“Justice Interruptus”: Comprehending the tragedy of the Virginia Tech massacre
April 17th, 2007We don’t know much about “Cho Seung-Hui,†except that he is 23 years old. An English major. An Asian immigrant from South Korea. Not an “illegal alien,†but a “resident alien,†which means he did everything legally and by the book.
The only thing that comes up on him on Google are a half dozen postings on web pages about the shootings that took place Monday.
Google News, one of a half dozen of the most visited news sites, is inundated with reports and Blogs on the killings which claimed the lives of some 32 students at the Virginia University, and caused scores of injuries.
Cho Seung-Hui doesn’t have a MySpace Page.
He has no videos on YouTube. And there is no reference to him on Google Video.
More than three dozen chat groups popped up on FaceBook.com, which is the Internet network for students.
The Asian American Journalists Association Media Watch committee, of which I am a member, was feverishly discussing on their Internet discussion listserve, how the group might address the fact that the shooter’s ethnicity surfaced as a key identifier in nearly every story.
Does his being “Asian†really have significance in the story? Yet, the fact that he was Asian was about all anyone knew about him in the first 12 hours of the coverage.
As the world becomes more and more consumed with the Internet, here is one young man who avoided it almost completely.
This killer was below the radar screen.
Racist hate sites that claim to monitor terrorist-like threats, such as “MilitantIslam.Com,†have no references to Cho Seung-Hui. There are literally hundreds ofo web sites like MilitantIslam.com that claim to monitor individuals they imply are engaged in anti-American hatred.
Was there any anti-American hatred in Cho Seung-Hui’s actions?
The question “Why?†may or may not ever be answered, partially or to anyone’s satisfaction.
Why does a young man of any race, religion or ethnicity, rampage through classrooms at their school and kill other students?
Columbine comes to mind. But suddenly in one day, Cho Seung-Hui has pushed Columbine off the top as one of the most shocking tragedies to take place at a school.
If it can happen at Virginia Tech, it can happen anywhere. And actually, even if it had not happened at Virginia Tech, the probability of someone doing this someplace else remains high.
Real terrorism has no ethnic face. No skin color. No religion. No language. No political purpose.
The cable TV hate mongers even sans-Don Imus, are making much about the fact that the killer was an immigrant.
Everyone in America is an immigrant, or the child or grandchild or descendent of immigrants. America is an immigrant country.
How do we explain this killing?
We don’t. We shouldn’t even try. Explaining it is merely an exercise in futility that only fuels more hate-mongering. Racism. Bad feelings among a society that just the other day Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in celebrating the fact that the city is a finalist for the 2016 Olympic Games, is its ethnic diversity. Chicago is a city of immigrants. And so is every other city in America.
We love diversity when it is happy. We blame diversity for the ills of society when things go wrong in our society.
Let’s not look at Cho Seung-Hui as an Asian. Let’s not make some political statement about race relations in America. Let’s not exploit the murder looking for a moral that we can cater to our individual political biases.
But we should acknowledge one thing. And I think this is the most important thing that we, as Americans, can learn from this incident and others like it.
Killers who take their own lives do two things that hurt. First and foremost is the lives they take and suffering they cause.
But additionally, these killers also leave us with a sense of what I will term “justice-emptiness.†Or, maybe to be provocative, “Justice Interruptus.â€
The killers have taken their own lives and have denied us the ability to punish them. That is what our society is about, isn’t it. Punishing the wrongdoers?
Well, what happens when the wrongdoers deny us that right to punish them? What happens when they punish themselves by committing suicide as Cho Seung-Hui has apparently done?
We are left with an emptiness. A feeling of need to punish someone.
And that is where the danger begins. That is where we look around us and try to identify people who “look like†the killer. We match names. Race. Religion. Politics. Anything to give us a substitute to punish.
And that is something that we, as a great nation, should not do.
We did it after Sept. 11. We shouldn’t do it now.
Let’s not, as Americans, become the monster that we hate.
(Ray Hanania is an award winning Palestinian American Columnist, author and standup comedian. You can reach him at www.hanania.com or www.IPComedyTour.com.)
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Thanks Ray, I couldn’t have said it better myself! Especially with this-
There are many students here with family and friends at Virginia Tech.. when I ask them for details, all I hear them say is “that stupid Asian, we should kick them all out!”
Ignorant reactions like these breeds a lot of racist behavior… it’s very dangerous to resort to this. One guy messes up and his entire race is blamed. Even the most relied on news outlets like the New York Times resorted to this.. I didn’t hear anyone say “fellow Americans” during the Columbine incident. It was harder to paint an enemy, the one thing reported was just reactions to the case. Now we can witness the media (and many blogs) creating an image that we are all familar with as Arabs. East vs. West, the “Orient” vs. the “Civilized.” It’s irrational behavior and no one should be blamed other than the attacker himself. But watch the Xenophobic reactions…. there will be a lot of it in the coming weeks, and it will be painful to follow.
