Monday, April 23, 2007

Cho's Duck: Target Practice?

Cho Seung-Hui, as The Smoking Gun discovered, used the email address Blazers5505@hotmail.com and bought his ammunition clips on eBay. We know what gun store he used to purchase his guns.

The Smoking Gun also posted the eBay pages showing that Cho apparently won the auctions on 37 rubber duckies (36 small ones, one large) from the online auction site.

Some talk show hosts are using this piece of information in warped ways to ridicule Cho, joking about Cho playing with the bright yellow plastic ducks in his bathtub. I have a more sinister possibility for their use. What if the rubber ducks were used for target practice?

As every little tidbit on Cho is rolled out, reporters are making it sound like Cho was engaged in product placements.

We are hearing about every mundane detail on Cho's purchases, of late. Cho used the USPS, not UPS or FedEx to mail his package.

He bought the chains he used to keep the doors closed from Home Depot.

Cho played the song "Shine" all the time.

I'm almost expecting to see a spoof ad on YouTube any day now showing a racially-profiled actor holding up a 9mm Glock and endorsing the gunshops where Cho bought his guns and ammunition.

Would this be a better outcome in the midst of this current deconstruction of Cho's life in the wake of Cho's glorification footage on NBC and MSNBC being shown, instead of a new fatal copycat incident with more deaths in the next few days? Of course it would. Only time will tell, but if history is a guide, I recommend awareness to what is happening all around you.

One thing is certain, this is not a time to laugh-off any potential suicidal-homicial warning signs.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's exactly what I thought the moment I saw a picture of the ducks all lined up in a row. They are small, but not too small, easy to see from a distance because they are very bright. If he practiced with a silencer shooting rubber ducks wouldn't make as much noise as tin cans or bottles, or other things people might use as targets.

heatkernel said...

As a recent Virginia Tech graduate, I've suddenly become very aware and interested in the problems you take on in this blog. I really appreciate you work exposing the media's role in promoting these school shooters and perpetuating such incidents. You might be interested to know that a group of concerned citizens has just formed around this issue and posted their beliefs (along with a link to growing petition to NBC to apologize for their actions) at newsboycott.com.

Keep up the good work!