No memorials for losers

This is probably the last article on this story for me but I wanted to weigh in on this one last aspect. Mr. SeeDubya, pinch hitting today at Hot Air, pointed out a tolerance-fest for Cho going on at some lefty blogs and had this to say:

I’m not going to apologize for dubbing this psycho “Psy-Cho”, by the way. He wants to be feared and taken seriously and have his name spoken in hushed tones. I’m not going to give the respect he never tried to earn, and I want anyone who wants to do what he did to know that his legacy will be eternal ridicule and derision.

To me this boils down to how we're going to look at Cho. Are we going to consider him a whackjob who snapped or a calculating loser who, like every Islamic suicide terrorist has decided to trade a pathetic life on earth for something beyond? Some might say the suicide bombers are not as crazy since at least they are promised hot virgin sex in the afterlife but this is more about evil than crazy, in my view.

While SeeDubya feels it necessary to suppress even the faintest hint of remorse for Cho (and I respect that) I do feel at least some. I feel bad he couldn't have risen out of his dark hole. I feel bad nobody around him, say an older, more popular guy (maybe another Korean) wasn't around to at least acknowledge him. Sorrier still that he ended it like he did without finding peace with God.

But I refuse to believe he was incapable of at least partially understanding his situation. His calculated planning defies that notion. Up to his point of departure there was still a chance for redemption by overcoming his problems and becoming one of life's winners. Instead he chose poorly and very selfishly, transferring his choice onto others, rendering him both evil and a loser. Any public tributes to the victims should not be tarnished by his likeness unless it shows him with his head blown off.

It's the same principle with the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania. While some might feel remorse for the men who took those planes it's abhorrent to memorialize them in public in any way. They might as well erect a plaque for Satan.

Cho's terror tapes

Although not a member of al Qaeda or even an Islamist, Cho certainly borrowed from their playbook. AQ in Iraq likes to send beheading clips to the internet--Cho sent his sickness to NBC in a box.

It's obvious the monotone laundry list of grievances (read from a script, no less), the 'I'm so scary' action poses, and a token reference to Columbine and Jesus Christ show his insanity quite clearly. Matter of fact it's almost cliche--we've seen this before. What continues to bother me is the level of horror and shock I didn't feel over this story from the beginning. It was certainly there, but nowhere near the same level with Columbine, Oklahoma City or 9/11 or other mass murders, and this desensitization to violence is disturbing.

It would be nice if the media could take Cho's terror tapes and try to make linkages to the Islamo-loons murdering innocent people every day in Iraq and Afghanistan since they use the very same tactics. Some will say no, he was just crazy, not the same. But remember, he wasn't crazy enough to be tossed out of a university. And remember, both are sick in the head, both are consumed with evil, both make use out of what they've got to maximize carnage, both plan carefully and make dry runs.

In reality it'll probably be nonstop gun control or whether so and so should be sued or not. But it's ironic, we're having the same arguments about the failure to see the warning signs just like we did in September of 2001. Teachers said about Cho, "I knew immediately who it was" while in 2001 analysts said, "I knew immediately it was bin Laden".

MORE 4/18/07

This event was a tragedy, but like 9/11 it was also an attack by a member of the twisted brigade aligned against civilized humanity. Here's a summary, including more on Ismail Ax. I'm not convinced of his Islamic connection yet, and as Allahpundit says, caution is advised before more information is released.

But who cannot be convinced this is yet another face of terrorism? Notice also that some of the same people who lambasted Bush for not stopping 9/11 are now on the side of the university and medical community for not locking this man up.

An issue for the heart

In the end the VT shooter was just another garden variety loner who had flunked his social interaction final. It's a damn shame nobody was able to intervene in his life in some way, but perhaps it's just not possible. Life is unpredictable. Sick and unexplainable crap happens every day and words rarely do it justice, but Michelle offered a few that fit. The blame here goes to nobody but the cowardly Cho.

As the week rolls on the knee jerks will get louder in their calls for government control of our lives. You've probably read about some of them here and especially here, where Charlton Heston was blamed. Bush? Expected. Ben Hur? Wow.

While driving home I caught some of Air America radio to see how they were covering the event. Host Randi Rhodes was suggesting that people should only see their guns when visiting the hunt club. She went on to rail about the "well regulated militia" phrase in the 2nd Amendment while leaving the "right to keep and bear arms" dangling around in the air. To me you can't have one without the other.

These same folks would have no problem stopping a president from fighting the very people who've already proven they want to do exactly what Cho did on a daily basis if left to their own devices. Both Katrina and AQ should be proof enough that Americans need the right to protect themselves, a right guaranteed in the Constitution that we all love.

But obviously the solution is not banning guns. As we saw on 9/11 a couple of Boeing 757s will do just fine if the goal is mass murder. The solution is within the human heart, where the battle between good and evil is a daily struggle. Nothing more.