The Cho Flow: He didn't mean "you" you

The human animal is highly narcistic

So when the word "YOU" comes up in a dialouge, our antennas naturally go up and we immediately ask, Are you talking to me? To me?

But as more pieces of the Cho Seung Hui story come out, it becomes painfully obvious that "you" does not mean you. Sorry there big fella. We didn't mean to offend the EGOr in you. Relax, you are still the center of the Universe. But just for a brief moment please allow us to shift the camera and point it to Cho's tormentors:

Once, in a [High School] English class, the teacher had the students read aloud, and when it was Cho's turn, he just looked down in silence, [Chris] Davids recalled. Finally, after the teacher threatened him with an F for participation, Cho started to read in a strange, deep voice that sounded "like he had something in his mouth," Davids said.
"As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, 'Go back to China,'" Davids said.

Imagine for a moment (Yes, it's hard to keep the camera from swinging back to you. We'll get back to you after this brief ADHD message.) Imagine a line up of all the people who tormented Cho in high school and in college. Imagine that many of the allegations of bullying are true.

Dr Marissa Randozza, a psychologist in Nevada who formerly worked for the US secret service, told The Independent that Cho fitted the pattern of previous school shooters. In 2002 Dr Randozza co-authored a seminal study on school shootings that found that 71 per cent of perpetrators "felt bullied, persecuted or injured by others".
"We found that bullying usually happened closer to the actual shooting [than may have happened in this case]," she said. "In some instances we found that [shooters] were bullied so much it had been a torment, they felt despondent and desperate. It could be this pushed [Cho] into a downward spiral if he experienced bullying before going to Virginia Tech."

Given that kind of context, let's try plugging in the more probable "you" into Cho's allegedly insane rantings:

- "You [who have tormented me] had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today. But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you [who have tormented me] have blood on your hands that will never wash off."
- "I didn't have to do it. I could have left. I could have fled [Va. Tech]. But now I am no longer running. It's not for me, [it's] for my children and my brothers and sisters that you [who have tormented me] (F-expletived). I did it for them."
- "You [who have tormented me] just loved to crucify me. You loved inducing cancer in my head, terror in my heart and ripping my soul all this time."
- "You [who have tormented me] have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people."
- "Do you [who have tormented me] know what it feels like to be spit on your face and have trash shoved down your throat? Do you know what it feels like to dig your own grave? Do you know what it feels like to have your throat slashed from ear to ear? Do you know what it feels like to be torched alive? Do you know what it feels like to be humiliated and be impaled upon a cross and left to bleed to death for your amusement?
You [who have tormented me] have never felt a single ounce of pain your whole life. And you want to inject as much misery in our lives because you can, just because you can. You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You [who have tormented me] had everything."
- "When the time came, I did it. I had to."

Kind of starts to make sense now, huh?