Nothing Profound
Whenever something "big" happens in the world, good or bad, I look to see what the bloggers I consider smart and/or entertaining have to say on the subject. I rarely comment myself, as I don't think I'll have anything to say that hasn't been said already, usually by somebody more articulate than I am. However, here I am, writing about this VA Tech shooting. Feel free to skip if you're feeling oversaturated on the subject, and feel free to come back tomorrow (I have yoga tonight).
There's no disputing that what happened Monday was absolutely terrible. No disputing that. However. A couple of things are bothering me. I mean, aside from a slew of people being dead and others, many, many others being traumatized.
1. Why am I reading that Koreans are feeling ashamed or guilty? Well, I know why, but they shouldn't. And they shouldn't be treated as guilty. This is not something THEY, as a group, as a race, did. This was something one person made a decision to do. It's horrid that a Korean-American father called into a Korean talk show asking for advice about his son, who is being spit at. (Obviously not horrid he called, but that his son was being spit at, for the slow people.)
Who ARE these people who think if you are the same in ANY way as someone who did something wrong, you should be treated like shit? Kids. That's your answer, right? That they're kids, they don't know any better. That's not good enough. Somebody is teaching those kids, either directly or indirectly that one equals all, and that's wrong. Korean-Americans should NOT feel guilty. Should all MEN feel guilty since the person who did this was male? Of course not. Should all college students feel guilty because this was a college student? Or everyone majoring in English, or taking a creative writing class? No.
2. This guy was an English major and one of his teachers was so uncomfortable with him that she had him removed from her class. Nikki Giovanni, one of his professors, told CNN she found him intimidating. She said, "There was something mean about this boy. It was the meanness -- I've taught troubled youngsters and crazy people -- it was the meanness that bothered me. It was a really mean streak." Giovanni said her students were so unnerved by Cho's behavior, including taking pictures of them with his cell phone, that some stopped coming to class and she had security check on her room. She eventually had him taken out of her class, saying she would quit if he wasn't removed.
A co-director at the college tutored Cho after that. She supposedly tried to get him into counseling in late 2005 but he always refused. Roy also described using a code word with her assistant to call police if she ever felt threatened by Cho, but she said she never used it.
Okay, if you have a class, and you're SO uncomfortable with someone on a core level that you threaten to QUIT YOUR JOB if you're forced to continue dealing with them, that's a warning sign. If you have a class and students won't attend because they're scared of another student, THAT'S a warning sign. And if you're so timid about your gut reactions as to not trust them, but then find out a SECOND faculty member is so uncomfortable with that SAME student you had removed from your class that she has an emergency plan in place for dealing with him, that's another warning sign! COME ON! People need to trust their gut when it comes to trusting other people. When someone makes you uncomfortable on a core level, in a way you can't articulate, you should trust yourself that there's something wrong with them.
People are so afraid of offending someone, of not being viewed as politically correct, that everyone would rather look the other way, not say anything, not be the whistle-blower. My brother has traditionally been the Good Child, hence, my calling him Golden Boy on this blog. He's the child my mother could trust to make her feel good, to always protect her feelings. I have been the child who could be trusted to tell you the truth, even if it hurts.
Sure, I do my best to deliver harsh truths gently, but I was the kid who told her parents she hated their new house. When my grandpa shacked up with his granny girlfriend and my cousins asked about her, I said I didn't like her, while my brother said she seemed to make our grandpa happy. Such the diplomat, the Golden Boy. I suppose if he ever ran for office, I'd be the loose cannon he'd worry about (GB, I know you won't, but if you did, I promise I'd keep my mouth shut.)
My mother loves us both, and appreciates each of our approaches. Granted, I make her cry more, but she goes to whichever of us will give her what she wants/needs in the moment, and sometimes people need the truth.
I think it's more offensive to walk around intimidating everyone you spend time with, than to be un-PC by saying, "I think this guy has a screw loose, and here's why." It's scary to call someone out and say "Hey, I think you may have a problem." But to me, it's even more upsetting to think something like this might have been prevented.
People want to know what happened. Not that people were shot, that people jumped from classrooms, but the WHY of what happened. What happened before it happened.
3. The creative-writing aspect of it. Lots of perfectly (mentally) healthy people are creative. May I introduce you to Steven and M. Night? Creativity is good. It's interesting. Some people think it's a waste of time. But fuck them. I took a composition class in college, and wrote many a paper that was not true. I hate to think people's creativity will be stifled now because of this. Isn't it more important to be safe, than be creative? Yes, absolutely. But, if you have a perfectly normally sociable person writing really fucked up stuff, you'll know that. This guy was NOT normal. He had a documented history of being abnormal.
In chatting about this the other day, someone raised the issue of whether or not it's fair to subject a class to an upsetting (violent/disturbing) paper. I'm going to say yes, it's fair. Firstly because when you sign up for a class you can read the description (or most professors will announce on the first day) that says students will share their writing with the class. Secondly, people should be allowed to walk out for a few minutes if a particular subject upsets them, as long as it's not happening all the time.
4. Gun laws, anyone? Why is someone who was involuntarily placed in a mental health facility allowed to buy a gun? Should that be? Nobody should "need" a gun right away - isn't there a waiting period? Fuck the law, if people are mentally unstable, they shouldn't be allowed to buy firearms. You could argue that going to target practice can be soothing or some crap, but still. You could argue about Second Amendment, but fuck that too. Is it more important for a drunk guy from Texas to be able to shoot his gun if somebody walks on his front lawn, more than it's important to prevent crazy people from getting guns and killing innocent people? I think not.
Maybe everybody followed the procedures in place. Teachers reported unsettling behavior, people encouraged the shooter to go to therapy, etc. But clearly we need new procedures. Or maybe those procedures needed to be broken. Something certainly needed to be different.
