Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Massacre notes
Well, you knew it had to happen: The Smoking Gun presents "Richard McBeef," the play authored by Cho Seung-Hui, who, if you don't count political office holders, is now the American mass murderer with the highest body count. A bit of sample dialog:
The author's other work, "Mr. Brownstone," can be found here. It is not as memorable, and I believe it to be incomplete. I would not be surprised if some attention-seeker with an épater le bourgeois attitude uses this text for an oratorio.
Let us switch from literary analysis to the asking of impertinent questions. Is there any direct evidence linking Cho Seng-Hui to Emily Jane Hilscher, the first victim? As far as I can tell, he did not mention her in any of his writings, including his farewell note. His roommate has mentioned nothing about any girlfriend. Cho simply does not seem to have been capable of talking to any female.
I would also like to know more about his sister, who works for "McNeil Technologies, a firm contracted by the State Department to manage reconstruction efforts in Iraq." That's another juicy tidbit for the conspiracy buffs. Personally, I would not attempt to weave a grand tapestry with such a tiny amount of thread. Even so, it is of some interest.
(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)
I thought I would share a thought or two on the tragedy from readers. From James Musters:
You MURDERED my father and covered it up! You committed a conspiracy. Just like what the government has done to John Lennon and Marilyn Monroe.If that gem doesn't put the Alex Jones crowd into high-screech mode ("MKULTRA! MONARCH!! AIEEE!!!"), I don't know the territory. What I want to know is how someone can get into college without understanding that a conspiracy requires more than one participant.
The author's other work, "Mr. Brownstone," can be found here. It is not as memorable, and I believe it to be incomplete. I would not be surprised if some attention-seeker with an épater le bourgeois attitude uses this text for an oratorio.
Let us switch from literary analysis to the asking of impertinent questions. Is there any direct evidence linking Cho Seng-Hui to Emily Jane Hilscher, the first victim? As far as I can tell, he did not mention her in any of his writings, including his farewell note. His roommate has mentioned nothing about any girlfriend. Cho simply does not seem to have been capable of talking to any female.
I would also like to know more about his sister, who works for "McNeil Technologies, a firm contracted by the State Department to manage reconstruction efforts in Iraq." That's another juicy tidbit for the conspiracy buffs. Personally, I would not attempt to weave a grand tapestry with such a tiny amount of thread. Even so, it is of some interest.
(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)
I thought I would share a thought or two on the tragedy from readers. From James Musters:
One young man was obviously depressed and came of the rails. He took two hand guns, a bunch of ammo clips, and now the nation takes notice.Robert Boldt supplies the cartoon.
It looks like he was giving off warning signs before this week, but I guess people were waiting for him to get his own mental health sorted out.
This was not a failure of proactive security, or proactive security warnings, it was a failure of proactive mental health counseling.
It’s unreasonable to assume that with a large number of kids, away from home, and under the constant pressure to study and pass exams, you will not have mental health problems. The question is why is their mental health not monitored and tracked as closely as the schools track their grades, their payments, or even the books they borrow from the library.
Now much money will be spent on the medical expenses of the students who were shot but did not die. Still more money will be spent on grief councilors and support services for the remaining students. It would be less costly, and have better outcomes, if the money was spent up front, taking care of the mental health of each and every student.
It’s easy to argue that more money should be spent on security systems, cameras and rent-a-cops, to screen every body going in and out. This is a knee jerk reaction. A reactive, not a proactive solution.
People want to talk about what happened, and what the authorities should and should not have done after the shooting started.
It would be much better to be proactive, to spend money on tracking and helping every students mental health.
Not only would it help prevent shootings, it would probably help most students get a better handle on life, and therefore get better grades.
Mental health, like dental health, is much cheaper when practiced every day, preventively, rather than when a crises arrives.
With preventative care, the outcome is not only less costly, but it is more likely to be something to smile about.
The second failure, is Americans continuing denial that easy access to guns turns arguments into killing fields. Hand gun sales, millions, 32 lives, price less.
Each year about 30,000 people in the USA die from gun shots. This nation would be a safer place if guns were not quite as ubiquitous.While it is true that most guns, in the hands of sane and safe operators like Dick Cheney, are relatively safe, when in the hands of people who are temporary unstable they are not.
From the CDC Injury Mortality Reports for the USA, 50,168 people 2004* died from violence related deaths, and more than 2/3 of them were related to mental health.
