It is now apparent that there had been numerous warning signs that Cho Seung Hui was a bizarre and potentially dangerous character. He had caused complaints from female students, led a series of professors to express serious concern about his outlook and the tone of his output, and had been committed to a mental health institution but allowed out again shortly afterwards.
Mass shootings have, alas, long been disproportionately associated with schools and universities. That is true not simply in America but in Britain (Dunblane), continental Europe and also Russia (Beslan). While academic life liberates most students, it can compound the isolation of those who already have troubled personalities. The contrast between their insecurities and the shining social confidence elsewhere eats at them. Once they have made the warped choice to kill others and themselves, a further surreal twist of “rational” thinking may bring them to the view that slaughtering those who should have the longest to live is the ultimate in final statements.
