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At its core, physical violence is communication. Fists, guns, knives, bombs and all weapons are message-senders. So what message was Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech assassin, trying to communicate? From the notes he sent by $14.40 overnight mail to NBC News on the morning of the killings-verbal parting shots explaining his gunshots - Cho's message was, "Fm angry."
By the time he vented that anger, Cho was so lost emotionally in mental illness that medically he was in critical condition. Guns became his language, rage his idiom.
The Virginia Tech explosion was a long time coming, which is true of nearly all premeditated physical violence. Street gangs meticulously plan their shootouts. We speak of build-ups to war. For Cho's campus war, the building began early. A middle school loner who rarely spoke to classmates or teachers, he kept withdrawing in...