There are two solutions, less guns and more mental health care.
( *The Bush administration has not released data from 2005 onwards)
From the NYT article:
"Prescription medications said to be related to treatment of psychological problems were found among Mr. Cho’s effects, but officials did not specify what drugs they were."
Prozac? Will we ever know? It is my understanding that many or most of these recent incomprehensible multiple murders were committed by people under the influence of such anti-depressants. But Big Pharm steps in and hushes it up.
"Prescription medications said to be related to treatment of psychological problems were found among Mr. Cho’s effects, but officials did not specify what drugs they were."
Prozac? Will we ever know? It is my understanding that many or most of these recent incomprehensible multiple murders were committed by people under the influence of such anti-depressants. But Big Pharm steps in and hushes it up.
Sorry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us/18virginia.html?ex=1334548800&en=60b060cfbf200e94&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/us/18virginia.html?ex=1334548800&en=60b060cfbf200e94&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
I read those plays, and I was not left with the impression that the author was a brewing pychopathic killer.
Both stories feature young people who have issues with older people. Those older people, somewhat rightly, have authority over the young people. In the McBeef story, the young person lies to make the older person look bad, and his lies are believed, damaging the older man's marriage (security). In the Brownstone story, the older person, if the young folk are to be believed, is a vile stalker and rapist, but because of his lies, the kids are arrested and denied a huge sum of money (security again). The common themes, as I see them, aren't violence but youths' conflict with authority, the power of lies, and loss of security through those lies.
There really are normal, expected relationships in the stories. For example, in McBeef, the step-father has realistic expectations of how he should be treated by his step-son. In Brownstone, the kids are friends, even if they do seem to finish each other's sentences, but I blame that on terrible writing. They support each other. In the McBeef story, the wife doesn't support her husband, but she does support her son, albeit blindly.
One could even say that there is a phallic element common to both plays. In McBeef, there is a recurring cereal bar being stuffed into various mouths perhaps as a sign of power. In the Brownstone story, the lever on the slot machine could be seen similarly -- a good pull, and you might get what you deserve. To be honest, I think that's reading too much into the stories.
Some have brought up that since the Brownstone story contains references to the teacher raping the students that the author must have been abused similarly. In the McBeef story, the son accuses his step-father of having similar desires. I don't think this is an indication of past abuse. I understand that it is a common fear that most males have of being raped and all the powerlessness and shame that brings. If anything, this is a more important message to take away. No one (the author included) wants to feel powerless and ashamed, espcially because of authority figures.
The writing itself is quite awful. The profuse profanity isn't the issue, really. It's pacing and odd, overly verbose sections. It's just bad. This is the sort of dialog that doesn't work and should have been critiqued and corrected by the intructors.
Do I think these two plays should have been the red flag for authorities? No. The sample size is too small, for one thing: I certainly can't judge from just these two plays. Also, and more importantly, not everyone who writes using profanity and anger is a killer-in-waiting.
.R.S.E.
Both stories feature young people who have issues with older people. Those older people, somewhat rightly, have authority over the young people. In the McBeef story, the young person lies to make the older person look bad, and his lies are believed, damaging the older man's marriage (security). In the Brownstone story, the older person, if the young folk are to be believed, is a vile stalker and rapist, but because of his lies, the kids are arrested and denied a huge sum of money (security again). The common themes, as I see them, aren't violence but youths' conflict with authority, the power of lies, and loss of security through those lies.
There really are normal, expected relationships in the stories. For example, in McBeef, the step-father has realistic expectations of how he should be treated by his step-son. In Brownstone, the kids are friends, even if they do seem to finish each other's sentences, but I blame that on terrible writing. They support each other. In the McBeef story, the wife doesn't support her husband, but she does support her son, albeit blindly.
One could even say that there is a phallic element common to both plays. In McBeef, there is a recurring cereal bar being stuffed into various mouths perhaps as a sign of power. In the Brownstone story, the lever on the slot machine could be seen similarly -- a good pull, and you might get what you deserve. To be honest, I think that's reading too much into the stories.
Some have brought up that since the Brownstone story contains references to the teacher raping the students that the author must have been abused similarly. In the McBeef story, the son accuses his step-father of having similar desires. I don't think this is an indication of past abuse. I understand that it is a common fear that most males have of being raped and all the powerlessness and shame that brings. If anything, this is a more important message to take away. No one (the author included) wants to feel powerless and ashamed, espcially because of authority figures.
