The Murmur of Crow: Lessons from Virginia Tech
Posted by Brandon Crow on 04.19.2007
Let's examine the lessons we ought to examine, excavate and internalize from this tragedy.
I was trying desperately to avoid having to jump on to the broken wagon that is the Virginia Tech/Cho Seung-Hui (pronounced Joh Sung-Hee) story. Alas, I've failed. I would have been content to let the mass media and my fellow 411 Politics writers deal with the tragedy, but the more I sit and look, the more I realize that there isn't a whole lot being done with this story short of exploitation.
The actual massacre seemed to be the top story for no more than a few hours before it became about the teacher who died in the doorway or the resident advisor whom everyone loved or the PhD candidate who already had like three master's degrees and a bachelor's in four fields…
We couldn't even focus on the actual event for more than one day before featuring hour long programs dedicated to the victims, individually.
The one piece I've seen which has taken a look at this tragedy from a variant perspective comes from our own Josh White. In his latest column, he talks about how unpredictable, uncontrollable incidents like these truly scare him. Even more so than a major "terror" attack—as if there was no terror involved with this outburst.
It is here, with Josh's column where I'd like to start highlighting some of the most important points and lessons that we ought to examine, excavate and internalize from the tragedy that is the Virginia Tech massacre.
The very first lesson for us to learn is to not be frozen by fear. Don't be a big fraidy cat. These events, though heart-stopping and tragic, are not that prevalent. Let's not be fooled by the overplayed dirge of media stories dealing with campus shootings like Columbine and now Virginia Tech.
Death and tragedy find us all in our time. It is simply the human condition. America, and Americans, still have not acknowledged this, even having suffered through 9/11. It seems to me, for a time, Americans are stunned, hypersensitive, and then the convenient amnesia takes over again. We're aghast and terror-stricken each and every time.
People die; people die needlessly. Often without reason. Accept it. Move on.
Ask any other country in the world, specifically Israel, most of the countries in Europe and in Africa. Their citizens collectively laugh at the naïve jejunity of America/Americans. We're so averse to the concept of death we have developed a slew of euphemisms to placate our illogical fear: passed away, expired, gone to a better place, with God now, etc…
The second, necessary lesson to learn is an extension of the first. As a culture, we are so sheltered, so self-blinded to the realities of the world and the human condition. Here, I speak specifically of our growing denial of true mental health issues. It seems in this country, we don't like to focus on or worry about mental health. We're virile, active, beefy…we're Americans, damn it! Cowboys and gladiators all…we have no issues, no defects, physical or mental.
Perhaps it was this self-aggrandizing attitude, or just a selfish attempt to cut the government budget, but much of this fall of our treatment of mental health issues originated out of Ronald Reagan's term as president. The man, for all he did in the Cold War, systematically destroyed our mental health programs. Turns out, the Berlin Wall isn't the only thing Reagan pulled down.
In regards to Cho, despite all the claims of "oh, he was so quiet, we never saw it coming," it appears that there were in fact, warning signs. In the latest breaking news on Cho, he had many complaints registered against him, two of which prominently in 2005. The man had even been questioned by police two years ago after he "stalked" two different women in a 45 day period.
The police had him; they spoke to him. The school's administration even had him; the entered him into a disciplinary program for the offenses. One of Cho's "friends" even reported him seeming suicidal. On December 13th, Cho was even admitted to Carilion St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital.
Clearly, the signs and symptoms were already there. But they went absolutely ignored. We place no real emphasis on mental health or instability. I can only imagine what the two officers and the school's disciplinary committee thought of the whole ordeal. My guess is they cheapened it: "oh, the poor kid can't get no tail so he's acting out…"
Even the two women who were stalked seemed to make light of the situation saying that Cho's constant harassing via email and phone was merely "annoying."
It's funny to me. As a culture, we are so "pharmaceuticalized" to pop pills into ourselves and our children, but we don't truly sit back and examine real, solid cases of mental health.
And speaking of pill-popping, this is one of the biggest failings in the American vision for and approach to medicine and health. We don't care about the holistic, so much so that we label holistic medicine quirky and holistic medicine practioners as quacks. Instead, we take the simple-minded route—we medicate the symptoms. We only treat the symptoms, never the root of the issues. It's always "take this pill so the shaking goes away"; we never really look at what causes the shaking. Take the white pill so you won't cry anymore; the yellow one will keep you from jumping on the couch; and the purple one, well, we all know what the purple pill does.
Hey, how about treating the root of the problems?
Thirdly, we really need to rein in our TV and Cable news. Let's keep news informational instead of entertaining or emotionally tugging. Last night, every channel I went to, save perhaps ESPN and the Food Network, were covering the Virginia Tech incident. ABC even preempted "Boston Legal" to go live on scene and have someone re-report all the happenings of the past 48 hours. CNN even gave an entire camera (and cameraman) to shoot a running stream of sympathy notes written across a big slab of butcher paper. Is this really necessary? Is this really news?
Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle captured this idea beautifully when he said, "If [we] watched any coverage Monday, and probably many Americans watched quite a bit of it…[we] saw the great weakness in the system: repetition without advancement." He goes on to say, "story saturation -- to the point of pointlessness -- is [now] a news staple."
Virginia Tech isn't the impetus of this no-function news; it is merely the latest exemplar. And collectively, we are letting "news" get away with such mediocrity again. Remember the endless cycle on the Pope's death? Or the Runaway Bride? How about the newlywed that had her husband killed on a cruise? Even Don Imus' fifteen minutes got stretched to two weeks.
This pedantic loop on Cho and Virginia Tech is useless recycling at its worst.
Goodman is absolutely dead-on when in the latter half of his article characterizes news today as "buffet news" and "time-filling phalanx of talking heads."
I can't wait to see how many months Greta Van Susteren will be covering this story.
Lastly, one lesson I hope we learn is of tolerance and patience before jumping to conclusions. We have openly demonstrated a sick history of falling on to our worst demons rather than responding with our better angels. Just think illegal immigration, riots and 9/11. Americans have been quick to draw upon our deep-seeded racism in nonsensical, reactionary ways as an avenue to cope.
Backlash against "illegals" (and let's face it, if they're brown, we think they're Mexican. And if they're "Mexican," they must be illegal) raged through the country in the 80's and again as recently as three years ago when the economy was not good and unemployment rose. Any time we hear "riot" on TV, we default to our ready-made images of blacks, usually looting, setting fire to buildings and overturning cars. And any time 9/11 is mentioned, it's all about those crazy, evil-doing Arabic Islamofascists. It doesn't matter who it is, where they're from, so long as they're ashen-skinned, have a kinked beard and wears "a damn towel on their heads," they're responsible. Even if they're Sikhs.
As I perused the LA Times this morning, many Koreans in LA expressed deep concern for their own safety and the perception of Koreans in general. Many mentioned the aftereffects of the LA Riots in 1992. The most appalling thing is, as I read the article, I didn't even find myself wondering why they were so fearful; I knew they had good reason to be. I've seen it too many times before.
Related to this issue, but lurking in the background, is the Asian male stereotype of impotency. The desexualization of young Cho has already begun. In the early hours of the story, many reported that the girl he had shot was a girlfriend. When the news broke that it was an Asian man, news sources quickly started to report that the girl "was just a friend." What changed? Even if the belief that the gunman and the dead victim were lovers proved wrong, why did the "lover" become a "friend" as soon as it was known that Cho was Asian?
And the discoveries that he had been "stalking" women certainly don't do the desexualization of Asian men any favors. Clearly, the thought must be now, that Cho was so sexually and socially dysfunctional around women (and dare I say it—white women) that he had to resort to stalking them.
Before we start dismissing this outright, let's take a look at the rich history that's been precedent. Let's look at mainstream portrayals of Asian men: there's Mickey Rooney's bespectacled, buck-toothed geek in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." What about "Mr. Wass Hapooning Hot Stuff" from "Sixteen Candles?"
More recently, even in more "manly man" films involving martial artists and fight scenes, Asian men have been caricaturized as sexually impotent and nonexistent. In "Showdown in Little Tokyo," Brandon Lee, son of famed martial artist Bruce Lee, and a stunningly good looking man in his own right, was presented as a clown, and passed over by the very hot Tia Carrera. And who did Carrera carnally desire? Dolph Lundgren… To add insult to injury, Lee is given a horribly castrating line when he faces Dolph and says, "you have the biggest dick I've ever seen."
Even Jet Li, the biggest Kung-Fu star exported from Asia since Jackie Chan, gets his balls cut off and becomes no real sexual threat to women, even when the woman in question (Aaliyah) in the film is extremely vulnerable. In "Romeo Must Die," Li and Aaliyah are in an apartment together, sitting on a couch. Aaliyah's brother had just been murdered; she's extremely wounded. Li comforts her. They are very close. Face to face… and for five minutes, they just talk. There's no kiss, no body contact, nothing. No buttons fly, no clothes tear, no hair ruffled. And definitely, no sex.
If it had been Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, shoot, even Tom Hanks…there would have been some gratuitous sex scene. But not for Jet Li. Not for Jackie Chan. Not for Brandon Lee.
And certainly, none for Cho Seung-Hui.
Go read:
Our zone's new feature, "With Special Guest Star..." where in the past two weeks, we've gotten a good battle from Brian McLain and Christian Hine. These two should do a Fact or Fiction.
Speaking of which, this week's F or F politics style features Ray Church and Mark Radulich. Talk about battles…
Since we post on the same day, I won't have many chances to plug him. But definitely read our new guy, "E." It's storytime, ladies and gentlemen!
And just because you already read his brilliance in this week's F or F, doesn't mean you can't clear some room in the head for more brilliance. It's time to go to Church!
Finally, I wouldn't be doing my job (literally—check my job description/duties) if I didn't mention the almighty himself.
STAY CURRENT