The Torment of Cho - Victim or Brutal Murderer?

It’s still blanketing the news. NBC just received a package with video, pictures, and more writing from Cho. In the video he speaks with a strange tone about his death being like that of Jesus Christ.

“I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people.”

He says a lot things that reach to the bizarre. He mentions the Columbine killers as martyrs, he calls the universal you hedonistic, and he says, “You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience.” What does this all mean? This guy was probably insane. The radio shows are now inviting psychologists to comment on the possibility of schizophrenia or some other serious mental disorder.

The element in all this that troubles me? His image is getting revamped into an abused or severely disturbed victim. Some are forgetting that he murdered 32 people in cold blood. No matter the reason that drives a person to such lengths it doesn’t change the actions committed. If he were still living I’d say he deserves to die on a poorly grounded electric chair.

Articles like Cho offers glimpse into tortured soul attempt to invoke pity for the crazy murderer. His rants in the video are so strange and filled with hate that I really wonder if he wasn’t being influenced by forces unseen. The comparison to Jesus is reason enough to think that something more may have been behind his actions.

Ultimately, a kid as disturbed as this should not have flown under the radar so long. Had he come under psychological evaluation he may have been recognized as a threat and detained. It’s important to identify these types and notify the right people before somebody gets hurt. Imagine 32 deaths that could’ve been prevented.

New Blog

I have a new blog. http://stevemind.wordpress.com

I liked it better. Drop by, leave comments, and change your links. Eventually this site will be set up to redirect visitors to the new blog.

So We Backed Out

I know, the last post mentioned regrets or paying a lot of money, but we decided to back out. Too many things about the deal seemed fishy. I was getting different stories from the same person, the Mello Roos tax was ridiculous and didn't expire until 2020, and we didn't like the area.

Break Time. Now we wait. That's okay though since we have to ready this house for rental shape. At first I thought we'd just leave it all as is, but in order to attract higher quality renters we decided to make this house a lot nicer than it currently is. It's one of the rules mentioned in Property Management for Dummies. That requires time and since escrow would've closed in early May we didn't have enough time. Getting out from under that deal feels like a load off and now we have all the time we need. We're under no schedule except that I'd like to be renting it before next year so the improvements will count as write-offs for a rental property.

Just bringing you up to speed here. Now you know.

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Preempting Virginia Tech

Let’s talk about Virginia Tech, the site of the worst shooting in U.S. history (32 dead). The gunman? 23 year old Cho Seung-Hui. It’s difficult to pronounce, but quickly becoming a household name. I’ve been following the news stories and was surprised to hear about the substantial number of signals that indicated something was definitely wrong with this kid.

Classmates from his playwriting class mentioned that his screenplays were ridden with violence and disturbing content.

“One was about a fight between a stepson and his stepfather, and involved throwing of hammers and attacks with a chainsaw. Another was about students fantasizing about stalking and killing a teacher who sexually molested them.” (Yahoo! News)

Classmates said they weren’t sure whether his writing was invented or speaking from the torment of experience. Fellow classmate Ian MacFarlane, in a blog post prior to the shootings, mentioned that he was concerned about Cho having the potential to actually become a school shooter. Stephanie Derry said that she and others would often joke about the likelihood that he would be capable of doing something like that, but that it was no joke when she actually received word that he’d committed this heinous act.

I’m especially intrigued by the large caches of Cho’s writing that the authorities are now uncovering. The writing is consistently being described as ‘troubling’ and ‘disturbing’.

All this begs the question, should we act on signals that indicate an individual is likely a school shooter type? Were his ‘disturbing’ writings enough of a warning that something should have been done to prevent the eventual outcome? That thinking probably would not have boded well for Stephen King, but for someone like Cho, it could have saved the lives of 32 people.

Minority Report comes to mind. In the movie, the murder rate dropped to zero when the Precogs saw murder before it happened. Tom Cruz played the role of the framed murderer and it brought preemptive action under ethical question. The idea that a person who writes such disturbing material might be a school shooter and should therefore be placed under suspicion sounds like an infringement of rights, but perhaps taking no action prior to the crime is a worse strategy. That inaction could potentially be blamed for the deaths of those people.

So, should we take action to prevent possible capital crimes? Is it placing your rights and mine under attack or is it protecting our lives from demented would-be killers? What do you think?

$2500 or Regrets?

Does $2,500 a month sound high to you? It does to me. That, my friends, is the price of purchasing a new home. One of the books I read explained the sense of fear before that big first step and I really understand it--intimately.

As it stands, right now, I can be viewed in one of two ways. In the first, I am courageously taking that first step toward wealth and prosperity and someday I'll look back on these days as the beginning of a fantastic journey to financial freedom. In the second, I am out of mind and jumping headlong into a trap that will ruin me for at least the next seven years. Maybe I'm out of my mind for taking this on AND I'll end up wealthy--a third choice I suppose.

I suppose that however things turn out will provide the answer to which of these descriptions applies to me. A $2,500 a month price tag might someday seem like small change in the big scheme of things. That's what I hope anyway. Fortunately, I've equipped myself with enough education to know that this endeavor is not impossible, it's just very difficult. Many people could do what I'm doing, but not many will. The fear simply overtakes them and all the rational thought and planning leading up to this point abandons them. The commitment is simply too great to bear.

It comes down to a question: do I want to try and see what happens with the possibility of an amazing adventure and the potential for great wealth or spend the rest of my life wishing I had just tried but never knowing what could've happened? We only live once and I feel that I must do as well as I can while I'm here. I don't want to reach the end of it all and be followed by those dreaded and haunting ghosts most commonly referred to as regrets.

College sucks.

I took an elective finance course and it should have had prerequisites. It's not that it's so incredibly difficult, it's just that I have no background in it. If I knew what they were talking about I could probably squeak by in this stupid class. Instead, I understand nothing of what even Chapter 1 says.



I'm dropping the class tomorrow. Although it will certainly cost me a lot of money to do so, I just can't keep on with it. I don't appreciate being so stressed out over something so stupid and trivial. It was an elective! It's not even a required course.

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Upturning Rocks - Biblical Questions

Recent conversations about my questions have put some things in perspective for me. In one instance, I brought up my questions about the validity of the Bible in apologetics. Everyone received the questions as a challenge worth searching out the answers for.



I was a little reluctant at first to drop my questions on apologetics because I didn't want to shake anyone's faith, but then it occurred to me that the Bible is supposed to be able to stand up under any scrutiny. My fear was unfounded then since, given the infallibility of the Bible, there is no disproving it.



In another instance, I was talking with a Christian co-worker. Upon hearing my questions he cautioned me that I might be obsessing over my own understanding and causing a stumbling block for myself. After taking him through a little of my reasoning he was pretty convinced that I might be unraveling my faith. We prayed and laid it at the feet of God. In this instance, I really saw the reluctance people have to actually really question their Bible and faith. I doubt I'm on uncharted waters, however, so I'm continuing on.



In another instance, I spoke with a separate co-worker who is about to become a pastor. His reaction was to listen and admit that he didn't know the answers, but he never said that the pursuit was wrong. In his mind, questioning the Bible is expected.



With him, I was able to fully voice my theories. One of the logical consequences is that the New Testament does not belong while the Old Testament does.



I'm going to write out my whole list of questions and line of reasoning. Hopefully in so doing I'll develop some answers to my questions. We all know that the Bible can stand the test, right?



Don't be afraid to upturn rocks in fear that one of them holds the key to the destruction of the faith. I'm sure that many have done this before me. I plan on consulting them as well.

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Testing a new editor

I'm just testing a new blog editor.

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