Everything and Nothing

A few weeks ago, no one had ever heard the name, Seung-hui Cho, or, Cho Seung-hui, (the Americanized |I Think| version)?? Except for those who actually knew him which were, according to reports few, and far between. I’m not sure how common that name is in Korea, but I DO know that this particular…uhhh, ‘anomaly‘ of the human race, although not entirely a deviation from the norm, was certainly uncommon enough himself, to warrant a bit of scrutiny, by those who were associated with him, or at least, a mandatory visit to a school counselor. Check his High school yearbook and I’d BET it said something to the effect of; Most likely To: |insert heinous act here|. The guy’s creative writing teacher actually asked to have him removed from her class, because his writing was “so disturbing” …

CREATIVE WRITING !!

I thought the name of the class deserved repeating. I recall MY C.W. class in college. We were required to critique each other’s work, then, we would discuss the stories during the next class, the point being; I read (and contributed), some pretty “disturbing” stories for class discussions, so I assume, this class wasn’t much different. To me, it was almost a part of the fun, of a creative writing class, to see just how disturbed you could make your classmates, you know, ’shock value’, and all that!

So, we have a CW teacher, who was so “DISTURBED” by one of her student’s writings, that she wanted him taken out of her class? That screams “sociopath”, to ME at least. I mean, “CREATIVE” writing, is just that…CREATIVE! Common sense tells me, that if one is writing material extreme enough to flip out a CW teacher ? It’s gotta be some pretty damn messed up stuff, no??

Well, what’s seen as creative by some, is shocking to others. I mean, somebody had to put their stamp of approval on Freddy Krueger© right? So, this guy had to be…ummm, seriously pushing the envelope, on disturbing, either that, or his C.W. prof. would’ve been better suited to teaching a course on how to write children’s literature, which incidentally, I don’t believe for a second.

Given what little I heard of Cho’s spoken diatribe, or his written “manifesto”, I doubt he could have ‘creatively’ written his way out of a wet paper bag, much less, written something ‘disturbing’ without attaching his “personal style” to it, I.E. making it look as though it were written by a sociopathic nut job, with an agenda, not by an aspiring ‘writer’. That feat, is what was accomplished by most of the students I attended that CW class with, although some of the writing, and short stories could be described as disturbing, it was obvious that the writers themselves weren’t disturbed.

No, I figure his writing was pitifully inadequate, for an English major, if his “manifesto” is any indication, and likely contained ACTUAL threats of bodily harm to REAL people. Now, if “I” were the instructor, I’d say most likely, THAT is where I’d draw the line. I’d really love to see some examples of these “disturbing” papers he authored, for the purpose of determining for myself what, exactly constituted his instructors reaction. But I suppose that information won’t be in the public domain for awhile, if at all.

Apparently, hindsight is, not only 20/20, it’s worthless. Kudos, at least, to her, for noticing the “elephant in the living room“, rather than the rest of the “sheople’s“ reaction, which was to choose, either to look the other way, or bury their heads in the sand, and hope the problem went away, or, at least, didn’t affect THEIR lives. The nagging question I’m left with in the back of my mind, is; WILL the sheeple actually LEARN something from this?? I.E. sometimes ignoring an obvious problem, can actually be counterproductive, I can’t help thinking that at least, some of this nut cases victims were aware that they were in class with a time bomb and CHOSE to do nothing. Fear of, making an enemy, “rocking the boat”, or any number of lame denials they fed themselves, in order to avoid confrontation.

I’m sorry, it’s my belief that someone THAT messed up, HAS to be fairly easy to spot, and if enough people had simply walked into the office of an administrator, or security, or a counselor…SOMEONE with the power to at LEAST keep a closer eye on the man, and SAID something ….even just; “Hey, this guy creeps me out.” Granted, one voice is likely to be ignored. But 20 people, all saying the same thing, about the same person, couldn’t be IGNORED!! Someone would have taken a second look, and maybe, just maybe…there’d be thirty odd people alive today because of that simple communication.

There’s ANOTHER sad end to this little drama, that I don’t believe anyone (save for the few truly astute, analytical minds out there), those who realize, that although the “public” has a ‘right’ to know that these things happen, the popular media does NOT have the right to turn these psychopaths, into the stuff of LEGENDS, JUST to increase their bottom line. Oh yeah, I’ve seen all the phony “empathy”, from all the LOCAL “journalists”, like the blood frenzy of hungry piranhas. Then, it’s on to CNN, MSNBC, and all the others, who examine EVERY aspect of this human refuse, who literally, should be thrown into a trash compactor, and have all records that they ever existed erased from the publics memory.

Instead, they’re immortalized by the media, who, in hot pursuit of the almighty dollar, dig into their past, friends, childhood, employment, EVERY single aspect of this “non-persons” life, thereby making them impossible to forget. In effect, they give them EXACTLY what they wanted in LIFE, AND IN DEATH!! The chance to be REMEMBERED, the chance to make their mark on society…FOREVER!!!!!!!

In Medieval days, people were BANISHED from a certain kingdom, with their names forbidden to be spoken aloud by ANYONE, IN PUBLIC, EVER AGAIN under punishment of DEATH!!! Thereby, effectively erasing them from history. Look at how FAR we’ve come, we now, not only immortalize the criminals, we acknowledge the anniversary of their heinous acts!!

I’m the first to admit, we shouldn’t forget the horrible crimes perpetrated against innocents, and those innocents SHOULD be remembered. But NOT the criminals, let their names, and ANY memory of them be stricken from public record, I should NOT know the names, Cho Seung-hui, or Muhammad Atta, or Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,or John Gacy, or Ted Bundy, David Koresh, Jim Jones, and THOSE are just the ones who come to mind!!! They should be stricken from public record, beginning the DAY they are proven to be guilty, TOTALLY, their names, no longer spoken, EVER, by ANYONE, unless, they are still AT LARGE, armed, and dangerous, they should ALL be UNWRITTEN from history, FOREVER!!! IMHO, ALL of these nut-jobs, at the bottom of it all, crave ATTENTION, more than ANYTHING. And what does the media DO? IT gives them EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT, again and again and again.

Don’t be so naive as to think that there aren’t a few hundred OTHER nut jobs out there, paying CLOSE attention, I’d stake my life on it. “Hmmmmmm, if I kill a bunch of school kids, in cold blood, I’ll be remembered FOREVER!!!!”

Am I Wrong? Possibly, but, don’t the acts of these people who snap seem to be escalating, each time one happens…….?