By now, I'm sure you've all read about or even seen the photos and video that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC. A psychologist called the guy a narcissist, and that certainly appears to be the case. Now, what seems to be happening is that he is realizing the wildest dreams of a narcissist; not only is he being known as one of America's worst killers, but he's also getting attention as a thinker (his plays), an artist (his photos and video), and spokesperson (his philosophy), etc. While everything he believes is clearly deranged, I have no doubt there are some people who will be envious of him.

It's always been a problem in our society that the victims of a terrible crime are honored with a few photos, an obituary, and various local memorials, while the criminal becomes almost like a folk hero. There will surely be books written about him, maybe a movie, certainly special reports on tv, and so on. For some he will become a symbol, and I fear that this could provoke other ill people to commit equally sensational suicides.

Perhaps the severely deranged will not look at Cho Seung-Hui as an inspiration. Perhaps if they are to commit a crime, they will do it anyway. But, I wonder from where this loser got his inspiration. I wonder if all the attention we give him we serve his sick cause. I wonder if there's anything we can do about it.

We are and always have been fascinated with that which we fear the most. Stories of sinister things have held our imagination since stories were first told. Dante's Inferno, anything by Poe, Abbott & Costello Meet Dracula and the Werewolf, The Scarlet Letter, The DVD with last year's AFC Title Game on it, ....the worst things imagineable to mankind. This will always be the case. I wouldn't put much stock in our fascination with this story being a modern American phenomenon. We love this stuff deep down because it scares us.

It is what it is - it's interesting. I have to admit after the baseball was over last night I watched about an hour.

My concerns are more about when people say "how can we stop the next one". Then I hear things like the English teacher wanting to kick him out of class as he scared the other kids but he, correctly, says "you can't make me leave". I hear them ask the roomates if the school warned them that he has psychiatric problems - yeah, I'm sure that would go over well if the school gave out "private" information.

It's like the NFL's new suspensions and the politically correct say "can they do that" ? And then they ask "how can we stop the next one". The two don't work together.

If someone is scaring people to the point they think this might happen can they just kick him off the campus ? Today's Politically Correct world says no.

If someone has psychiatric problems can roomates be warned so they know they have a problem ? Today's Politically Correct world says no.

That is my concern, not whether this guys gets his picture on TV.

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Don't Give Me a Defensive Player Who Can't Tackle . . . What Am I Going to Do With Him ? --- Bill Belichick

Horray NBC for making a few bucks.

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

Don't blame them. Check the Neilson Ratings to find the real ghouls...not to mention the advertisers.

Well all the arm-chair psychiatrists will be out in full force putting in their 2 cents on this and I guess I’m no different, so here’s my take on the guy.

I’m guessing he had a severe self-esteem problem. He wasn’t so much shy, as he was terrified to interact socially. He turned away from people so much that they gave up trying to befriend him. He was a human being however and as such he could not escape the human need of socialization and companionship. His utter fear of people that pushed away everyone was in a constant battle with needing them add the need for sex and the battle became all the more desperate. He made feeble attempts to contact some girls via the Internet and even began to stalk a few. He began to blame the absence of social interaction and companionship on every conceivable thing he could. I guess ultimately he blamed his romance failures on the fact that the main reason he wasn’t successful was because he wasn’t rich. The rich get everything and abuse everything in his mind, but more importantly are taking everything away that he wants, including the girls. Having absolutely no hope now to ever climb out of his shell he gives up and believes he is now “forced” to take the only action he can. He’ll show the world who is important now. It’s not the rich people with all their bad habits and possessions and friends and lovers. It is him that will now be the one in the forefront. The one no one ever noticed or cared about will be the one that everyone will remember now. He’ll be the one that cleared the path for future Cho Seung-Hui’s of the world. He even likened himself to Jesus, by being the sacrificial lamb, to save the world. I think the Columbine massacre made it easier for him to carry this out. Unfortunately this will probably help future massacres as well

Don't blame them? They just made this guy a star. Have you ever seen the movie Mad City?

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

Not yet...

I should've said "...don't blame just them..."

Oh, I wouldn't blame them only, but I think their make a quick buck decision is sad. I love how they come off with the "we struggled long and hard over the decision to do this" crap. Puh-leez! They let out a snippet of info on what they had to build up curiousity, and then when that brewed real nice, they made their "difficult" decision just in time for last nights primetime news. The MSM is shameless. Reminds me of CNN and their assasination tape, complete with theatrical play-by-play. What's fugged up about the MSM is that they show this stuff, while citing the publics being informed as rationale, yet, they won't show terrorists beheading innocent people, little kids with bombs strapped to their bodies blowing up buses, or Americans jumping off the WTC before it collapsed. Show it all, or don't show anything at all. Of course, the file footage of US troops busting open doors to homes in Iraq is always the opening to any news from there. Gotta love that MSM!

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"

Oh, how could I forget Abu-Graib scrolling accross the bottom of the screen like the scores do on ESPNNEWS.

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"A theory that explains everything, explains nothing"