This link is to a story by Mark Ames on why the Oikos College killer did what he did.....it turns out Oikos is an accredited place (I thought it wasn't) and like so many for-profit colleges, they were screwing with Goh. I know that the previous CM admins have flaked out when I sent them crime links, but this one is very important, because the way things are going, the readers and participants of the site might run into a guy like One L. Goh someday.
Sincerely,
Strelnikov, the Master of Soviet Disaster
Link didn't work, at least for me. But I googled "Mark Ames Oikos" and got the following story: http://consortiumnews.com/2012/04/07/behind-another-rampage-massacre/. Was that what you posted, Strelnikov?
ReplyDeleteI've been following this story pretty closely. Ames does a good job of describing how Goh's life was one of quiet desperation, until it wasn't possible for him to stay "quiet" anymore. Scary to think of how many people are stuck in miserable situations such as his, here in the "land of the free." There is, of course, no excuse for murder, but I feel sorry for Goh as well as for those affected by his crime.
I have a problem with stories like this, because they seem to justify the murderous outbursts of these individuals. The focus is on Goh, and what a poor failure he is, how put-upon, victimized, how bullied, how shadowed by his dead war-hero brother. Etc. etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteSaying "it wasn't possible for him to stay 'quiet' anymore" seems to justify his murders, and make them "inevitable." As if it wasn't possible for him not to go apecrap and kill a bunch of folks.
Scratch the surface of the lives of a lot of people and you will find individuals with just as many emotional problems who actually don't get a gun and shoot up a university.
Because, you know, it's "possible" for them not to make that choice. Why not Goh, then? There is no justification for this sort of thing. Obviously the author wants to blame Reagan. Er, you can't blame Reagan or the "war against the American worker" for this shit. And I fucking hated Reagan. Trying to assert this is a distinctly "American" manifestation is fairly ignorant. A cursory look at wikipedia's entry on "workplace killings" shows it's an international phenomenon. I know wiki is an open source, but I'm not trying to prove the existence of bigfoot here.
Link
Seriously.
I get what you're saying Stella, and I can't comment on the accuracy of the article one way or the other.
DeleteBut I'm often frustrated by the line of argument that says that trying to understand why someone did an awful thing is to justify them doing that horrible thing. It's a fine line to walk, but there is an important difference between a reason and an excuse. I see it like this:
College A treats students like cash cows, bilks them out of unreasonable tuitions, preys on the desperate and then fobs them off with lousy instruction (from adjuncts who they're probably also screwing over). 99% of the students suffer in silence but 1% do something horrible (figures wildly inflated for illustration)
College B treats students with respect, upholds reasonable entrance standards, accepting only those that have an appropriate preparation and a reasonable chance of success and supports teaching. 99.99% of the students are fine, but 0.01% of students get a pea up their ass and do something horrible anyway.
It doesn't excuse those who do something horrible to consider whether the actions of college A are somehow a contributory factor.
I distinctly remember a student sitting in my office. He was an international student struggling in a second language, and paying exorbitant fees for the privilege. He had failed Intro to Hamsters and would have to repeat it along with the further transfer of big bucks from his family to the Tuk U administration. As he realized this, I could see the anger cross his face. And for the first time I felt the inkling of worry.
If he (or any one else in his situation) resorted to violence, that decision would be on him and him alone. But the decision to treat students as sources of extractable revenue, then put me on the front lines - that is also a choice, and that one is on the admin.
I think I come down more or less in the same place as R and/or G: there's no excuse for what Goh did, and there were far, far better ways to respond (many of them, admittedly, harder for him to access due to poverty and language barriers than they would be for me or most people I know), but this incident does show that, in addition to being horribly unjust, it's dangerous to milk the already-desperate for their last dime (and any non-dischargeable student debt you can con them into signing up for). Also, the people who get hurt when somebody reaches hir frustration limit are rarely the people making obscene profits off an obscene enterprise. And finally: exploitation (and bullying) occur within as well as between communities, variously defined.
DeleteFinally, I wonder how Goh came to choose Oikos rather than a community college, which would have been a much less financially risky move? Was there a waiting list for the health sciences fields? A language barrier? Apparently-insuperable admissions requirements (while ccs don't have much in the way of admissions requirements, I assume some programs within them may)? Did Oikos' program just seem like an easier or faster route, despite the high tuition and abysmal pass rate?
I too agree ultimate responsibility resides with the person who chose the horrible action. But, also, contributing factors should not be ignored.
DeleteIn fact, what truly scares me is not that I can understand the despair and helplessness Goh probably was feeling -- I'm starting to feel it myself.
I stepped up the academic ladder in roughly 10 year increments, when the previous credential was no longer viable to sustain -- financially, intellectually, emotionally.
But, here I am -- supposedly at the pinnacle of academic achievement -- doing contract work which, presently, is paying the bills, but there is no security that will continue past the current term. En route, I have had to make use of various public assistance programs. I am of an age where I should be enjoying the fruits of my labor, beginning to envision the "golden years" to follow. Instead, I will likely remain toiling in the fields until the end.
Meanwhile, outside the hallowed halls, I see much of the nation turning on itself. It is a challenge to feel hopeful.
Just one of many inaccurate sentences from the article:
ReplyDelete"Of the programs 28 graduates from the Spring 2010 – 2011 term, only 11 of those 28 managed to pass the national nursing exam. That’s a 29 percent pass rate, almost unheard of."
Bad punctuation.
Bad math.
@RGM: You got punk'd by Strel.
It's the latest fad.
Alternate theory:
ReplyDeleteA Boy Named Su.
But his war-hero brother was also named Su. Context is all, I suppose.
DeleteI couldn't get past the self-promotion and pleas for money.
ReplyDeleteWell I got a little past it, enough to see that I'm responsible for Goh going postal.
Well this post was dropped like a hot brick...
ReplyDelete@ Bubba
This was not a practical joke.
@ Stella
Notice in your Wikipedia list that while there have been occasional workplace killings outside of the US since 1911, the vast majority have been going on since the 1980s in the US.
@ Reg W.
I didn't know you worked at a for-profit scam Christian college.
@ the new guy at the top
Yes, you can get this at the consortiumnews.com website.
_________________________
Strelnikov: Pissing off CM since sometime in 2010.
Stay classy, College Misery.