Show the Video

Friday afternoon I talked to my son who had written 3 pieces about the Virginia Tech massacre for a t.v. show that generally spins celebrity gossip. He said he was surprised that the producers were so into real world news, as opposed to gossip about Brittany or Halle, Brad and Luke.

Y. said that what they're really talking about in Hollywood is how badly NBC goofed by releasing the video Cho sent to them in his "manifesto." The video was subsequently picked up by all of the other major networks and everyone who owns a television saw it before the network executives thought about it and realized that this was a bad idea. The video glorified Cho and would encourage copycats, people who might perpetrate violence to further political agendas.

My feeling? I know I'm going to hear about it, but
SHOW THE VIDEO!
Show it in schools. Show it at community centers. Show it in churches, synagogues and mosques. Have assemblies with panels of experts talking about it in front of as many listeners as you can find. In schools, have students and mental health professionals discuss it in front of everyone, microphones on! Talk about it, don't shove it under the rug!

It is wrong that millions of people even see what Cho did as a political statement. He was very, very ill. That's all. He was mentally ill, a person suffering, yes SUFFERING, from a disorder, Paranoid Schizophrenia. To prevent copycats, the public needs psycho-education. In a big way.

Children especially need to know about this disorder. They need to know, if you ask me, about all kinds of mental, behavioral and emotional disorders that we discuss on this blog. Who's going to teach them?

How hard could it be to find professionals willing to speak to kids, participate on panels?

I think it's the Chinese who say, Crisis Equals Opportunity.

If we let this one pass, we really should be ashamed of ourselves.


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