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Experts fear copy-cat massacres
19/04/2007 21:21 - (SA)
Chicago - A disturbed loner sought vindication and glory in making a multi-media manifesto before gunning down more than 30 people at Virginia Tech University, experts say.
This as criticism grew on Thursday about NBC's decision to broadcast his tirade.
The rambling, angry rants Cho Seung-Hui made on a series of videos gave a chilling glimpse into the disturbed psyche of a man riddled with narcissism, self-aggrandisement and nihilism.
"This man was delusional, quite paranoid. I don't know if he was hearing voices, but I wouldn't be surprised," said Steve Hinshaw, chair of the psychology department at the University of California Berkeley. Copy-cat assaults
The move to broadcast Cho's disturbing rant met with condemnation from experts who said they feared the publicity might encourage copy-cat assaults by troubled individuals willing to kill and die for the same kind of national attention.
"The unfortunate thing is, he was seeking publicity and he got it," said Mardi Horowitz, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco.
"There's a danger of all kinds of copy-cat people looking for media glory."
NBC said the decision to air the video and photos presented an ethical dilemma and warned viewers that it was disturbing material, but that acknowledgment did not satisfy police, who criticised the move to broadcast Cho's words.
"We're rather disappointed in the editorial decision to broadcast these disturbing images," Virginia police superintendent Steve Flaherty told a news conference on Thursday.
Former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt, who is now an NBC analyst, said he also disagreed with the network's decision.
"This is what this guy wants," Van Zandt said. "He wants to be able to reach his hand out of the grave and grab us by the throat and make us listen to him one more time.
"There's part of me that still doesn't like it that we're going to live this guy's fantasy out for him, even though he's been dead for two days," he said. 'Severe case of grandiosity'
While it is impossible to accurately diagnose Cho from the brief set of video clips, Hinshaw said his actions and words showed Cho could have been suffering from a severe case of grandiosity, and possibly bipolar disorder or schizophrenia as well.
"He made a statement ... in a self-destructive but self-promoting blaze of glory," Hinshaw said in a telephone interview.
"It's chilling to think in these ways, but sometimes mental illness can take hold of a person such that any empathy for others takes second place to a compulsive need to let the world know how much one has suffered."
Cho raged against hedonism and "rich kids" in his carefully prepared package of 27 video files, an 1 800-word written manifesto and 43 photographs. But the bulk of his anger was directed at an unidentified "you" whom he blamed for forcing his hand. 'You decided to spill my blood'
"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," Cho said in one of the videos.
"But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option," he said.
The statement seemed an attempt to show that Cho's life wasn't worthless, so long as people could see what he suffered, Hinshaw explained.
"We find this sometimes in serious mental illnesses where it's nihilism and narcissism: my life isn't really worth much but I will go to all ends to let people know how much I've suffered in a very self-promoting way," Hinshaw said.
This form of mental illness is extremely rare and most people with mental illness are not violent, he added. Cycle of revenge
Horowitz acknowledged that the media has a responsibility to report the full story, but said it's important that the story be told in a way that other disturbed individuals do not feel it this is a good way to get attention.
The idea that violence is a bad way to resolve problems can get through to even "highly disturbed, irrational individuals" and perhaps prevent violent responses.
"The important thing is not letting these vile acts contribute to the cycle of revenge," Horowitz told AFP. "That's the disease we're trying to cure."
- AFP
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