20th April 2007, 8:02 PM
'paranoid schizophrenic' is a term I've been hearing used on TV for him... who knows if it's right or not, but it certainly is true that his external and internal personas were quite different. It seems like ever since he was very young he was very quiet and didn't talk much... there's definitely a big contrast between that and how he acted on those videos.
As for being picked on in school, that usually happens because you're 'different' in some way. That's certainly how it was for me... children can tell when you're not "normal", somehow, and children are cruel... even so I liked school because I like learning, but the other students... even through highschool, excepting a couple of people, outside of class I wouldn't be surprised if I had more conversations with the teachers than the students... maybe not, but perhaps.
I never wanted to hurt anyone because of them picking on me, though. Definitely not... my response was usually 'do nothing and hope they leave me alone', pretty much. Fighting wouldn't help anything. My problems are about not understanding others and anxiety, not anger or anything like that... There was one kid (and his friend) in junior high who did shove me against the wall sometimes, but he eventually got caught doing it and got in trouble... no, for me, the 'i was picked on' wasn't that kind of stuff. Oh yes, and I did notice that most people were more grown up in highschool... not to say that everything there was perfect, but junior high was the worst, for sure.
Perhaps if he had gotten help, but as I've heard all over the media, it's very hard to know when someone is simply troubled and when they are actually dangerous... but if we had a better system for identifying mental illnesses and actually treated them, instead of mostly ignoring them unless someone is hurt, perhaps it could have been avoided... after all, he had been through the system, even if it hadn't succeeded. Part of the blame definitely has to be on the system that is unable to identify which people are greater dangers... not to mention, of course, how he managed to get a gun despite his diagnosis (now it does seem like he shouldn't, but the law was ignored by someone(s)...)... but no, you are wrong. It wasn't unavoidable. Lots of people have mental illnesses or are treated badly in school, but most of them don't go out and kill people... 'well he couldn't take it and did' isn't nearly good enough. While it does go a long way towards explaining why it happened, it doesn't do anything toward saying what you suggest. He was blaming all of society for being against him, after all; so we are all guilty of being against him? No, it was just in his mind... his mind and reality didn't line up, and in the end he acted on his mind, not on what is real. There's no way to defend that.
As for being picked on in school, that usually happens because you're 'different' in some way. That's certainly how it was for me... children can tell when you're not "normal", somehow, and children are cruel... even so I liked school because I like learning, but the other students... even through highschool, excepting a couple of people, outside of class I wouldn't be surprised if I had more conversations with the teachers than the students... maybe not, but perhaps.
I never wanted to hurt anyone because of them picking on me, though. Definitely not... my response was usually 'do nothing and hope they leave me alone', pretty much. Fighting wouldn't help anything. My problems are about not understanding others and anxiety, not anger or anything like that... There was one kid (and his friend) in junior high who did shove me against the wall sometimes, but he eventually got caught doing it and got in trouble... no, for me, the 'i was picked on' wasn't that kind of stuff. Oh yes, and I did notice that most people were more grown up in highschool... not to say that everything there was perfect, but junior high was the worst, for sure.
Quote:I agree with you, but they why is simple: Whether it can be proven to any major validity or not, he was a psycho for many reasons; All of which have to do with what he endured. He was Frankenstein's monster simply put.
What he did was wrong, but it was also unavoidable, or rather it was really the only outcome. His victims were jocks, barbies, people of status. Though i'm sure he got some people just because they were there. But he sought out to dismantle what made him in the ways he was taught how.
Perhaps if he had gotten help, but as I've heard all over the media, it's very hard to know when someone is simply troubled and when they are actually dangerous... but if we had a better system for identifying mental illnesses and actually treated them, instead of mostly ignoring them unless someone is hurt, perhaps it could have been avoided... after all, he had been through the system, even if it hadn't succeeded. Part of the blame definitely has to be on the system that is unable to identify which people are greater dangers... not to mention, of course, how he managed to get a gun despite his diagnosis (now it does seem like he shouldn't, but the law was ignored by someone(s)...)... but no, you are wrong. It wasn't unavoidable. Lots of people have mental illnesses or are treated badly in school, but most of them don't go out and kill people... 'well he couldn't take it and did' isn't nearly good enough. While it does go a long way towards explaining why it happened, it doesn't do anything toward saying what you suggest. He was blaming all of society for being against him, after all; so we are all guilty of being against him? No, it was just in his mind... his mind and reality didn't line up, and in the end he acted on his mind, not on what is real. There's no way to defend that.