Otherwise, you will be wondering why I mention things you never knew about. If you can't do your research about the Virginia Tech shooter, then you can skip this entry.
This is what has been revealed about Cho:
- He had a sociology course called Deviant Behavior at Norris Hall.
- His first weapon was the Walther P90, which was purchased back in February.
- He was not only silent but violent as a child, and once hit his sister very hard.
- His mother knew Cho was austistic, but rather than get help for his developmental delay, retreated into social isolation that the whole family endured.
- He wrote about violence in high school.
FWIW, the planning (including the sociology course Deviant Behavior) points to a lack of mental illness at the time he shot Emily Hilscher, Ryan Clark and 30 other students.
Rage, yes. Mental disorder, no.
And once again, nobody followed up on Cho. Everyone just thought he was a loonie and *ran away mentally screaming in abject fear*.
Meanwhile, speculations about autism and mental illness are denigrating both communities.
At the root of this, the Cho family's social isolation probably subtly contributed to Seung's spiral into madness.
His mother feared demonic possession. His dad worked too hard. And his sister tried to pretend this problem did not exist.
Thus, the family dynamics fueled the genesis of Cho as mass murderer.
Nothing was done to help Seung. Instead the whole family retreated into social isolation. IMHO, Mrs. Cho's search for a Koren evangelical exorcist indicates that that social isolation made have caused her to delve deeper into the Korean evangelical community.
Yet she was unable to inculcate any discipline in her son to overcome depression. Violent rage is a symptom of depression in men. Even the murder indicates by its planning (including chaining the doors to the floor he was on) that his depression had a psychotic component.
In short, he had a mental illness; however, because he was uncommunicative with the mental health authorities in December 2005, they assumed he was stable.
Thus, by his silence he probably mystified even the mental health professionals.
Yet, now that his secret was out, he became mentally unstable. Hence the arson. Quite probably, the promiscuity he claimed to have seen in one girl's eyes was reflected in all the girls he befriended after October 2005.
This fear of women reflects a lack of internalization of compassion -- a fear of the inner feminine to balance out his masculinity.
In a twisted way, Cho's victimization of women through stalking and even by shooting Emily Hilscher and other women afterwards would suggest a rejection of the mind's urge to overcome the Oedipal complex.
Even so, by killing himself, Cho made up for taking 32 lives, for that was the honorable thing to do.
Yes, suicide does make up for murder. This is why such a thing begins with murder, and ends with suicide.
2 comments:
Best WP article on Cho
Seung Cho displayed one of the triad of symptoms for sociopathy: arson. The other two are bed-wetting and animal abuse.
Though it cannot be proven he committed the arson which preluded his murder spree, the fact remains that he was exhibiting delusional thoughts prior to the killings, probably as long ago as high school.
Though I am sure his problems could have been addressed long ago back in Korea, had his mother overcome the fear of ostracism and had him correctly diagnosed and treated, even by a Christian faith healer.
Hopefully this will be an eye opener for Korean culture in America.
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