I was playing WoW the other day and this incident came up, everything got heated up.
One guy said “fuck Asians” after many not so polite things about Asians.
I responded with “…”
He realized what he had said and apologized to everyone and even private messaged me and apologized. I know the guy, I know he isn’t a racist, but what caused this moderate to turn into a border line racist? I think we have to look at this issue more closely and not move on to the hot topic when it arises. We have to target the root cause of this kind of bigotry because I believe it is the most dangerous kind.
It’s easy to spot a person who is racist, but people like this may not actually mistreat a minority, but they will allow the same minority to be mistreated by another who is a racist.
This resemble the ME or any part of the world, people may not be extremists but because of whatever they think about the other side, they allow the extremists to run wild based on this false understanding.
A Palestinian student Jamal al-Barghouti, captured the sounds of Virginia Tech shooting on his cell phone video. It was broadcast on CNN-i and is now on YouTube of course … here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khG6N2UGRWY&mode=related&search=
I have heard some Arabs say why isn’t he getting the attentiont he Israeli professor got, and I’d only like to say the Israeli professor died protecting his students, according to many students there. I’m not sure the two events are in the same league.
Ray Hanania
And the New York Times posted this mention of one of the killed students, who I assume is Arab, but there is no mention of her ethnicity in any of the other references published so far — still early but just FYI:
“Reema Samaha: A dancer and actor: Reema Samaha, 18, a freshman from Centreville, Va., was shot and killed in her French class. According to tributes posted by friends online, she was an avid dancer and actor who devoted much of her time to the school’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble, a student organization. As a high school student, she won awards for her performances, including one for her role in “Fiddler on the Roof.â€
Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17victims.html
Ray Hanania
http://www.hanania.com
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I don’t know if it was motivated by anti-americanism just because he killed americans, just as because he killed a holocaust survivor on holocaust remembrence day I don’t conclude it was anti-semitic.
He seems like a complete psycho. Seeing as there was a gap between his first victims and the next 30 or so I assume he just liked doing it.
The story has since turned to how his creative writings a year ago were “creepy”, and to gun control (I heard he had two guns).
For some reason my university (which is in Maryland, so not so far away) is kind of freaked out, sending explanatory e-mails. One of my professors took twenty minutes out of a class to speculate wildly about “how this could happen.”
Ray, thanks for these updates! These links are very useful.
I saw that video on CNN yesterday and I was shocked … not so much by the video but by how it was presented. The presentator repeatedly emphasized how the video ‘takes you to the scene’ and how chilling (or so, I don’t remember the exact word) it was. Of course the reporters at CNN expressed their condolences, but what I read from their eyes was sheer joy, probably of beeing able to present this most exciting story to the world and about reaching an audience far greater than usual. Do they have no shame?
CNN has been very disgusting lately. They don’t even try anymore!
I think gun control issues are becoming increasingly alarming in the U.S, after a string of shootings it’s about time to address this problem.
I saw that CNN clip, that bitch seemed like she was enjoying every second of it. There used to be a time when the news reporter would report without an ounce of emotion in their face to point out the facts. Well I guess times change.
I don’t get this gun control issue. Per capita, Canada has more guns than US. Wtf wrong with Americans? It’s the culture not gun control, although gun control can help.
The Virginia Tech tragedy brings to mind a similar school shooting in 1979 California. 16 year old Brenda Spencer wounded nine and killed two in a shooting spree at an elementary school. She said, “I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun,” “It was just like shooting ducks in a pond,” and “(The children) looked like a herd of cows standing around, it was really easy pickings.”
I Don’t Like Mondays Either, But …
This is very interesting. First time I entered MidEast Youth and first post I read. It was very thought provoking. Thank you, Seyitbek
There is a big debate now about the relevance of mentioning that the shooter/killer was Asian … that’s how he was first debated … as a member of the Media Watch Committee of the Asian American Journalists Association, I watched as my colleagues banged away at the constant mention of the killer as being Asian, and later as being South Korean …
I have great respect for the AAJA as an association and also for the SPJ, but you can bet that NO ONE would care if the ethnicity or race of the the shooter had been mentioned even more aggressively offensively had the kille rbeen Arab. There would beno debate because the mainstream American is biased and bigoted and they are also hypocrites.
No one cares when Arabs are bashed, at least not enough to risk their jobs to speak out against it. It’s easier to bash Arabs because that is What Americans have come to expect and journalists now often play to their “audiences,” giving them what they expect and only pushing on issues when they think they can get away with it as is being done with the issue of the killer being Asian.
