VT shooter, did he just need a little help and love?

Question

were people so mean and hurtful to him? If they had just reached out and helped and loved him would he have been happier? Would it have prevented this tragedy? Saved 33 lives? what do you think?

I'm not talking about booty call I'm talking about compassion

If you are a shy person, then when someone speaks to you, you tend to look down or away, that doesn't mean you don't want friends it just means you are shy.

Answer 1

Yes.
That anger has been building up for years. His family should have been more responsible in helping him deal with that anger. Maybe he had been abused in some way. Yes, he needed help and love. No one wants to be lonely and depressed and angry like that --it's not a fun feeling. That's not how he wanted to be. Remember, he wrote "you caused me..." If anybody did indeed reach out to him, then it was not in the right way. What you consider "help" is not necessarily "help" to the person who needs it. He needed someone to talk to, whom he could relate to, and who would encourage him in a positive direction.

This country is such a high-stress/high pressure society and then with the emphasis on the individual, people don't necessarily have the social support systems (fewer extended families, even people close to you are too busy to really pay attention, etc.). I think it's interesting the teacher who read his work and tried to alert the administration was a woman with an accent, so she's probably from another country. Americans were too busy/self-absorbed to want to get involved. I couldn't believe the stuff his roommates were saying: he had an imaginary girlfriend, they thought he might be suicidal, etc. but they didn't bother to do anything.

So you have a situation where someone is diagnosed as mentally ill, people let him go about his (strange) business and he can purchse guns with a credit card and ID.
A lot of immigrant parents have no idea what their children go through trying to grow up in the U.S. The parents always think you have a home, food , clothes, education and we had it so much harder in (name of native country). They don't understand the mental stress at all.

Answer 2

Good morning Lil Mama....In my opinion he needed a whole lot of help from the mental point of view. This student was not given the right treatment when he was admitted the first time around. We will never know exactly what was going on in this student's mind before he committed this heinous crime. I don't know if "love" would have been the answer to this or not. "Love" can't cure everything. This student had a mental issue for yrs according to the media. He should have remained in some sort of treatment center or monthly follow-ups in my opinion. What type of parents did this student have? If they had known about his mental stability then why didn't they continue his medical treatment? Or perhaps contact the school admin. concerning their childs mental ailment? Why didn't the school admin. take some action and expell him from classes until he got the proper help? Why didn't the school admin. listen to the other professors when they were concerned and worried about this student? I'm assuming on what I have heard from the media that this student didn't have too many friends if he had any at all. One has to consider the source. Maybe this student's behavior and attitude kept him from having friends. His distance from others probably had a major role in his actions and beliefs. One has to make their own destiny and whether he was loved or not wouldn't have made any difference here I don't believe. What actually made him "snap" we will never know but it had been building up for sometime, and I feel that if more people would have observed more on his actions and behavorial issues and his class work at school this might have been prevented. Americans are hurting right now and they want answers and want to place a blame on someone else other than this student since he's already gone. Americans will want someone or something visual so they can punch it, blame it, just to try to get some peace of mind and satisfaction for what this tragic and unfortunate incident that killed so many students and loved ones.My heart goes out to each and everyone of those parents, teachers and students who has lost their loved ones and fellow friends and students. My thoughts and prayers are with you. And my prayers are with the parents of the student who did this awful crime of hate and revenge. Have a blessed day.

Answer 3

Maybe people did make the mistake of bullying him, but you can't blame the shooting on the fact that he was bulleyed. How many people are bulleyed in schools today? How many of them go out and shoot 32 people? I am not say compassion wouldn't have helped, I am asking how long would it have helped before he did something like this somewhere else.
When something bad like this happens the media and everyone else are going to look for someone to blame. Whether it be the school for not shutting down after the first shooting, or the police for not making him go to another facility.
This kid just seemed like a disturbed kid. He didn't seem like the kind of kid who would go out and kill 32 people. If he did the school or someone else would have done something about it.
If people put racism into the shooting saying, 'Oh he(or she) is Korean I want to stay away from them in case they go crazy like the guy from Virginia Tech' they are stupid. The race of this man has nothing to with why he killed all of these people.
The man killed all of these people because he thought that he was being a martyr for all of the kids that get picked on. He is just like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. (They are the shooters in the Columbine High Massacre.)
I pray for the familes at Virginia Tech and Columbine and say, 'God Bless' and that we all are very sorry for their losses. I hope we all do remeber these shootings. Don't remeber the tragadey and horror of it, but remember the families. Also remember that just because these shootings may be states or even countries away,that doesn't mean that it can never happen where you are.
We were all devestade on April 20, 1999 when the Columbine shooting happened. Not only do the memories linger of Columbine, but now we have new ones that will be carried with us forever.~*

