Don't call the shooter Asian

Mike is gonna try serious today...

Brought to my attention here.


AAJS Media Advisory: Coverage on Virginia Tech Shooting Incident.

There is no evidence at this early point that the race or ethnicity of the suspected gunman has anything to do with the incident, and to include such mention serves only to unfairly portray an entire people.

Quite frankly I don't see what the sex of the gunman, I mean gunperson had to do with it either. (Eyes rolling)


The fact that the gunman was Asian, from South Korea, and male had nothing to do with this atrocious event. But it does. Why? Because he was an Asian male originally from South Korea. They have released his name and photo. Should we not see those either? I'm sure that people will guess as much...

The effect of mentioning race can be powerfully harmful. It can subject people to unfair treatment based simply on skin color and heritage.

Only an idiot would look at this event and conclude that Asians are 'bad'. This was the work of a pathetic individual. He could have as easily been white, black or anything. His name could have been John. If it was, tell me. Not mentioning race to keep knuckle-dragging Neanderthals (no offense to Neanderthals meant...) from getting that information isn't doing anything to solve the problem, I believe it makes it worse.


Some classmates talk...

"When we read Cho's plays, it was like something out of a nightmare. The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of," former classmate Ian McFarlane, now an AOL employee, wrote in a blog posted on an AOL Web site. He said he and other students "were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter."

"We always joked we were just waiting for him to do something, waiting to hear about something he did," said another classmate, Stephanie Derry. "But when I got the call it was Cho who had done this, I started crying, bawling."

Do you think that there could have been people who were genuinely concerned about this guy, but were afraid to bring it up to any authorities for fear of being considered 'racist'? Could this have turned out different if more had expressed their concerns? Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know.


The other thing that angers me is all the anti-gun people that latch on to these horrible events. Do you really think that making guns illegal would have stopped this? I mean, drugs like heroine, crack, and pot are illegal, yet we see it everywhere. Imagine the common burglar that got a hold of a gun when possession is illegal. Isn't the possibility there that he just might be that much more brazen knowing that the most he needs to worry about is someone with a aluminum bat or a bedside table?


Read this part again...

The plays had really twisted, macabre violence that used weapons I wouldn't have even thought of.

If guns didn't exist, he would have come up with something...