What is wrong with the US?

Question

This boy who killed the students at VT was reported for stalking two different girls, and reported by his teachers for his writings against women. Additionally, police report that after the initial shooting, they thought it was a domestic incident. As a result, they didn';t act to try and find the guy. So here we have many instances of warnings, that nobody heeded. Why do we allow violence against women to go on, unchecked? Why aren't 'domestic' situations treated with as much, if not more, concern than a stranger being murdered? How can we change our laws or our attitudes to protect women and society from these types of crimes?

those men who were shot could have been saved as well...thanks for not answering the question

He wrote about commitiing violaence against women in his creative writing classes...and he worte about shooting a bunch of people. I will wait for his 'manifesto' to be released, but i can imagine it has more clues as to his attitudes towards women.

Answer 1

This was a perfect storm of system failures. I agree, there's an element of misogyny here; of minimizing the danger or importance of crimes to women, including stalking and numerous inappropriate remarks. It should not have been up to the women to prosecute; the decision should have been in the hands of the prosecutor.

Real police know too well that crimes that arise out of stalking or domestic altercations are among the worst. And how many times do we hear of a man who shoots family members and then goes on to shoot coworkers or fellow students next? The campus police knew they had a killer at large after the dorm shootings, and I don't believe they can begin to justify their negligence in not shutting down the campus and summoning a huge police presence. The campus police should have called in the real police, i.e. the state troopers, immediately.

Another factor: Years ago mental health laws went from one extreme to another, from locking mildly disturbed people up for years, to putting them on the street with little or no community support or follow up. That's part of the story too.

Answer 2

I would appreciate a review and possible overhaul of ALL our laws regarding the gun permitting process.

Attaching negative consequences of any kind to asking for mental help carries some risk, because there's a concern that people will not come forward and ask for help.

But of course the results of being TOO protective of privacy, etc. have been gruesomely demonstrated this week.

I am interested in what needs to be done to improve the mental health system. Stigma is an issue. Some issues are a mere chemical imbalance. People take allergy medicine without stigma, so why should some other medicines be the source of shame?

Then again, I think we're ALL overmedicated to a degree. And the drugs themselves should be investigated. "Homicidal ideation," whatever the heck that is, is NOT an acceptable side effect of a medication or its discontinuance.

I predict a large number of commitment and similar proceedings in the wake of this atrocity. Maybe the pendulum will swing too far in the other direction, but eventually balance will be struck. I hope.

As always, I don't have the answers. Just questions.

Answer 3

Well, if we're going to be picky, he hadn't committed violence against "women" until the actual shooting, because stalking is not violence. It usually leads to it, but it isn't violence. His writings were against everyone, not just women.

While I don't agree with your premise that somehow this is a women's issue, I do agree that there were many warning signs that were missed, and the systems in and about Virginia Tech did not do the job they should have. The fact that he was brought before a judge and potentially could have been committed should have been enough for Virginia Tech to expel him. I'm sorry for those people who think he had some legal right to be there, but I don't believe you have a right to go to a place of higher learning just because you can afford the tuition and your grades and SAT/ACT scores are high enough. Universities can and should for the safety of all of their students be able to enforce codes of conduct and note when students are exhibiting (especially in this case) behaviors that are potentially dangerous to their fellow students. When you send you child to a college or university, you're expecting them to maintain order and guarantee the safety of their students, faculty, and staff. That's not saying that every quiet loner is a threat who should be looked at as another Cho, but the quiet loner who writes disturbing literature and gets reported for stalking is a danger to be watched and if necessary removed from the student population.

Like high schools after Columbine, universities are now going to be forced to go to intervention, where potential time bombs are diffused before they can explode. I still won't be surprised if VPI is sued by one or more parents of the slain/wounded students for culpability in this case, because it's becoming clearer and clearer that Cho was a problem waiting to happen, and the university and the surrounding community didn't catch it in time, either through inattention or incompetence.

Answer 4

I think I understand the point you're trying to make. Every year there are countless cases of domestic incidents reported across the US. Sadly and inexplicably, an astounding number of these women choose to not press charges and follow through with the law enforcement end of their complaint. This leads to a considerable amount of frustration in dealing with these incidents from law enforcement's perspective. Tougher penalties will do nothing if they're not pursued.

