ALTHOUGH the student responsible for the Virginia Tech murders has been dead for over a week, some fear that the harm from his attacks is not yet complete. Across the nation people have warned that anger towards shooter Cho Seung-Hui could boil over into harassment and prejudice towards Asians in general. Newspapers from California to Connecticut have written about fears of an "anti-Asian backlash." However, common sense and a reasonable evaluation of the situation show these worries to be exaggerated.
In an interview, Asian Student Union President Carlos Oronce seemed cautiously optimistic about the safety of Asian and Asian-American students at the University. He did not know of any specific harassment or violence towards specific students; the worst incidents he mentioned were "xenophobic" statements by University students written on Facebook and online message boards. Oronce expressed confidence in the administration's actions: "I tell [worried students] that the University supports students and there is a system to report these types of things." The system he referred to is the bias reporting system instituted last school year.
A key part of the warnings of a backlash has been criticism of the media's actions. These critics have alleged that the media were irresponsible in their coverage of the shooter's Korean ethnicity. Oronce, for example, said that "media attention focusing on his national origin" was "promoting a hostile atmosphere."
This sort of argument is not really a fair one. While we know now that Cho's rage was only due to psychological and social problems, this was not obvious immediately after the shootings. At the time, it was possible that Cho's immigrant background could help explain his actions. The media were right to investigate every aspect of the shooter's identity until it became clear. If media at this point were continuing to overstress his Korean background, then it might be correct to criticize their coverage. It is not fair to blame the media based on information they did not know until several days into the investigation.
By now, though, people who have followed this story will understand that Cho's acts had nothing to do with his race or ethnicity. He spent most of his life in the United States; his family immigrated fifteen years ago. In the disturbing package of photographs, videos, and written material that he mailed to NBC before his second shooting spree, Cho did not explain his acts with racial, nationalist or religious reasons. He expressed hatred for rich, popular, privileged students and apparently saw himself as a victim of social inequities. The media have made this well known.
People seeking to give more credibility to their warnings of attacks on Asians have compared this to post-September 11th attacks against Arabs and Muslims. The difference here is obvious. The airplane hijackers were motivated by cultural and religious views shared by others. The terrorists' religious and geographic backgrounds were important factors in their actions. In a leap of logic, hatred and anger of the terrorists was directed against others who were perceived, wrongly or rightly, to share their views.
The Virginia Tech shootings, however, are different. No one is now arguing that Cho Seung-Hui's Korean birth or ancestry had any relevance to his actions. His motives were purely individual ones: social isolation and psychological problems. Cho's rationale for his murders had no more to do with being Korean than the Columbine killers' did with being white. Therefore, there is no logical link between Cho and other Asians in the way there was between the September 11th hijackings and other Muslims.
It is not out of the question that a few unhinged, previously racist people might harass Asian students in response to the killer's identity, but it is unlikely that these murders will create an atmosphere of hostility from average Americans. Asian and Asian-American students at the University should not let irrational worries fill their lives with fear. Neither should people be blaming the media for seeking to uncover and publicize the identity of a horrific murderer. Perhaps I am overly optimistic, but the warnings of a widespread backlash against Asians in America seem to be nothing more than alarmist.
Stephen Parsley is a Cavalier Daily Associate Editor. He can be reached at sparsley@cavalierdaily.com.
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