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All the 20/20 hindsight revelations regarding Cho Seung-Hui, the shooter in the Virginia Tech massacre, are disturbing, especially for teachers. But... darkly violent and/or sexual writings by college students are common. Talk to any creative writing teacher, and I'll wager that they've had at least one student whose writings were so disturbing that they were worried -- even to the extent that Cho's teachers were worried. I have had them myself. Every other teacher I know has had them as well.
Yet none of them have led to anything like this. The truth is that the vast majority of such dark, violent writing is a sign of nothing of sognificance, and the very few that are more serious and indicate a genuinely troubled young person won't lead to mass murder. As a teacher, you try to do what you can. You try to help in any way you can, any way the student will let you. Usually, hopefully, it works, at least to some degree.
For that matter, I've published a fair amount of dark and violent fiction myself -- look at any of my "Puppetman" stories for the WILD CARDS series. But (believe it not) I'm not likely to go purchase a Glock 9mm and go on a rampage. Hell, I'm largely in the anti-gun camp.
The writing alone isn't a sign. You need to know not only the writing but the writer before you can make any kind of judgment. And even then, you might be wrong.
Dark, violent writing? Means very little, especially for teenagers and young adults who are filled with angst and are struggling to find themselves. What I fear is that we'll get a backlash reaction from this, with a public outcry and perhaps regulations about reporting 'violent' writing to authorities, or banning 'violent' literature and entertainment.
That would be a mistake.
It's easy, once something like this has happened, for everyone to look back and be the Perfect Psychologist and see all the flaws in the killer's personality. Everything becomes A Sign Of Trouble. We beat our chests and wail "Why didn't everyone see this before it happened?"
You can't see it because it's only there when you look backward. You can't see it because it's foolish to think that every little character twitch in someone you know means he's a mass murderer. You can't live your life in constant fear and suspicion... because if you do that, you've become them.
Yet none of them have led to anything like this. The truth is that the vast majority of such dark, violent writing is a sign of nothing of sognificance, and the very few that are more serious and indicate a genuinely troubled young person won't lead to mass murder. As a teacher, you try to do what you can. You try to help in any way you can, any way the student will let you. Usually, hopefully, it works, at least to some degree.
For that matter, I've published a fair amount of dark and violent fiction myself -- look at any of my "Puppetman" stories for the WILD CARDS series. But (believe it not) I'm not likely to go purchase a Glock 9mm and go on a rampage. Hell, I'm largely in the anti-gun camp.
The writing alone isn't a sign. You need to know not only the writing but the writer before you can make any kind of judgment. And even then, you might be wrong.
Dark, violent writing? Means very little, especially for teenagers and young adults who are filled with angst and are struggling to find themselves. What I fear is that we'll get a backlash reaction from this, with a public outcry and perhaps regulations about reporting 'violent' writing to authorities, or banning 'violent' literature and entertainment.
That would be a mistake.
It's easy, once something like this has happened, for everyone to look back and be the Perfect Psychologist and see all the flaws in the killer's personality. Everything becomes A Sign Of Trouble. We beat our chests and wail "Why didn't everyone see this before it happened?"
You can't see it because it's only there when you look backward. You can't see it because it's foolish to think that every little character twitch in someone you know means he's a mass murderer. You can't live your life in constant fear and suspicion... because if you do that, you've become them.