Virginia Tech researchers: Was Cho actually bullied?

Was Cho severely bullied throughout his life? Was he beaten up? Was the level of bullying enough to "get where he was coming from" from your perspective or no?

I read Cho's manifesto and he gives no specific examples of having a hard time throughout his life. There is nothing in there about him being beaten up by jocks everyday. I'm wondering if the shooting was more because of his untreated mental health issues than him "going postal" due to bullying.

There exists no witness statements that suggests Cho was assaulted in either high school or college. There are reports that suggest he was made fun of, particularly for his strange speaking patterns.

He was definitely mentally broken.

I always thought that he was just overly offended by how people (quite reasonably) avoided him and were unnerved by him.

But I know next to nothing about Virginia Tech, aside from the basics.

Found a documentary about Cho's life on YouTube: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (very loud intro)

As Question Mark said, it seems like nobody witnessed him being picked on, either verbally or physically, at V-Tech or his former school. He was just kind of invisible.

I think his manifesto was written while under the influence of his third personality, "Ax Ishmael", who believed himself to be a persecuted martyr. The shooting was also carried out by this personality. When he sent his manifesto to NBC he even signed it, "A. Ishmael." So my current take on it is that it had nothing to do with bullying or "racism" like those YouTube edgelords claim.

Nah I don't think he was, I think he was just basically invisible tbh (which can be also detrimental to your mental health)

Didn't the kid hardly talk to others? I heard he was extremely unsocial.

bradt93 wrote:

Didn't the kid hardly talk to others? I heard he was extremely unsocial.

Yes, he was extremely antisocial. As mentioned above, he was practically invisible. As far as I know, it was through his own choice that he was so invisible.

hvernon wrote:

bradt93 wrote:

Didn't the kid hardly talk to others? I heard he was extremely unsocial.

Yes, he was extremely antisocial. As mentioned above, he was practically invisible. As far as I know, it was through his own choice that he was so invisible.

I just went through a comprehensive summary of Cho's behavior and psychological state and while Cho isolated himself and failed to function socially, I would disagree with the statement that he was invisible at Virginia Tech. He almost always refused to speak but his writings were consistently based upon concerning, violently themed content and there were many instances of Cho acting out with dramatic and odd behaviors among his peers and even in the presence of authority figures.

His fellow students at Virginia Tech were disturbed by his behaviors. He once pulled out a knife during a party and began stabbing the carpet. His roommates stopped inviting him to parties.

He would contact people by phone and instant messenger and pretend to be his twin brother "Question Mark." He began stalking girls on campus, using the same persona and sometimes disguising himself when he showed up at their doors.

He spoke of committing suicide to a roommate who called the police, and Cho was subsequently court ordered into outpatient treatment (which he failed to comply with).

He once wrote an angry rant, which he shared with his poetry class, about how his classmates were "barbarians" and "despicable human beings" after a conversation in class where students discussed eating exotic foods. He told them to "burn in hell for mass murdering and eating all those little, harmless animals." Other students were frightened and the professor, Nikki Giovanni, requested that he transfer to a different class. When he refused, she said that she would resign if he wasn't removed from her class.

Professors and other faculty members wrote dozens of e-mails to each other about Cho's behavior, hoping to help him and keep an eye on him too. He was frequently aggressive and hostile, arguing with his teachers about the content of his assignments and refusing to alter them when he was asked. Several professors urged him to get help from the campus counseling centers.

He certainly did not fly under the radar, even if he barely spoke.

Lucinda Roy, the head of the English department, apparently wrote this about Cho in her book:

Dr. Lucinda Roy wrote:

Each time he walks into my office, I am seized with the desire to fill the void he creates. There is something melodramatic about his entrance. He knows what impression he is creating and it seems to give him satisfaction. . . . Sometimes it’s like talking to an inanimate object with limbs and an attitude. The core of his identity is impenetrable, his gaze strangely neutered, as if he has spent his entire life ridding it of expression. . . . His egotism and insecurity create a dangerous combination because then he can ridicule everything that intimidates him. It is a character combination that is essentially dismissive of others. He is uncomfortable when challenged about his ideas, and yet he seems to yearn to be challenged, hoping that someone will topple the despair that colors what he sees.

