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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| The Virginia Tech shooterÂ’s America problem. |
| 2007-04-20 |
| Jerry Bowyer, National Review We know a lot more now than we did on Monday. And we know for sure that Cho Seung-Hui had a problem with America. Today, of course, we are being bombarded by the contents of a package sent by the killer to the folks at NBC: videos, photos, writings, and ramblings — all disturbing and in their own way telling. . . . The writer goes into detail on some of Cho's writings. It sounds like the same sort of stuff you find on a lot of "progressive" blogs. Envy, deep and powerful, comes through it all. Resentment against our society. Christianity, capitalism, and sports all take their hits. This was a man who hated the American regime — our very way of life. And he took a Muslim name to register his discontent — Ismail, the preferred Arab spelling of “Ishmael,” Abraham’s first son, the disinherited son who took second place to the wealthy Isaac. Do I blame Islam for Cho Seung-Hui? No. He was a curse on Islam, not the other way around. Do I blame films such as Super Size Me for his extreme and bizarre attitudes toward the eating habits of a good many Americans? No again. Do I blame the New York Times and its obsession with wealth-inequality for his hatred of “rich kids”? No, once more. But I will go this far: There is a rising tide of resentment in our country against the so-called “rich,” and Christianity, and a Big Mac with fries. Talk-show hosts, op-ed writers, documentarians, and authors of all stripes take part in it. They speak to psychologically healthy audiences, although the bent and wicked are listening in too. Cho Seung-Hui, it seems to this writer and radio host, was exposed to all of it. He gulped the resentment in the air, chewed it over in the dark corners of his soul, and then released it in a torrent of rage. He alone is responsible for his actions, but our society can either stir up hatred or pour oil on troubled waters. Unfortunately we’ve gotten better at the former and worse at the latter. It’s like poisonous mercury in the ocean. For some reason, a number of fish pick it up but never purge it. The poison grows in concentration, until the life is irreparably lost. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #7 LOL - I stick to what I know.... the Chinese Dam is a catastrophe-in-waiting, geographic and weather influences (water!) will overcome Chinese cost-cutting, material-shaving neo-communism.. /Joe M, shift-key-challenged |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-04-20 22:55 |
| #6 (and I'm not entirely successful, myself, you might, Bah! Frank, you ridicule with the best of them. That certainly counts for something in this humor-impaired world. Plus, I'm confident that had you the opportunity to design the Three Gorges Dam, flyash would have been a primary ingredient in all aggregate compounds. Prove me wrong! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-20 22:18 |
| #5 very possibly, Mike. I just think that only those "pre-disposed" would do such a pre-planned blasphemy. The poisonous environment can't be discredited as a factor, I agree. One side here is seriously deranged, and advocating things, without suffering the consequences. Our side should try (and I'm not entirely successful, myself, you might, |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-04-20 17:39 |
| #4 Frank, I respect your viewpoint here, but I can't help but wonder: there's so much America-bashing and God-bashing among our cultural elite, and they're so apocalyptic about it (random examples here, here, and here). If I'm a sicko like Cho, and I see the cultural elite agreeing with my dark impulses, might I consider it a validation? Maybe he would've done what he did anyway, but if he was on the edge, so to speak, might that validation have been the one thing that overcame whatever remaining self-restraint might otherwise have held him back? |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-04-20 17:08 |
| #3 TU - I don't disagree with his premise that there's a pervasive bias against Christianity, et al, among the MSM, academia, and so-called-elites. I just think that trying to link that to the actions of a sick fuck like Cho doesn't work. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-04-20 16:12 |
| #2 Yeah. We go to church. We go to school. We go to work. We make good lives for ourselves. So shoot us. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2007-04-20 14:55 |
| #1 This guy sounds more fucked up then Cho... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-04-20 11:08 |