Posted 4/26/2007 05:30:00 PM by Douglas

Interesting perspective of the Virginia Tech murders by Gary Lavergne, who did extensive research and wrote a book on the first "school shooter," Charles Whitman.

In Sniper in the Tower I concluded, and later the FBI's premier profiler, John Douglas, in his book Anatomy of Motive would agree, that "[Whitman's] actions speak for themselves." Any cause-and-effect theory, whether organic (brain tumor), chemical (amphetamine psychosis), or psychological (military training or child abuse), embracing the idea that Charles Whitman's judgment or free will was impaired, is not consistent with what he did. He carefully planned every move and detail, and he succeeded in doing what he set out to do -- murdering people and getting himself killed in spectacular fashion. The Whitman case taught me that sometimes our zeal to champion causes important to us or to explain the unexplainable and be "enlightened" blinds us to the obvious.

I think that's an important distinction that's getting glossed over in the 24-hour news cycle. But just as 'a cigar is just a cigar,' sometimes a murderer is simply that. It's easier for the survivors to say he's crazy, or intoxicated, or abused, or whatever, but that doesn't detract from his actions.

Time will not erase the horror witnessed on the Blacksburg campus. But in time the university will return to its work of granting degrees to thousands of individuals who lead us to better lives. That, after all, is what magnificent institutions like the University of Texas at Austin and Virginia Tech do.

What is Charles Whitman or Cho Seung-Hui compared with that?

Exactly. It's amazing how The University of Texas has moved on. Other than the random bullet holes spattered around the South Mall and the peppering of return fire that ended up on the observation deck of the tower, there's no memorial for those that died there. I think it's more important to forget about the event than to memorialize those that tragically died there.