There's no disputing that what happened Monday was absolutely terrible. No disputing that. However. A couple of things are bothering me. I mean, aside from a slew of people being dead and others, many, many others being traumatized.
1. Why am I reading that Koreans are feeling ashamed or guilty? Well, I know why, but they shouldn't. And they shouldn't be treated as guilty. This is not something THEY, as a group, as a race, did. This was something one person made a decision to do. It's horrid that a Korean-American father called into a Korean talk show asking for advice about his son, who is being spit at. (Obviously not horrid he called, but that his son was being spit at, for the slow people.)
Who ARE these people who think if you are the same in ANY way as someone who did something wrong, you should be treated like shit? Kids. That's your answer, right? That they're kids, they don't know any better. That's not good enough. Somebody is teaching those kids, either directly or indirectly that one equals all, and that's wrong. Korean-Americans should NOT feel guilty. Should all MEN feel guilty since the person who did this was male? Of course not. Should all college students feel guilty because this was a college student? Or everyone majoring in English, or taking a creative writing class? No.
2. This guy was an English major and one of his teachers was so uncomfortable with him that she had him removed from her class. Nikki Giovanni, one of his professors, told CNN she found him intimidating. She said, "There was something mean about this boy. It was the meanness -- I've taught troubled youngsters and crazy people -- it was the meanness that bothered me. It was a really mean streak." Giovanni said her students were so unnerved by Cho's behavior, including taking pictures of them with his cell phone, that some stopped coming to class and she had security check on her room. She eventually had him taken out of her class, saying she would quit if he wasn't removed.
A co-director at the college tutored Cho after that. She supposedly tried to get him into counseling in late 2005 but he always refused. Roy also described using a code word with her assistant to call police if she ever felt threatened by Cho, but she said she never used it.
Okay, if you have a class, and you're SO uncomfortable with someone on a core level that you threaten to QUIT YOUR JOB if you're forced to continue dealing with them, that's a warning sign. If you have a class and students won't attend because they're scared of another student, THAT'S a warning sign. And if you're so timid about your gut reactions as to not trust them, but then find out a SECOND faculty member is so uncomfortable with that SAME student you had removed from your class that she has an emergency plan in place for dealing with him, that's another warning sign! COME ON! People need to trust their gut when it comes to trusting other people. When someone makes you uncomfortable on a core level, in a way you can't articulate, you should trust yourself that there's something wrong with them.
People are so afraid of offending someone, of not being viewed as politically correct, that everyone would rather look the other way, not say anything, not be the whistle-blower. My brother has traditionally been the Good Child, hence, my calling him Golden Boy on this blog. He's the child my mother could trust to make her feel good, to always protect her feelings. I have been the child who could be trusted to tell you the truth, even if it hurts.
Sure, I do my best to deliver harsh truths gently, but I was the kid who told her parents she hated their new house. When my grandpa shacked up with his granny girlfriend and my cousins asked about her, I said I didn't like her, while my brother said she seemed to make our grandpa happy. Such the diplomat, the Golden Boy. I suppose if he ever ran for office, I'd be the loose cannon he'd worry about (GB, I know you won't, but if you did, I promise I'd keep my mouth shut.)
My mother loves us both, and appreciates each of our approaches. Granted, I make her cry more, but she goes to whichever of us will give her what she wants/needs in the moment, and sometimes people need the truth.
I think it's more offensive to walk around intimidating everyone you spend time with, than to be un-PC by saying, "I think this guy has a screw loose, and here's why." It's scary to call someone out and say "Hey, I think you may have a problem." But to me, it's even more upsetting to think something like this might have been prevented.
People want to know what happened. Not that people were shot, that people jumped from classrooms, but the WHY of what happened. What happened before it happened.
3. The creative-writing aspect of it. Lots of perfectly (mentally) healthy people are creative. May I introduce you to Steven and M. Night? Creativity is good. It's interesting. Some people think it's a waste of time. But fuck them. I took a composition class in college, and wrote many a paper that was not true. I hate to think people's creativity will be stifled now because of this. Isn't it more important to be safe, than be creative? Yes, absolutely. But, if you have a perfectly normally sociable person writing really fucked up stuff, you'll know that. This guy was NOT normal. He had a documented history of being abnormal.
In chatting about this the other day, someone raised the issue of whether or not it's fair to subject a class to an upsetting (violent/disturbing) paper. I'm going to say yes, it's fair. Firstly because when you sign up for a class you can read the description (or most professors will announce on the first day) that says students will share their writing with the class. Secondly, people should be allowed to walk out for a few minutes if a particular subject upsets them, as long as it's not happening all the time.
4. Gun laws, anyone? Why is someone who was involuntarily placed in a mental health facility allowed to buy a gun? Should that be? Nobody should "need" a gun right away - isn't there a waiting period? Fuck the law, if people are mentally unstable, they shouldn't be allowed to buy firearms. You could argue that going to target practice can be soothing or some crap, but still. You could argue about Second Amendment, but fuck that too. Is it more important for a drunk guy from Texas to be able to shoot his gun if somebody walks on his front lawn, more than it's important to prevent crazy people from getting guns and killing innocent people? I think not.
Maybe everybody followed the procedures in place. Teachers reported unsettling behavior, people encouraged the shooter to go to therapy, etc. But clearly we need new procedures. Or maybe those procedures needed to be broken. Something certainly needed to be different.
posted by Green at 4/19/2007 11:26:00 AM
2 Comments:
There IS blame that needs to be spread and I am willing to put it where it belongs. ON THE CANADIANS!
Or perhaps the fact that my word verification right now is umary, maybe it's Mary's fault.
thanks for linking over to me. you're a really good writer, even if i blush at the swear words.
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