Yeah, just read about Nikki Giovanni insisting that he be removed from her class or she'd resign -- seems more and more like something should have been done.
I agree with fishin about connecting dots. Whose job should that have been, I wonder?
Only now have I heard about Nikki Giovanni's refusal to have him in her class. She seems to have been the only one to draw the line on this guy. Everyone else seemed to have simply tolerated him.
For those of you who don't know, Ms. Giovanni is also a celebrated poet and author, her writings quite radical at times during the Black Power movement of the late 60's and 70's. (She was a fierce little thing and, needless to say I'm sure, I adored her.) So, to me, if she was intimidated by this guy, saying that he had a meanness in him that unnerved her, then he was definitely more than just a moody kid and should have been expelled unless agreeing to psychiatric care.
eoe wrote:Only now have I heard about Nikki Giovanni's refusal to have him in her class. She seems to have been the only one to draw the line on this guy. Everyone else seemed to have simply tolerated him.
For those of you who don't know, Ms. Giovanni is also a celebrated poet and author, her writings quite radical at times during the Black Power movement of the late 60's and 70's. (She was a fierce little thing and, needless to say I'm sure, I adored her.) So, to me, if she was intimidated by this guy, saying that he had a meanness in him that unnerved her, then he was definitely more than just a moody kid and should have been expelled unless agreeing to psychiatric care.
Do you know her personally eoe? Not that it is relevant to the discussion but your words struck me as those of someone with a direct, personal knowledge of her. Just curious.
No, unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure of meeting her. Maybe someday...
Okies! I watched her do an interview on TV last night and she seemed like one hell of a woman. She semed to be very despondant that her calls for help went unheeded.
32 people dead? That's a hell of a reason to be despondent. There's no joy or comfort in being able to say "I told you so."
happycat, I am aware of the definition of passion...my post does not change
Another piece of information regarding this case...the guy actually posted online in a forum saying he was going to guy and kill people at vtech the day before.
Do we know if there was any way to identify him?
I guess the site admins would have had access to an email address...and hence a way of tracking him through his ISP?
Whoa!!!
I wonder if any of them saw it?
I'm tired of the gun-control debate on the other thread, so I'll be staying here to read along.
Lil k, are you watching Channel 5 news right now perchance? Looks like we have our own local VaTech copycat wanna-be.
That was the ultimate cry for help. Glad he got it.
<exhale>
Glad they got him, hope that it will actually help.
I expect there will be more of these. Most will be bad jokes offered in poor taste but all it takes is one...
i don't know what it's like in the united states , but in canada it is usually quite a long drwn-out procedure to have someone committed to a mental institution .
someone considered "a danger" may be put under observation for a short time , but unless the person has either committed violent acts or if psychiatrists can show that there is grave and imminent danger , a person would not be committed to a mental institurion - that is a pretty rare situation in canada .
i believe current thinking is that people should generally not be institutionalized but live in the community with assistance from mental health workers as required .
most (closed) mental health facilities in canada have been phased and been replaced by small home-like facilities within residental areas - we have one in our neighbourhood and it does not present any problems - or such people live on their own or with their families without direct supervision .
i guess incidents such as at virginia tech are the price that society needs to be willing to assume to give the majority of people with mental health problems a chance to live a life outside of large institutions .
of course the people killed at VT and their families paid a very high price for that "freedom" of people with mental health problems .
i doubt that it will ever be possible to eliminate such mistakes as happened at VT .
hbg
Why are you posting that song here Bill? I think the song Jeremy would be more apt, actually. Spot on, almost, in fact.
There is so much news to filter through...does anyone have a timeline of the whole thing yet? I'm wondering how long it took from the beginning of the second set of shootings until the cops found him dead.
