We're Not All Crazy
There's no need to give me extra space just because I am a Korean male born around the same time of year as Cho Seung-Hui, albeit a year apart. I assure you that I am completely sane and have never wanted to go crazy. Here's to hoping there's no backlash against the general Korean population of the U.S., even to those of us who were born here to naturalized legal immigrants. I'm very curious to find out more about this crazy guy.
Cho Seung-Hui is a somewhat girly sounding name, in Korean. FYI, whenever you see a Korean name with the vowel combination "-eu-" it's supposed to be pronounced like the "oo" sound in "took." It sounds very much like a grunt. And most likely, the "ui" is supposed to be pronounced like "ee." Anyway, names with "hee" as the last syllable are usually girl names in Korea.
EDIT: According to the way that most American media is pronouncing the name, perhaps the "ui" sound is closer to "wi." A "hwi" sound is not a rare syllable in Korean names. It also makes the name sound a bit less girly. Also, don't believe it if American people pronounce the "Seung" like "sung." *According* to the romanization, it is supposed to be pronounced like I dictated in my 2nd paragraph.
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randomnimity
Everyone feels indignation and shock at what this individual did. But no reasonable person would transfer that indignation and shock to others merely because they came from the same country. Of all people, Americans should be well aware of the fact that every country produces both stellar citizens and psychopaths. Unfortunately a few shallow thinkers may make some ridiculous generalizations. Hopefully their voices will be drowned out by the objections.
I think most people are looking at this whole thing as what it is; a massacre caused by a lone individual with obvious problems.
I agree with both Mr. Rouse and Birdie.
I think this person's race is irrelevant. From what I have heard, the man just sounds like a sad individual who allowed bitterness and anger to destroy him--along with 32 others. I didn't think twice about his race.
I know this isn't all that related to what everyone else is saying, but I looked at a Korean newspaper online, and his name is actually spelled 조승희 -- so you were right originally. 'Jo Seung-Hee' is the way I would have romanized it.
SeungHee is a pretty girly name. It's like naming your son Ashley... at least 80% of the kids with that name are girls. I googled "승희" (SeungHee) and looked at the image results. On the first page, 15 were girls and 2 were a picture of the same man.
Apparently I'm not the only one with concerns for senseless backlash against Koreans. I'm reading that this is quite a common sentiment amongst other Koreans. Some Koreans are going as far as to apologize on behalf of Koreans for the massacre. I'm not going to go that far. I will apologize that bad stuff happened to the affected, but I will not apologize as if I have done something wrong, because I haven't. It's like that recent idiotic thing in the GA Congress where race baiters made white people apologize for slavery. No one alive today ever had any hand in US slavery.
Anyways, the original post was sparked by memories of reports of post-9/11 backlash against people wearing turbans. Sometimes people just don't think and want to place blame anywhere.
And another thing: don't give your boys girly names.
One article I read said that on the sign outside his dorm room he wrote his name as Seung-Ho. So maybe he was sensitive about the 'girly' name...even though few if any Americans he knew would have known what it was all about.
I'm not an expert in Korean names at all, but Seung-Ho sounds more masculine to me. Is that right?
The syllable "ho" is an extremely masculine syllable. You would never ever ever name a girl that, ever. With a syllable like that in a name, it barely matters what the other syllable is; it's undoubtedly a boy name.
Here's a link to the article that mentions the "ho" name.
I was wondering if you'd have somethign to say on this. What a horrible tragedy. But how much more awful if people start taking this out on all Koreans, or Asians.