Virginia Tech Shooter's eBay

[BigSlideHimself]

Apparantly he bought the ammo clips on ebay, here's his feedback:

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d ... lazers5505

and the auction he won:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0098812797

[TIGERassault]

Umm...

Okay, so how is this important exactly?

[Hattrick]

Umm...

Okay, so how is this important exactly?

same question.

[CDN_Merlin]

The reason people like him keep getting fame is because of stupid dumb arse posts like this on a zillion web sites.

[MD-2389]

[BigSlideHimself]

Did you click on the link? Be honest now...

[BigSlideHimself]

The reason people like him keep getting fame is because of stupid dumb arse posts like this on a zillion web sites.

Do you really think that's why he's infamous Merlin? Really, do you?

[Ferno]

just out of curiosity, how did you determine that these are the auctions that the shooter won?

[Krom]

room of those who care forum macro

x2

[Behemoth]

The reason people like him keep getting fame is because of stupid dumb arse posts like this on a zillion web sites.

Do you really think that's why he's infamous Merlin? Really, do you?

X2

[CDN_Merlin]

The reason people like him keep getting fame is because of stupid dumb arse posts like this on a zillion web sites.

Do you really think that's why he's infamous Merlin? Really, do you?

He's infamouse now because of what he did. But do we have to keep posting things ab out HIS life? What about the lives of the people who he murdered? Are they just not worth anything?

[BigSlideHimself]

What about the lives of the people who he murdered? Are they just not worth anything?

I haven't heard anyone say that. If anything, there has been nothing but an outpouring of grief and sympathy and prayer from not just the US but the world. One can hardly read the bios of the 32 who died, or watch the scroll of names on CNN, or read through the countless Facebook/website dedications, or watch the parents interviewed without feeling a deep sickening grief. To even suggest that the general public is callous toward those who died is to be misinformed. We are all focused on our own lives and tend to turn a deaf ear to tragic events, and say what you will about people's attitudes in general, but as a whole the sympathy and support for the families of the deceased has been extraordinary.

Have you followed the story Merlin? Or offered any effort? I'm not saying you have to, or that anyone does, just that, I don't feel you give people enough credit.

[BigSlideHimself]

He's infamous[sic] now because of what he did. But do we have to keep posting things ab out HIS life?

I think the answer is evident.

I think everyone has a vested interest in the type of person who would go to this extreme. There's some deep psychological desire to understand their motive, their life. Maybe we feel like we can be safe if we can understand why it happened, maybe to control and avoid such a tragic event from ever occurring again - no matter how unrealistic that may be. Some people are just interested because it helps them to process the tragedy, to begin to comprehend it.

And that's what the FBI did immediately after Columbine, they expended large sums of taxpayer money to put together a committee of psychiatrists, psychologist, sociologists to research and attempt to understand how a mass murderer thinks. The hope it would seem would be that the report would help us stop something like this before it happened, to pinpoint those behaviors in people before it turns for the worst.

Other people may find such deranged behavior interesting. Jack the Ripper, Zodiac, Manson, Columbine - there's a morbid fascination in why these types of people do what they do. I do not believe this fascination is wrong or degenerate. I believe it is natural, but it should be curbed when it compromises the memories of the victims.

Now, in regards to my initial post - I won't argue it's relevance. It's completely irrelevant, but it was interesting enough at least for CNN to report on it and I thought if any of you had followed the story as closely as I had might find it interesting in regards to the things he purchased/sold/ and said to ebayers.

[Ferno]

so you have no idea if these are the auctions he won. nice.

[BigSlideHimself]

so you have no idea if these are the auctions he won. nice.

for CNN to report on it

[roid]

ppl suggesting this is not worth learning about sound like this:

oh he's just shooting ppl for attention, don't pay attention to him or it'll just reinforce behavior and he'll shoot ppl whenever he wants something.

[Ferno]

might want to work on your clarity then slide.

[BigSlideHimself]

might want to work on your clarity then slide.

Zyxt

[Firewheel]

This really should've been posted in the already-existing topic in E&C.

[TIGERassault]

ppl suggesting this is not worth learning about sound like this:

oh he's just shooting ppl for attention, don't pay attention to him or it'll just reinforce behavior and he'll shoot ppl whenever he wants something.

Actually, the majority of us are going:
Shut the frack up, we don't care enough about whether or not he bought something on eBay! The story was only cute when we first heard about it!

[CDN_Merlin]

I understand that we need to know how people like him think, but to go and post items he bought on Ebay that may of been used to kill is pointless and senseless.


What good does it do ANY of us on the DBB what he bought on Ebay? AFAIK, none of us here have a degree in Physcology that would help the Police.

[Hattrick]

What he bought and sold on Ebay has NO relevence whatsoever.
Just another spin for the media to get their dirty laundry out there for public consumption.

Now if you had posted a link to a forum he belonged to that showed where his mindset was, THAT would be relevent.

What you posted is just filler dribble to get the public all riled up.

[Lothar]

Slider, if you're interested in his psychological makeup, posting individual facts piecemeal isn't going to help. You need to gather whole blocks of evidence, not just tiny pieces.

Compare:
\"He bought some items on Ebay.\" (That tells us exactly zero.)

\"He spent most of his time shopping at the Costco 12 miles away, despite the fact that there was one less than a mile from his home. He once wrote on his livejournal that [insert story about Costco experience]. This particular form of compulsiveness was also reflected in [insert list of other strange habits].\" (This tells us something about him as a person. Note that I made it up; I have no idea whether he actually shopped at Costco, or which one he shopped at, or if he had a livejournal account.)

-----

I think people make a mistake in the way they try to \"understand their motive, their life.\" They treat Cho, or Harris and Klebold, or Jack the Ripper, as anomalies who are difficult to understand. They assume we have to look at every single little detail of their lives under a microscope to \"get\" them. They're treated like aliens, like people who are so foreign that we can't understand them unless we look at everything they ever did on ebay and spend weeks and weeks digging through everything they've ever done.

Reality is, Cho wasn't all that different from the rest of us. We don't need to know his ebay account details to \"get\" him, we just need to know that he fed certain desires that he should have fought... and he never got the help he needed.

[BigSlideHimself]

Oh, hey guys, did you not get around to reading my posts that you replied to? I'm sorry about that, it would have saved you three alot of time:

Now, in regards to my initial post - I won't argue it's relevance. It's completely irrelevant, but it was interesting enough at least for CNN to report on it and I thought if any of you had followed the story as closely as I had might find it interesting in regards to the things he purchased/sold/ and said to ebayers.

Sorry, I should have been more clear there. Yea, I don't think anyone's saying the eBay thing helps us understand the killer's mentality. That would be kind of dumb huh? I just saw the story on CNN, found it interesting, and thought I would share it here. I could go into it more, but I'd just end up repeating my previous posts so if you care you can just go read those.

Thanks guys!