Wrong Planet Mentioned on Geraldo Riverea Last Night

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I was channel surfing last night and caught a segment on Geraldo about Cho and then a screen shot of Wrong Planet and a story about a member here who murdered two people and then killed himself. The message was that people who have AS are possibly dangerous. Unfortunately, I missed most of the show and I have no idea who the member was who went on a Haloween? murder spree. Can anyone shed some light on this?

This was a very unfortunate incident where a user on WP posted about doing what he did, and then alex and co. doing their best to alert the local police there (who were miles away), but didn't succeed. Late last year they were sued by the family for not doing enough. No new developments on that.

Yes, AS is possibly dangerous, but that really depends on the stuff around you, like how you're treated and that sort of thing. Did the show put it like that?

But have they determined that he was diagnosed as autistic or did the great aunt just think he was autistic? Was there ever an official diagnosis on Cho?

Apparently he was diagnosed, I heard.

What I read was that the great aunt said he was, but the school system had no record of him being autistic. Who was the dr who gave the diagnosis?

Given his heritage, and assuming he lived in Asia at some point (not sure of exactly WHERE, and also around the age of 9-whatever his age was), he was probably either diagnosed there or they just never told the school (either would have contributed because the school didn't have that kind of information on how to handle him).

Here's a news story that seems to cast doubt on Cho having autism, or at least if he had AS, he also had much more significant problems:

http://www.wsls.com/servlet/Satellite?p ... !localnews

I couldn't find the "Geraldo at Large" segment on the Fox News website except for a text mention of it (no link). It was a gratuitous and unfounded connection on Geraldo's part. I am considering sending him an email about it. Does anyone have a link to the member's post who announced he was going to commit murder?

From what I have heard Cho was forced by a court to be evaluated for mental illness but never received an official diagnosis or treatment. That is why he was able to buy handguns legally because he was never labeled officially mentally ill. An evaluation for mental illness does not show up in the FBI database for firearm purchases.

Maybe someday the media will become enlightened enough to talk about the damage bullying does, and making fun of those who are different, ostracizing those who are different, discriminating against those who don't conform, etc.

Those types of cruel behaviors will have consequences, no matter what diagnosis the "different" person has.

Of course those being bullied also have a responsibility to keep their anger held to constructive progress, the first step being getting away from the bullies.

I think documenting the bullying and pressing charges is a good idea.

Cascadians is right, I'm surprised (and yet not so) that the media hasn't concentrated on this. He was planning this and they said it all over the news. WHY haven't they said that bullying can result to this?! (because they're milking the rest of it first, that's why)

I am not defending bullying, but (again) we don't know why he did it, or what set him off.

The other incident involved someone named William Freund. You can do a search for different discussions. Apparently the family was also considering suing WrongPlanet.

I said this in another post:

Let that hack have his fun with AS because eventually everyone and everything comes under the scrutiny of the well-lit microscope of news media witch hunts.

Just let him - let them ALL get it out of their system. And we can we can all be glad that our names are up their with things like how rock n roll music and rap lyrics undermined the moral integrity of everything. Next to cell phones and red food coloring in M & M candy causing cancer. Next to violent video games responsible for half the crime in the universe...

It's just the media's next and newest witch hunt.

And not ONE word about how the military is anathema to autistics!?!?!? They will have to make up their minds!

1. Useless to anyone and harmless but stupid and worthless.
2. Dangerous and psychopathic(but not seen as such by psychologists), and can methodically kill at random!

Hey Geraldo and "autism speaks"..... WHICH IS IT!?!?!?!?

Frankly, I bet if you got 300 random NTs in a room, my history would be FAR better than most of them, and I don't fit into either category shown above.

Steve

Last edited by SteveK on 22 Apr 2007, 2:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.

If the rumor that Cho was diagnosed with autism at age 8 in the US is correct, he would have had services in school. He also had an incident in 8th grade where he made up a hit list of people to kill and he was out of regular classroom for a month. I'm sure he has received psychiatric attention, but the real story is being guarded under privacy concerns.

The facts are we know it are: Cho was not bullied at Virginia Tech. Cho was himself a bully, intimidating students to such a degree that many were afraid to attend class with him. He frightened people, including the women who reported him for stalking. He set a fire in his dorm room (very much consistent with a psychopath) and he issued a "press release" before he comitted a mass murder, which speaks of a wish to be famous and of grandiose thinking. None of his behavior at VT was consistent with typical AS.

I think some of us are identifying with bullying to such a degree we are projecting feelings onto Cho that he may not have had. He planned an organized extermination of innocent people and issued a press release so he would become immortalized. I don't see this behaivior as being part of AS.

I have to say this is getting ridiculous. The responsibility is with them to prove that autism is any more likely to cause this sort of crime.

Diagnosis is only ever a question of clinical judgment. Judgment is not exact, it might not be possible to agree what someone is. Psychiatrists are over worked. Often their diagnosis are based on single interviews. My shrink took over a year to make the same judgment and she was not trying to diagnose me with anything because that not how she usually works.