Osler's Razor

My good friend, IPLawGuy, has lived his entire life in Virginia, so I asked him to write a little bit about the Virginia Tech homicides. One thing that struck me immediately about what he wrote was that he thinks of it is a spiritual crisis rather than a news story-- I'm sure being around so many people with connections to that school, it is much more that sort of thing in Northern Virginia. In New York (and many other places) I noticed the same thing, on a larger scale, after 9/11. Here is what he had to say:

Prof. Osler asked me to write something about the Virginia Tech shootings. I must admit that I feel like an odd choice for this task. I’ve made a few random comments on spirituality here and there on the Razor, but mostly I’d rather attempt to tell jokes or attempt to set up the Prof. or Tyd or Swanburg, Celeb Luvr, the Medievalist or someone else with a straight line so that they can tell a joke.

He certainly did not ask me to write something because I am known for any sort of gravitas here on the Razor. That seems like a job for some of the Prof’s more academically or spiritually inclined friends, like the guy in Kingman or the fellow who has the blog about the LDS church or Prof. Darden, who edits the magazine on religion or someone who attends the 7th and James Baptist Church. As for comments of a more serious nature, I shy away.

I cannot claim any special knowledge or understanding of psychology (one summer school course in 1981) or Religion. I dropped out of Sunday School at 11 years old and stopped going to Church at age 14, not returning till I was 26. I’ve read parts of the Bible and listen to sermons and read a few books on religion, but most of my “understanding” is based upon gut reactions and what I learn from listening.

Quite frankly, I often only skim the more serious Razor postings on religious or spiritual matters when they first go up. I read the Razor for diversion or amusement, waiting for Tyd’s latest rant, or hoping that Brian McKinney or Thomas or Stef the Pef or Poseur or someone else will say something amusing that will make me laugh. I have to be in the right mood for the more “challenging” stuff.

And although I did grow up (for the most part) and do live in Virginia and certainly have lived around, gone to high school with and later law school with and worked with people who went to Virginia Tech I’ve only been to Blacksburg twice, and the last time was about 25 years ago.

So maybe I am supposed to be “everyman,” the average person who doesn’t know what to think. Because I still don’t know what to think about most of this tragedy

I’ll start with a few things that I do “know.”
First, the national plastering of this guy’s image on newspapers (and most likely television – I rarely watch anything but sports) disgusts me. We’ve turned him into a Jim Morrison/Kurt Cobain rock star. I woke up this morning in New York City and spent part of the day in Newark, so I’ve walked by more than a few newspaper stands. Newspapers around the country featured this sick killer in big bold colors, above the fold. Guess what; he’s famous! Obviously he isn’t around to bask in the fame. But like the terrorists who acted on September 11, this nutjob did not appear to have a clear understanding of what happens when you die—especially when your death comes after or while killing others in such a cold-blooded manner.

I’m a Christian and believe in an afterlife. But I will admit to doubts. Maybe when we’re dead, that’s it. Nothing else happens. I don’t think that’s true, but its possible. If the latter is correct, Mr. Cho is dead and his dreams of redemption are dead too. But if I’m right and there’s an afterlife, I don’t think he’s going to be enjoying it very much.

Either way, he’s gone from this world.
We all enjoy our “pity fantasies.” The movie “A Christmas Story” features a scene where Ralphie imagines that he’s blind and homeless due to the CRUEL treatment of his parents. He shows up at his home, with a cane and dark glasses, after having disappeared for “a time.” His parents are shamed by their past lack of care for the poor boy and he feels VINDICATED. The fact that his fantasy is totally implausible matters not. The point for Ralphie is that his parents feel bad and want to make it up to him.

How many sitcoms have featured episodes where the cute, but awkward guy or girl does something silly to get a love interest’s attention? I remember an episode of Dobie Gillis (which is old enough to have been in re-runs when I was a kid) where Dobie tells his love interest that he only has a few weeks to live in order to get her to go out with him. A variation is the fake accident to avoid turning in homework or completing a task. From outrageous stunts to fake accidents, doing something stupid one of the oldest tricks in the book. Shakespeare plays feature several examples of people taking on imagined roles in order to get another’s attention.

People do silly and stupid things to get attention or to try and “solve problems.”
Unfortunately, there are plenty of troubled people out there who are still very much alive and very much seeking some sort of “solution” or who desperately want attention. And instead of faking an injury, attempting some sort of Jackass-like stunt or dressing up like a fool, they’re likely to do something that could harm more than just themselves. Just as the fellow in Blacksburg appears to have been inspired by the troubled teens of Columbine, it’s quite likely that some other horribly disturbed individuals will see the photos or videos and think, “that’s right, I’ll show ‘em. The guy in Blacksburg got himself on the front page of every paper in the country! Wow, I could be like him!”

