their own.
So the question isn't why did they do it, but rather how did they come to this dastardly conclusion where it's OK to hurt others to prove a point.
Well, let's take a look at society and where it stands now. How many people do you see every day doing something nice for a neighbor or stranger on the street just to help them out? How many times do you hear about brave souls putting their life in danger to save someone? In the 1930's you probably would stop and give your friend the shirt off your back without even thinking twice. Can we say the same for today's society? Can we say that parents look out for their children and teach them to be responsible for their own actions? Can we say parents listen to their kids? Can we say that those who are having children are able to raise them and teach their children that they're loved and they have constant help as they face the adversity in their lives?
The point is these kids are internalizing their whole life experience and the adversity... they're facing the selfish world through their own selfish mask and then wondering what happened.... just because some TA gave them a zero on their midterm because they thought the student didn't "try" when the student did the work right, or a physics professor told them "why bother trying?" because their first test score wasn't passing, or some idiot in an SUV would purposefully swirve to splash a student walking home in the rain days after the student's grandma died just to get a few jollies for themselves. Of course, that's speaking from my own collection of depressing college stories and explains my own bitterness, depression, and saucy disposition... but in all those sucky instances I found someone to listen and show me that there ARE people who care and who will help out when they can.
There are bad people in this world. They're everywhere. There are also good people everywhere in the world... so why didn't the kids band together to help the student? Why didn't they band together in the panicked classroom and rush the shooter? Everyone wants to talk, but no one cares to listen because no one is willing to set aside their own problems for a moment and help someone else up and off their feet and take someone from the brink of despair and gently coax them back to a world where people CARE.
... why won't this happen?
I have my own theories... but ultimately, the solution will require responsibility and selflessness... and the world doesn't seem to be trending in that direction.