Answer 5

Easy, the problem is political correctness. Several things to consider on this one. 1) This took place on a college campus, no where else in America could someone act the way the perp did for so long without being taken to task for it. His behavior would not have been tolerated in a private sector work place, in an apartment building located in the real world, among people who had no reason to think that his being non-white gave him license to act rudely and offensively. 2) The people who ran V Tech were pretending that they lived on another planet, declaring the campus to be a gun free zone has no effect on people who do not subscribe to the notion that rules must always be obeyed. 3) you yourself are proof of my point. You act as though there was something that could have been done to stop this guy when all along the people in charge of the university enabled him by pretending that to hold an emigrant Asian to the standards of white America would somehow be racist. This couldn't have happened at a better time or at a better place, I am just sad however for the victims of this madman.

Answer 6

1) Every threat isn't a follow through, that is the law of averages, ask any cop who takes reports on a daily basis.
2) Women say they can protect themselves, ask any feminist
3)Police get hurt or killed at more domestic situations than bank robberies.
4)We start calling being mean-spirited. a sin like it used to be .. and stop candy coating attitudes with drugs.

Answer 7

i like your spirit. i do no longer meet an excellent form of ladies human beings such as you. you're making a good element, women human beings tend to hate all adult males because of the fact in some unspecified time interior the destiny in existence adult males upset them, yet that discomfort is in part brought about by using their judgements. as an instance, permit's say which you meet a calm, slightly timid, no longer straight forward working guy, who likes you yet does not have the want to make screw his possibilities with women human beings, properly the girls human beings merely ignores and avoids that guy because of the fact she judges his to harsh, yet that guy is extremely what women human beings want, he's unswerving, no longer straight forward working, calm. So then why does not she like him? the 2nd component is that girls human beings tend to be feminists because of the fact they hate adult males because of the fact they act like they do. yet has anybody asked if the guy ever had a decision. the path adult males might desire to make is a lot extra durable then the only women human beings make, and that they pay their depths no longer straight forward. yet maximum feminist women human beings tend to think of "provided that he's a guy he could have each and everything". that erroneous, the guy had to pass by using Heaven and H**l to get there as much as anybody. And finally all of us are a similar race, and we are equals yet diverse. No person on the earth think of a similar, women human beings have their psychology, adult males have their psychology. And we would desire to continually use this to our earnings. I even have found out that females and adult males human beings finished one yet another, the determination, good judgment, and braveness of a guy and the compassion, understand-how, and help of a woman, makes us a suitable, and at the same time we can get by using any impediment.

Answer 8

It is sad that this tragedy could have been avoided if action had been taken. However, it is easy to say that in hindsight. I am sure, as a result of this tragedy, security will become more strict on campuses and the types of behavior Cho exhibited will be taken more seriously. If not, then we are setting ourselves up for it to happen again.

Answer 9

Yeah, because no men where shot either.
You want an answer here you go:

Why don't we just enforce the laws we already have. If someone committs a crime, throw the book at them. Why do we have to segregate victims. What difference if someone kills a women, minority, homosexual, etc. Instead of using your time and energy on trying to get separate laws for hate crimes and domestic violence, why don't you just pressure the gov't to enforce the laws on hand. violence against an individual is just that...violence. It shouldn't have to mean more or less based on who the victim is. Lets just push for the death penalty for anyone who committs murder, regardless of the victim.

Answer 10

WOW.
So let me get this straight.. We are supposed to give up all our rights so that you can "FEEL" more secure? Is that it? We are supposed to give up on the "innocent until proved guilty" thing and just go balls to the wall out on anyone that we perceive as a threat?
Let's see... He said some really mean things to that girl when they were breaking up, so we should put him in jail for the rest of his life, so we can be safe.
She through a plate at the wall when she found out her mother died in a car crash, so we need to through her in jail so we can be assured that she will not hurt anyone.
I saw him hitting his steering wheel when he found out his girlfriend was sleeping with his best friend... We better put his butt away so we can be safe...
Is that what you are thinking?
OOOOOH KAAAAY!
You know it's people like you that are the reason people like him are out there.
UUUUGH!