The writing itself is quite awful. The profuse profanity isn't the issue, really. It's pacing and odd, overly verbose sections. It's just bad. This is the sort of dialog that doesn't work and should have been critiqued and corrected by the intructors.
Do I think these two plays should have been the red flag for authorities? No. The sample size is too small, for one thing: I certainly can't judge from just these two plays. Also, and more importantly, not everyone who writes using profanity and anger is a killer-in-waiting.
.R.S.E.
.R.S.E - but he WAS a brewing psychopathic killer. It would be more difficult to imagine that his apparently long-term mental problems could somehow be absent in his writings. And I read in the WaPo this morning that one of his writing professors took his writing to police but there was nothing they could do. That many kids refused to show up to a class he was in because they were afraid of him because of his writing (they knew nothing else of him because he never spoke).
Miss P.
Miss P.
I found this passage to be particularly interesting in one of the linked news stories (ABC):
"...senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files."
Government's files, eh? Hmmmm. That seems a bit troubling to me. Does it to you? So the government is proactively tracking the medications we take? Is that the inference one should make?
When it comes to those of us living in this country, putting the words "government" and "files" together for any purpose should send shivers down our collective spines.
DrewL
"...senior federal officials tell ABC News that they can find no record of such medication in the government's files."
Government's files, eh? Hmmmm. That seems a bit troubling to me. Does it to you? So the government is proactively tracking the medications we take? Is that the inference one should make?
When it comes to those of us living in this country, putting the words "government" and "files" together for any purpose should send shivers down our collective spines.
DrewL
Cho was a paranoid schizophrenic with intense aggression, untreated. Had he been taking a SSRI anti depressant at or around the time of these murders, that would be a problem since SSRI's absent an anti psychotic medication can stimulate psychosis in a major way (as they can mania when they're not moderated by a mood stabilizer). We don't know that he was taking anything but this is worth watching. It would mean that the SSRI was the secondary cause of the psychosis, through more proximate than the mis diagnosis, which would be the first cause in this scenario.
The job of his sister probably is a dead end. In Northern Virginia, there are a ton of people working for defense contractors, many folks. If he'd been from Miami or even New York City, or Akron this might point to something. He wasn't, he was from a defense intensive area, very intensive.
One thing that may come out is the fact that both Cho and another recent killer (who shot two Fairfax County police officers at their station house) both attended the same high school. One might ask, was there a relationship. The answer would be only one: they were both undiagnosed, untreated paranoid schizophrenics.
The real culprit here may turn out to be lack of information and prejudice on the part of Cho's family regarding serious mental illness. If it turns out that he had signs of paranoia all along and that there had been referrals etc. (which would likely have taken place given the sophistication of the area and his school system), then it would have taken active denial on the part of the family to avoid treatment. That would be a true shame. It's much easier to get adolescents on anti psychotic medication (which can work profoundly) at an earlier age. Thus, these events would never have occurred.
This needs to be explored and investigated completely. This is a huge multiple murder. My speculation may or may not be correct but we need to end up with the facts. I'm reasonably sure we will since local interest trumps anything else in this case.
Sad in Virginia
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The job of his sister probably is a dead end. In Northern Virginia, there are a ton of people working for defense contractors, many folks. If he'd been from Miami or even New York City, or Akron this might point to something. He wasn't, he was from a defense intensive area, very intensive.
One thing that may come out is the fact that both Cho and another recent killer (who shot two Fairfax County police officers at their station house) both attended the same high school. One might ask, was there a relationship. The answer would be only one: they were both undiagnosed, untreated paranoid schizophrenics.
The real culprit here may turn out to be lack of information and prejudice on the part of Cho's family regarding serious mental illness. If it turns out that he had signs of paranoia all along and that there had been referrals etc. (which would likely have taken place given the sophistication of the area and his school system), then it would have taken active denial on the part of the family to avoid treatment. That would be a true shame. It's much easier to get adolescents on anti psychotic medication (which can work profoundly) at an earlier age. Thus, these events would never have occurred.
This needs to be explored and investigated completely. This is a huge multiple murder. My speculation may or may not be correct but we need to end up with the facts. I'm reasonably sure we will since local interest trumps anything else in this case.
Sad in Virginia
