Shooting at Virginia Tech

[Skerik]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

I wasn't getting political. Other folks mentioned 9-11 and other acts of extreme violence in the U.S and other countries in the discussion that this awful tragedy brings to mind.

True. When I mentioned the idea of a coordinated attack though, I was speaking more in terms of a "soft target" attack on our own soil, as opposed to what's going on abroad right now. VT was a soft target and look what one person did there....scary.

[GBrushTWood]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

Yeah, I'm sorry....but this stuff pretty much deserves to be laughed at.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive...l?link=rssfeed

He thought the government killed John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe, then covered it up...

Yikes, whattanut.

[coogrfan]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

http://collegemedia.com/

I can scarcely imagine the emotions the people who were in that class must be feeling today.

[Cebby]

Re: Shooting at Virginia Tech

At least for now it's appearing like I didn't know any of victims which is at least comforting for me. The only good part of yesterday was seeing my friend being interviewed by CNN, showing he was still alive. He said he was n the floor of the original dorm shooting which is quite scary to think about.

[GBrushTWood]

Re: Shooting at Virginia Tech

At least for now it's appearing like I didn't know any of victims which is at least comforting for me. The only good part of yesterday was seeing my friend being interviewed by CNN, showing he was still alive. He said he was n the floor of the original dorm shooting which is quite scary to think about.

Did he hear anything?

[Jimplication]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

I can say from first-hand experience that having people openly laugh at a work that is shared with a class, or have someone making jokes about a piece of work written, is a pretty ****ty feeling, especially if the writer put a lot of work into the piece.

There's an interesting, and fairly true quote in the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan about a topic very similar to the self-consciousness of writers: "Pretending in words was too tentative, too vulnerable, too embarassing to let anyone know. Even writing out the she saids, the and thens, made her wince, and she felt foolish, appearing to know about the emotions of an imaginary being. Self-exposure was inevitable the moment she described a character's weakness; the reader was bound to speculate that she was describing herself."

Obviously it's not exactly about something like this, but it describes the feeling a writer gets as they write. They're always worried about criticism, even if it is constructive...so to have a class and teacher openly joke and laugh about your work is a horrible experience.

Quoting an Ian McEwan book is great stuff. He's one of my favorite authors, and as a totally un-related aside, one of my own favorite quotes of his is from Saturday: "What a stroke of luck, that the women he loves is also his wife." It's a very simple phrase, but to me, represents a much deeper commentary on relationships, and also life.

I agree with everything you said here. I can only hope that his professor didn't encourage, or join in on, the laughter and mockery, if only because he should be above such things.

[Cebby]

Re: Shooting at Virginia Tech

Did he hear anything?

I haven't talked to him personally. He was on CNN a few times, but I don't think he heard the shots if that's what you mean. A 9mm pistol isn't nearly as loud as portrayed in movies.

[rubisco43]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

He thought the government killed John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe, then covered it up...

Yikes, whattanut.

it was a story.

whether laugh-worthy or not, to be laughed at sucks. it really couldn't have helped his psyche.

[rp71284]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

One other thing to take into account. I know it probably is just a coincidence, but I know these killers do things on certain days for a reason...

9/11 : 9 + 11 = 20

4/16: 4 + 16 = 20

I hate to even say this, but there is no way in the world I'm going to my classes next year during the week of Hitler's birthday. Another date these psychos love to use. It's just sick.

[Cebby]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

One other thing to take into account. I know it probably is just a coincidence, but I know these killers do things on certain days for a reason...

9/11 : 9 + 11 = 20

4/16: 4 + 16 = 20

I hate to even say this, but there is no way in the world I'm going to my classes next year during the week of Hitler's birthday. Another date these psychos love to use. It's just sick.

Or maybe this was just the week he snapped. I'd bet that those numbers have nothing to do with anything.

[Skerik]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-shooter18apr18,1,5242052.story?coll=chi-news-hed

It was 5:30 Monday morning and Karan Grewal was finishing a break after a long night of cramming for his classes at Virginia Tech. As he left the bathroom at Harper Hall, his dormitory mate, Cho Sueng-Hui, wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt, entered for his morning ritual of applying lotion, inserting his contact lenses and taking his medication.

“He was, like, normal,” Grewal, a 21-year-old accounting major, said today, describing the ordinary start to what turned out to be an extraordinary day…

According to school officials, Cho even had time to post a deadly warning on a school online forum.

“im going to kill people at vtech today,” they said he wrote.

There are also reports surfacing that after the first shooting, Cho called authorities to tell them there was a bomb at Norris Hall. If this is true, it raises some serious, serious questions about why the hell the campus wasn't locked down after a shooting and a bomb threat.

[Cebby]

Re: Shooting at Virginia Tech

Hopefully, nothing will get any worse by tomorrow and hopefully nobody will be an attention whore and copy this killing.

[SPTO]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...l=chi-news-hed



There are also reports surfacing that after the first shooting, Cho called authorities to tell them there was a bomb at Norris Hall. If this is true, it raises some serious, serious questions about why the hell the campus wasn't locked down after a shooting and a bomb threat.

Hm indeed there are some serious questions that need to be raised. Now I know people complain about officials jumping the gun over online stuff but i'd rather be safe then sorry when there's a message on an online forum basically saying he's going to kill people and then later on there's a bomb threat..Makes you wonder why the people in charge of VTech didn't do anything.

[coogrfan]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...l=chi-news-hed



There are also reports surfacing that after the first shooting, Cho called authorities to tell them there was a bomb at Norris Hall. If this is true, it raises some serious, serious questions about why the hell the campus wasn't locked down after a shooting and a bomb threat.

That doesn't really make sense. If he had indeed planned this (and the chains for the doors would seem to indicate he did), why would he call in a bomb threat after the initial shootings? Wouldn't that just serve to make it more difficult to get at his intended victims?

Imo it doesn't add up.

[pfunk880]

Re: Shooting at Virgina Tech

That doesn't really make sense. If he had indeed planned this (and the chains for the doors would seem to indicate he did), why would he call in a bomb threat after the initial shootings? Wouldn't that just serve to make it more difficult to get at his intended victims?

Imo it doesn't add up.

Perhaps he was probing the security as was mentioned earlier?