About the Cho Seung-Hui Video

Just a thought about the video manifesto that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC....

Because the video was delivered a day late, do we think differently about Cho? It didn't become public until after we had heard so many people describe Cho as a loner who refused to engage with his classmates, teachers and even his roommates. For most of Tuesday and early Wednesday, news reports were filled with people talking about how they tried to get him to participate in class, tried to make conversation with him, etc. One roommate said he didn't know Cho's name until the dorm RA posted his name on the door. So we clearly had a feel that folks tried to reach out to him, but he was very anti-social.

Then comes this video rant with Cho blaming people, saying they made him do this. "You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today." Had this been seen immediately after the murders, we might discount statements made by Va. Tech people about trying to reach out to him as after-the-fact excuses. But now we know they're very believeable, and we can put Cho's statements in context.

I know some of have said we shouldn't see the video, because it gives the killer the publicity he wanted. But I think it gives us amazing insight into Cho, proof that he was as crazy as people said.