Answer 4

I totally disagree with Emily B who said 33 lives would have been saved if students could carry guns on campus. First, he shot the first two without warning, so no one could have saved them. No one knew it was him, so he would have probably shot at least a few more before anyone took him out.

Second, I for one do not want to be on a college campus with testoterone-laden 19 and 20 year olds after a party weekend with them running around shooting at the first person with a gun. With 30,000 plus students can you begin to imagine the carnage if several dozen students all started looking like the gunman? How would they or even the police know who was or wasn't? Instead of 33 dead, it might be 53, with the other 20 mistakenly shot by police or vigilante students.

No thank you.

Answer 5

The reason the question is asked is because it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for rational persons to understand what motivates an irrational mind. It allows us a simple and easy answer to say, 'that person just needed more understanding and love and compassion.'

Sometimes that might be true or partly true; however, an irrational mind would not comprehend the altruism behind true friendship and compassion; but, might even believe it is meant to poke fun or present them as weak - or even resent the kindness because it forces them to face unpleasant realities.

No one truly knows what was in Cho's mind. But, when a person has hit that wall of incomprehensible irrationality, it is unlikely that anyone's act of kindness or attempt at understanding would have prevented the eventuality.

Answer 6

These people are sociopaths. I'm sure that through the course of the investigation we are going to find out more of his criminal propensity, and trust me on it is a big myth that mistreatment plays a big part of the breding of sociopaths. Ex: The Menendez brothers, they had it all, and they claimed abuse, while was all the opposite, they were spoiled rotten with lots of love. This "KID", and I used the term loosely, he had bad times when he was younger, however, the parents managed to put him in a very prestigious college He had the money to purchase sophisticated weapons, not only one but several. He had the money to have video equipment and he had friends and girlfriends. It appears to me that he was more of an spoiled, probably addicted to drugs, rotten punk. The fact that we should pay more attention on what's going on with the development of these sociopaths is obvious, but that's a subject for another time. Sweetheart, I truly believe you meant what you said, but this is a screwed up world and hugs and kisses, although they are pretty nice and necessary, are not always the solution.

Answer 7

Yes. I think it could have made a difference. I think we lack Understanding, support sometimes as a nation. because we are so wrapped up in our own lives and we have our own problems to deal with. All we are doing is judging and talking about how sick he was because of his writing and yes he was but why didn't he get some love and attention from people. I think that everyone wants to feel special sometimes and maybe he never got to experience that.

Envy, jealous,Resentful, feel unlove, feel like no one listens to you when you talk, feels like no one sees u when u walk and when they do they whisper and make u feel uncomfortable. These things drive people crazy and can make them go off the edge.

Answer 8

Unlikely. There was something seriously wrong with the dude. Probably to the point of actual physical, neurological defect. The autopsy results could prove enlightening, just as it did for the Texas clock tower killer 40 years ago. That's assuming he didn't blow his own brains out, destroying the evidence.

I doubt he would have understood "help and love", in fact it might have triggered him sooner.

Answer 9

I saw on my local news last night that a specialist said that about 2 out of 3 of these killers have something wrong with their brain, such as injury that can cut off the emotions. Or it could just be that he was born unbalanced.

Answer 10

I think 33 lives would have been saved if students were allowed to carry guns. I think 33 lives would have been saved if this psycho was never born. He had to be born with a mental defect and there is no help or love in the world to cure that.