I actually felt a tiny bit of sadness for the kids at Columbine. Sounds like the high school “jock culture” was pretty ingrained there and that they had been made miserable. Not a justification, but I could almost understand the rage they felt. Not the reaction of buying a bunch of guns illegally and using them, but the rage. This jerk, however, was 23 years old and attending a HUGE University. Blaming others for one’s own problems is one the biggest problems our society faces today. Its always “someone else’s fault” that I don’t have this or don’t have that or that I didn’t get this or didn’t get that. Life is sometimes not fair and its almost always what you make of it. Yeah, some people get dealt 4 aces and others get dealt a 3, a 6, a 7, one jack and a 9…. All in different suits. The amazing thing is that some of the people with four aces still manage to blow their chances, while the guy with the mixed hand comes out on top. Not always, but it happens.

Here’s something else I know; It made my cry, yet also made me feel good about human nature when the Washington Nationals all wore Virginia Tech ballcaps during their Tuesday night game against the Braves. A fan suggested it, the team management asked for permission and after some delay, got permission. That’s just one example of the many deeds of sympathy and support that people from all over the world have extended. Instead of inspiring hate and anger, this horrible deed, like most horrible deeds or disasters, actually inspires people to act in a selfless manner. Not that we should hope for more disasters or fiascos, but think of the response from all over the world after 9-11 or the efforts by people to help after Katrina. These are but a couple examples of the generosity of the human spirit. Individuals and smaller groups and associations were the ones who did the best work in those instances and my guess is that they will be the ones that help the most this time.

Governments and larger organizations are stumbling, bumbling leviathans that have trouble reacting or responding. It’s usually the can-do official who makes things happen, not the committee or the department or the official study group. In my Nationals example, the fan and the team moved quickly. MLB almost blew it because no one was able to make a snap decision. They had to “think” about it first.

The facts that have emerged about the shooter’s encounters with officialdom at Virginia Tech show that the school knew this guy was troubled yet did not know how to handle him. Not that I know what they should have done differently. So now we’re into what I don’t know” territory. Sounds like he was a social outcast, if not a creep. What do you do with someone like that? How do you reach someone so alienated and angry at age 23? Or age 18, like the guys in Columbine? Where do you draw the line? Right now, we wish that Tech had kicked this guy out a year or two ago. But if he was that sick, there was nothing that would have stopped him from buying the guns and coming back to campus and shooting the place up even after he’d been expelled. The school did send him off for counseling, but he resisted.

At what point does the school’s responsibility under the doctrine of “in loco parentis” (for a 23 year old) stop? And if it does exercise control and authority, at what point does the school become “big brother.” If they’d locked this guy up in 2005, instead of the current stories, maybe we’d be reading about a major deprivation of civil rights lawsuit instead.

He didn’t fit in and having felt that way myself as a teen, I know that it’s a horrible feeling. It stinks to not be a member of the club. But it also sounds like he didn’t try. As noted above, Va. Tech is massive school. There are people from all over the world at Tech and people of every background. If he’d looked, he could have found a friend or friends. What he wanted is unclear, but instead of trying to figure out how to get “in,” he decided to take others “out.” And that never works. The celebration of victimhood which he appears to have wallowed in allows those who feel cheated to not only blame someone else, but worse yet, to allow the self-identified victim to not do anything about his or her problem.

So what about guns? Virginia Tech bans them on campus, yet he had two. So that law or regulation was broken. We could pass more laws, but how would we enforce them? Search every dorm? Every off campus apartment? I don’t know the answer to this at all. Gun control laws are not going to be “strengthened.” Suggesting it is a non-starter. I used to get incensed about the fact that we couldn’t get tougher gun control laws, but it seems to me that crazy sickos will find ways around every law and if you make the laws so tight, the rest of us will ignore them… ie speed limits and drinking age laws.

I’ve never owned a gun and do not hunt and have no real interest in either. But I keep meeting people who do. “Normal people” whom I trust. A few years back Virginia enacted a “right to carry” concealed weapons law. You can apply for a permit and carry a concealed weapon. Last I heard, about two years ago, no one who had applied and gotten such a permit had been involved in a crime. Those that follow the rules aren’t the ones to worry about. It’s the whackos who find their way around the rules. And the civil libertarian in me says enacting more rules probably won’t work.

But I really don’t know the best answer to this one.