Originally posted by tigersushi:
Virginia Tech Campus Killing: Three issues I observed
[b](Issue
1): I refer to the Straits Times report on Saturday
21st April which reported two cases of copy-cat shooters who sent
death threats to two schools in the U.S. This prompted mass
hysteria as more than 22,000 students were affected where either
many classes were cancelled, or orders given for teachers to lock
the classrooms, while the police searched for the shooter on
campus.
It seems it is a bad judgment call for the media to broadcast the
videos and pictures of the Virginia Tech campus killer.
Subsequently, it glorified the killer and will only lead to more
copy-cat fanatics who seek to create similar sensation; in hope of
being glorified as well.
The fallout from this publicity frenzy is that it elevated the
hatred for the South Korean community in the U.S and created the
stereotype that all South Korean youths studying in the U.S are
potential killers. It also created an immense amount of guilt for
the South Korean students studying in Virginia Tech; so guilty that
they were absent from the memorial services held in Virginia
Tech.
I cant make the judgment call if the media is right in publishing
the pictures and videos. The media has a social responsibility to
account the truth to the public and through the pictures and
videos, the media is thus able to portray the truth, the inevitable
truth that this Korean Student killer could have been subjected to
severe bullying and discrimination; which accumulated over the
years until boiling point when he simply broke loose.
(Issue
2): This is a tragedy in a holistic sense for all
parties are victims in this decadent world. The 32 people were
killed due to lax gun controls; the killer became what he was due
to the immense bullying and discrimination piled on him. Could this
incident have been averted if the killer was a white kid and not an
Asian? Sure, we understand from the press that the faculty member
has recommended him to see a counselor and that the killer rejected
help. But if the killer has been a white kid, perhaps there would
have been lesser degree of passiveness and maybe a bit more
enthusiasm from the faculty or student community to encourage and
rally him to see the counselor.
(Issue
3): Amidst all these tragedies, we see the heroic
and positive human spirits at work, where we see Professor holding
the door down, and taking in bullets to ensure their students can
escape, or groups of students who courageously group together to
hold off a door to prevent the killer from entering.
But it also raises another ethical question. Could the casualty
rate be reduced if the entire class of students rose and fought
against the killer? But herein lies the problem, everyone is afraid
of death. Probably the first chap who initiated the attack on the
killer may be killed, but, the latter ones who sprung on the killer
would have been able to subdue the killer. So are you brave enough
to be the person that will initiate the attack on the killer? Even
I am also not sure if I can garner the courage to lead the attack
on the killer. What if Im the only one who attacked the killer and
nobody else budged?
[/b]
u just cpy pasted this somewhere. and u wont get the blame
unless ur korean. koreans are looked down upon.
