Virginia Tech and the Culture of Fear

On Monday, April 16 the news out of Blacksburg, VA rocked the nation when a 23-year-old student of Virginia Polytechnic University opened fire on his fellow students in what became the most gruesome school shooting in US history.

The young Cho Seung-Hui was by all accounts quiet and dejected. Cho's medical records also indicate that he was hospitalized and treated for symptoms of depression. The sister of Cho's maternal grandfather recalls that even as a child "he wouldn't talk". She remembers him being "cold" - "If I nudged him and tried to talk with him, he wouldn't answer."

The demons within turned outward when Cho, armed with a 9-mm pistol and a .22-caliber handgun arbitrarily killed 32 Virginia Tech students. However, the series of reactionary events that was to follow exposed mass hysteria and the nation's profound inability to cope with social crises.

Media's response to the tragedy that terrorized a quiet , suburban community was to jumpstart a ruthless pursuit of culpability, pointing a finger of blame at virtually everyone but the dead victims. The span of charges ranged from inadequate campus security to social conditioning and poor metal health treatment. And while many of these claims may have been legitimate, no one was ascribed more blame than Cho, who ended his own life after the bloody rampage.

Right wing pundits and family advocacy groups were quick to blame violent video games and movies for the killings. A psychologist turned TV personality Dr. Phil McGraw told Larry King that "if these kids are playing video games, where they're on a mass killing spree in a video game, it's glamorized on the big screen, it's become part of the fiber of our society." Conversely, papers like the New York Daily News produced headlines that sensationalized the story with cinematic thriller references such as "The Psycho Among Us" and "Natural Born Killer".

Even days after his name was widely known, major news and media outlets continued to refer to Cho as "gunman". The gloomy, mug shot-like photo was released almost immediately following the shooting, portraying the face of a scheming, cold-blooded killer. Cho's gory amateur plays were obtained within hours after the disaster and made available on the internet for public viewing.

The terror campaign produced instant effects all across the nation. An eighteen year-old senior at New York's elite LaGuardia public high school of music and art did not want to be named, but said that she heard about a fellow student name Daniel being suspended for saying "it's ok to kill people you don't like". Notwithstanding the idiocy of Daniel's remark, the most dormant of first amendment advocates would object to such penalty, particularly in an academic environment where open discussion is encouraged.

The non-stop coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre also fueled worries of a possible backlash against South Korean and Asian communities. Fearing for the safety of South Korean nationals and students, who at 15% make up the largest foreign student community in the US, Sen. Paul Shin offered an official apology for Cho's actions. He also cited American efforts during the Korean War.

Surrendering all dignity and ethnic pride, South Korean ambassador Lee Tae Shik expressed a personal sense of guilt, saying that all Korean Americans must "repent". Weeping, Shik also recommended a 32-day fast, where each day would commemorate the death of one fallen student. He added that this effort would affirm Koreans as a "worthwhile ethnic minority in America".

However, self deprecating apologies may do little since racially charged attitudes are still frequently overlooked. Chris Davis, a Virginia Tech senior who attended high school with Cho Seung-Hui, said that Cho himself was a victim of racism and that the cruelty of his classmates may have served as one of the precursors to the violence. Davis said that Cho had a distinct accent. "As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, 'Go back to China'".

A renowned criminologist at North Eastern University James Alan Fox explained that Cho, who mentioned his antipathy for "rich kids" in his suicide letter, may have been a product of a "dog-eat-dog nation". Fox writes in his LA Times article that "United States has become much more dog-eat-dog, more competitive in recent years. We admire those who achieve at any cost, and it seems that we have less compassion for those who fail. (Just look at how eager we are to vote people off the island or to reject them in singing competitions.) This certainly increases frustration on the part of losers."

But unlike various social dynamics, semiautomatic weapons used by Cho Seung-Hui on April 16 were the real instruments of death. Yet gun control was made part of the debate solely to score political points. In his bid for the White House, Rudy Giuliani kindled the conservatives by saying that the Virginia Tech shooting "does not alter the Second Amendment." He also added that "restrictions, if any, must be reasonable and these are best decided on a state-by-state basis."

However, there were sober voices amidst the chaos. Mark Shields, a prominent syndicated columnist and political commentator pointed out that "of the twenty six developed nations in the world 83% of all people who die by firearms die in this country". A former marine, Shields went on to say that in most other courtiers a semiautomatic nine millimeter Glock that was sold to Cho with no quarrel is only used by police officers. "We lack will, we lack imagination, we lack commitment to do anything about it".