Cho's total resistance to interaction made him the opposite of invisible over time. The fact that everyone involved was acutely aware of Cho's presence, his difficulties and his red flags and yet he fell through the cracks anyway is an open secret in the story of Virginia Tech!

hvernon wrote:

bradt93 wrote:

Didn't the kid hardly talk to others? I heard he was extremely unsocial.

Yes, he was extremely antisocial. As mentioned above, he was practically invisible. As far as I know, it was through his own choice that he was so invisible.

Yes, he had selective mutism.

sscc wrote:

He once wrote an angry rant, which he shared with his poetry class, about how his classmates were "barbarians" and "despicable human beings" after a conversation in class where students discussed eating exotic foods. He told them to "burn in hell for mass murdering and eating all those little, harmless animals." Other students were frightened and the professor, Nikki Giovanni, requested that he transfer to a different class. When he refused, she said that she would resign if he wasn't removed from her class.

That Nikki Giovanni lady sounds like a huge bitch:

Quote :

Nikki Giovanni, the feminist poet and teacher at Virginia Tech who stirred the campus convocation yesterday with a poem, had Cho in a poetry class two years ago — and it wasn't long before she had him tossed out. "There was something mean about this boy," she said. "Troubled kids get drunk and jump off buildings. It was the meanness that bothered me." Giovanni recalled that Cho came to class in dark sunglasses and a hat. And every day, from very early in the semester, she would ask him to remove the one and then the other. "We would have this sort of ritual," she said.

The shades and hat probably helped with his anxiety. No need to humiliate him by making him take them off. What crawled up her butt?

Also, what do people think of my theory that Ax Ishmael wasn't just some macho alter-ego, but a separate personality? Cho's manifesto is a delusional rant about being persecuted, about being "the anti-terrorist of America", as though it was written by a completely different person, which leads me to believe the Ax personality was in the driver's seat while it was written. Question Mark may also be a separate personality.

sympathyforEandD wrote:

That Nikki Giovanni lady sounds like a huge bitch:

Quote :

Nikki Giovanni, the feminist poet and teacher at Virginia Tech who stirred the campus convocation yesterday with a poem, had Cho in a poetry class two years ago — and it wasn't long before she had him tossed out. "There was something mean about this boy," she said. "Troubled kids get drunk and jump off buildings. It was the meanness that bothered me." Giovanni recalled that Cho came to class in dark sunglasses and a hat. And every day, from very early in the semester, she would ask him to remove the one and then the other. "We would have this sort of ritual," she said.

The shades and hat probably helped with his anxiety. No need to humiliate him by making him take them off. What crawled up her butt?

Some teachers are really anal about dressing a certain way or looking a particular way. It's authoritarian bullcrap, but sadly there isn't a way around it.

sympathyforEandD wrote:

Also, what do people think of my theory that Ax Ishmael wasn't just some macho alter-ego, but a separate personality? Cho's manifesto is a delusional rant about being persecuted, about being "the anti-terrorist of America", as though it was written by a completely different person, which leads me to believe the Ax personality was in the driver's seat while it was written. Question Mark may also be a separate personality.

I personally think that Cho wasn't a sufferer of DID. "Ax Ishmael" seem less like a different person running the show and more like a natural end result of Cho feeling stymied his entire life.

QuestionMark wrote:

sympathyforEandD wrote:

Also, what do people think of my theory that Ax Ishmael wasn't just some macho alter-ego, but a separate personality? Cho's manifesto is a delusional rant about being persecuted, about being "the anti-terrorist of America", as though it was written by a completely different person, which leads me to believe the Ax personality was in the driver's seat while it was written. Question Mark may also be a separate personality.

I personally think that Cho wasn't a sufferer of DID. "Ax Ishmael" seem less like a different person running the show and more like a natural end result of Cho feeling stymied his entire life.

Yeah, I think of "Ax Ishmael" as the same thing as "Reb" or "Vodka". It wasn't DID, just an alter ego he made up.