Compassion: Students Forgive Virginia Tech Killer
Students Say He's A Human First, A Murderer Second
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_107170729.html
(CBS) NEW YORK While it seems most people are resigned to express hatred toward Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech gunman who shot and killed 32 people before taking his own life, there are some who aren't thinking twice about forgiving the 23-year-old student for his heinous crimes.
The popular college Web site Facebook.com has become a haven for student groups to form, a place where thousands flock to express their feelings about the tragic incident that occurred on Monday morning. In doing a search of Cho's name on the Web site, results offer numerous groups -- most of which include either expletives in combination with his name as the name of the group, or others which wish harm upon him in the afterlife.
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Still, somewhere in between all the anger, there are the occasional students who are willing to forgive, and offer their prayers to honor the killer's life.
One such group, called "Eternal Rest Grant Unto Him, O Lord: Cho Seung-Hui," now has over 50 members signed up in the group, and they are speaking their minds. Most members do not attend Virginia Tech, and they range from high school students to graduates from all over the country.
On the group's bulletin board, 19-year-old Montclair State University freshman Justin Heba explained why he joined the group, writing: "Cho Seung-Hui lived eight-thousand, four-hundred, and eighty-nine days. I and no reasonable person, or deity, could or should allow the events of one of them to discount the other eight-thousand, four-hundred, and eighty-eight," the student wrote. "You will be in my prayers, Cho, though I never knew you -- it is a shame that you died the way you did, and that so many others died that day too."
The group's creator is not a Virginia Tech student, but instead 16-year-old high school sophomore MacKenzie Swigart from Kansas. She said it's the hateful and vulgar criticism toward Cho written in other groups that led her to create one forgiving him.
"The groups expressing anger toward him are what inspired me to create the group. We have no idea what happened to this kid, or what was going through his head, but it's really clear that he had problems," Swigart told wcbstv.com. "When I saw all of those groups damning him to hell and wishing him ill, without considering that, hey, he is a person too. I thought he deserved to be respected and remembered like the other victims."
Still, Swigart does admit her feelings might be different if she were a Virginia Tech student, but she thinks the hate and vulgarity is unfair, as well as the e-mails she's received from people who don't agree with her beliefs.
"I have had to delete posts on the wall of the group where people have said anyone in the group should burn in hell, or that we must all be 'sick' to sympathize with Cho," she said. "I've gotten a lot of negative feedback. I received a silly little hate mail that said,'You're an evil girl. God will never love you.'"
Those feelings ultimately appear to represent the vast majority of students, however. One Facebook group called "Blame Cho Seung-Hui (VT Shooter)" has over 600 members and over 400 postings on its bulletin board. Most offer constructive debate on the issue, but other students do go to other extremes to express their feelings. One member's post read: "this is [expletive]. i wish this dude did not kill himself so that he could have gotten the death penalty......fire squad."
And some are even bringing Cho's foreign background into their criticism. Heba said it's unfair how people are talking about Cho.
"I think it's unfair that he was 'the Asian killer,' then later the 'South Korean killer,' and now just 'the killer' because there have been some reports of escalating racial tension and harassment because of his actions. It's unfair that he is not being represented even as a human being with a name," he said. "He's being vilified and dehumanized to help people feel more blameless, which is most definitely unfair."
Heba, who considers himself to be a "pariah the last few years," also thinks the rap student outcasts receive is also unfair and puts them in tough situations when violence breaks out in schools and the suspects are said to be outcast students.
"There are enough outcasts that are not shooters that it is likely an irrelevant label," Heba said. "There are more useful patterns present throughout the small pool of 'student shooters' that to rely on such a broad one is fallacy, and does nothing, but push undue stress onto other 'outcasts' in the wake of events such as this."
Which leads many to wonder whether the shootings could have been prevented. Cho has been said to be mostly a quiet person, one who didn't socialize much, and could have received treatment for his problems.
"He was a really twisted person. He needed help, that is what led him to commit his crime," Swigart said. "That is what makes it so sad. He could have received the help he needed and possibly went on to live a more fruitful life, the lives of the other victims could have been spared, but we won't know now."
Since creating her group, Swigart's been forced to delete many posts ripping her group and its members from the group's bulletin board. However, no matter how much hate mail she receives, she plans to continue to stand by her position and hopes other will follow suit.
"What happened was a tragedy, and a senseless act of violence, as so many others have said. There were 33 victims though. Cho was a victim of himself, and of hatred and of evil. He deserves to be respectfully and lovingly remembered, just like the rest of the victims," she said. "He has a family missing a child now, too, who deserve to be reached out to just like the rest of the families. But people are talking about the senseless violence and hatred of his actions. They are senselessly hating him in return, and that is completely unfair."