Usedcarsalesman wanted to let a couple of months elapse before he offered any insight on the Virginia Tech shootings - the worst shooting rampage in U.S. history.
First off, Usedcarsalesman went to school at U.Va., some 90 miles up the road from Virginia Tech in Charlottesville, Va. Even though he graduated way before a lot of atypical, domestic mass-violent events occurred in the U.S. - The Oklahoma City Bombing, The North Hollywood Shootout, Columbine High School Massacre, the recent Va. Tech Shooting - Usedcarsalesman probably still has a feel for the general environment that Cho was in while attending a major Virginia college.
Does Usedcarsalesman have a feeling for Seung-Hui Cho, himself? Yes and no. After watching the "Cho videos" this gunman apparently released to NBC (and which should be shown in their entirety to the public!), Usedcarsalesman was troubled by the inconsistencies this information added to the student's personae. He was described by other sources as a loner, silent, mentally ill, and angry etc. and that's what Usedcarsalesman was expecting to see. But Cho on video seemed oddly communicative, sane, and aware of other people (but guns-and-ammo pose-happy and angry). Yeah, the guy wasn't George Clooney, but he didn't come across clumsily on video - you could tell that his "monologues" were coming from the "gut" so to speak. Frankly, the guy didn't strike Usedcarsalesman as crazy, as much as he would have wished it otherwise.
So, what turned Cho in to this monster who committed such terrible actions? Who knows? We'd all like to "label" it because it makes us feel better and more in control. So based on Usedcarsalesman's experience at college in Virginia he's going to speculate and go with this speed-ball: "'Cho was intelligent, but from day one growing up in a very prosperous area, lacked money, power, sex, and, of course, mental health. This, coupled with web-based information that enabled his access to ideas, media and materials produced a monumental outlet of violence on his part."
1. Money - His mom and dad are hard working and run a dry cleaning shop which is probably a financial heart-breaker when it comes to making ends meet and staying afloat versus other venues in Fairfax. Any disposable income that Cho's parents can afford to throw his way, ever? Probably not. Heck in Fairfax (Falls Church) cops drove Volvo patrol cars for Pete's sake, until the mid-90's. Yeah most people living there aren't real presentable, original-types, but they do have that annoying upper-middle-class, dual-income kind of W2 money - a lot of "Jr's" there get all the cars, clothes, trips that they'll ever need. Financially, Cho was probably a little bit of a fish out of water growing up, even in Korean enclaves
And his economic outlook probably got worse pre-College. "Your sister managed to get in to Princeton, study economics and work for the State Department?! You got in to Va. Tech and are studying ...English?!" "What, you want to be busting your ass like us when you are 50-60 you stupid fool?" "Why can't you be more like the Kwang's boy? He just got a scholarship to medical school!" (speculation on last words of Cho's Father and Mother to him).
Cho goes to Va. Tech. Va Tech pulls probably 80% of its incoming class from Virginia and half of those from Northern Virginia (mostly kids with Mommy and Daddy's credit cards, shiny European cars, lots of electronics). The fact that Va. Tech is a public school with relatively low tuition for in-state students probably only magnifies the financial disparity for Cho. Rather than dropping 30k a year on tuition at private school, The "spoiled" kid's parents drop 6k and have that much more disposable income to drop on their off-spring at Va Tech. Cho's parents, on the other hand, are probably working there hardest just to cover the 6k and his room and board.
How about post-grad prospects? Va. Tech is all about the traditional fields of Engineering, Architecture, Computer Science, Business and Agriculture. It has a 60% male enrollment rate, unlike most colleges. You go there, you go there to study in fields with direct, real-world application like Engineering, Architecture et al., not English. The guys in the traditional fields graduate and they have decent-paying jobs lined up and on-campus recruiting is outstanding for these fields. Cho's accounting major room-mate was probably like, "my first job when I graduate as an accountant is going to pay me $50,000." "What do you have lined up, Cho...Cho? (to friend) Why's he always walking away from us like that?"
Frankly, unless Cho had a large body of writing from working on Va. Tech's school newspaper(s) or its magazines, Cho had no real employment prospects "writing." And he didn't seem the type to score a ton of decent internships, etc. that he might use to leverage employment in some capacity or attach himself to a company that might train him in some capacity. As such, Cho's economic prospects, post-graduation, arguably seemed almost absent when compared to many of the thousands of other Va. Tech students studying business, electrical engineering, computer science, etc.
And, of course, his contemporaries at Tech in more marketable majors probably never shied away from razzing the "basket-weaving" liberal arts or English major types about there immediate employment prospects, post-grad. Why do you think this Cho guy said he was a business major? I know that was the situation when I was at U.Va.
2. Power - Well, the guy is a Korean on a mostly Anglo campus that is spread out. All the other Korean kids are probably fairly well off and forgive any perceived stereotyping, probably studying engineering, architecture, business, etc, not English. Are these Korean or Asian kids from Central or Southern Virginia? No, are you kidding? They are all from Northern Virginia and maybe a few from the Tidewater area, which means they are probably fairly well off.
Well, there has got to be more than money. Cho could do things for the school that were blind to money and get a little pull with people that way. There's sports, clubs, politics, things to get involved in and make a connection. Well, playing ACC varsity sports for the school was pretty much out for him, so maybe you have Intra-murals or Fraternity-related sporting events? When your folks are struggling to pay for education, the fraternity business is pretty much out and you don't want to waste their money on intramural sports - they are paying for you to go to class, not shoot hoops. I'd say Cho was essentially powerless and socially cut-off.
3. Sex - Yeah, well, that doesn't look so good either. He'd probably never "got-his-sex-on" with an actual woman in his life, based on his behavior. Usedcarsalesman doesn't want to try to stereotype the coed calculus that goes through a woman's head when she is checking out dudes, especially English Majors. But, he figures Cho was not on any Va Tech woman's gotta-get-with-cause-he's-got-such-a-bright-future list
Throw in a some hard-core depression, an interest in weapons and past similar shootings on which to model your behavior and a ton of enabling information available to him online and you've got a violently-themed three act play - first shootings, mail items to NBC, second mass shootings, End.
Most people would say, "look, as for that f$cker Cho, if he doesn't like the fact that some students seem more well off than he, then tough. If he can't handle the competition, then tough. If he can't handle the razzing, then tough. If he doesn't have a girlfriend, then tough. That's life, you gotta find a way to adapt or you die (in the vernacular of modern business, advertisements and news copy)" Usedcarsalesman tends to agree with this reasoning.
However, that reasoning can run two directions. Apparently, Cho saw that Va Tech and the larger world of people would never adapt to him (nor he to they) and so, to the young inexperienced, hopeless adult Cho, It needed to die in some manner, also. And, that's all she wrote.
Note: Frankly, it would be nice if NBC news releases the entirety of the "manifesto" and "video" sent to them by Cho. Other than government and law-enforcement, the public probably won't see it unless somebody leaks a copy. NBCs lawyers are probably concerned about being sued should future attacks occur following a release of this information, so they want it bottled up.