This is no different than the Imus affair. Had Imus blasted Arabs, he would have been promoted, given a raise and he’d be a celebrity speaker at a White House dinner.
Ray Hanania
http://www.hanania.com
I don’t think his race is being mentioned too much at all. It’s important to know who he is and where he came from. The name and picture already signal what race he is, but mentioning that he was born in south korea and immigrated as a child may also point light on his background.
This event was horribly tragic. It brought tears to my eyes. College campuses are supposed to be sheltering and securing–places to learn, engage, and party. This tragedy ruined it. So many people died senselessly, people who were going places and who were making something of themselves and enjoying life. Because this sick psychopath felt like it. I mean imagine the horror of being shot at it in a classroom, or in a hallway struggling to open a padlocked door. Disgusting and absolutely tragic.
I was astonished at the diversity of the victims’ list. I mean we have two Arab victims, two Asian victims, an Indian professor, a Jewish professor, two Hispanics, a Black RA, and the rest being white Americans of various origins.
Interesting survey that examines why children of dry cleaners may be more prone to psychological defects.
Moving tribute to the victims, who suffered senselessly. My heart and prayers go out to their families and to their souls.
The video tribute to Ryan Clark moved me to tears. He seemed like an outstanding person with so much to live for. None of these people deserved to have their lives cut short like this.
Patrick, I agree with you. I will add that there are many blogs right now claiming “ohhh, the lives of Americans!” when many of the victims were not even American! So I am entirely against this image that this is an attack on America. It is NOT. It is very important to note that this was most likely an act of insanity and not something politically or religiously motivated, but certain bloggers, and I’m sure, some journalists, are just itching to make this “an attack on America” because it sells more, or it’s something people can relate to more.
It’s so disgusting to see the reactions on all this, and it’s even more disgusting to see that people are centering this based on race and ethnicity.
These were fellow human beings. Innocent ones. That’s all there is to it. It’s not about Americans or South Koreans or Arabs or Indian. These were innocent human beings whose lives were lost and we should mourn them all equally.
Question Marks
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“This didn’t have to happen”, Cho Seung-Hui said, after murdering thirty-two people at Virginia Tech University.
And this terrible tragedy of sons, daughters, mothers and fathers didn’t have to happen, if we’d only listened.
But we never listen.
We never listen to those that are different from us- the outcasts, the lonely, the homeless, the ones that are unspoken for. We don’t try to understand. We shun them and put them out of our minds because of our fear that we will become like them.
And these people become more and more lonely and alienated in their isolation.
Words like “creep”, “deranged misfit” and “psycho” devalue this killer’s humanity so we don’t have to face how similar he is to us. Cries of “how could he have been stopped” are uttered by media quick to sensationalize and gain market share, when the words “how could he have been listened to” are never considered.
Because we don’t want to listen.
We don’t want to hear about loneliness and alienation when we’re all so busy with our lives, making money and making friends. And the unpopular, the ones that don’t fit in, the lonely ones are ignored or made fun of because we don’t care to understand anything about them.
This man who clearly needed help, Cho Seung-Hui, devalued himself so much that he called himself “Question Mark”.
There are more “Question Marks” out there. There are millions of them. And if we don’t listen to them, they will follow the same path again and again, because people are not connecting. We are becoming more and more disconnected from each other, creating more and more “Question Marks” every day.
Most “Question Marks” don’t become murderers. Some just kill themselves. Most harm no one and live just as we do, needing antidepressants to appear what we call “normal”. They may be someone you know, someone you love.
This “Question Mark” was once a little boy, who cried, and smiled and loved, He wanted to fit in just like you and I. But that desire to fit in transformed itself into anger towards a society that shunned and ignored him.
How many more times will we shun and ignore the one that doesn’t fit in, the one in the corner, the one that’s different? When all we have to do is listen, before it’s too late.
But we won’t.
Thirty-two human beings who did not know Cho Seung-Hui were murdered.
They were sons, daughters, fathers and mothers, with dreams of futures that will never come and children that will never be born. The thirty-two leave behind people that love them. People that are now scarred for life by this horrible day of death.
To most of us that have not been directly involved, this tragedy will become a memory and fade like all the others that came before.
And the “Question Marks” will appear with more frequency, again and again, because we don’t listen.
We never do.
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http://www.x-thc.com
X-THC, major props. That’s a very good article and I find myself agreeing with much of it. But not all murders are like that… some WANT to be different, and refuse to connect with you even when you do reach out. Some don’t accept help. Some consider “evil” to be the “new pink.” There’s so much that we don’t understand, and sometimes, even IF we listen… we’ll never understand. Maybe people don’t try to reach out enough. Maybe the misunderstood don’t give us a chance to.