just to give a necro bump after most of the heat has died down
someone mentioned this to me today and yes, once again I couldn't stop thinking about it.
It bothers me that 3 of his roommates, who appear to be Asian (as opposed to Asian Americans), got stabbed to death at a time when almost nobody is asleep.
This reminds me of many Asian college kids I met when I studied in the US.
I don't know what it is with them, but there is an incredible naivete about many of these middle class, hard-working Asian students. They are so brainwashed in the Confucian harmony crap we get in Asia, that they spend all their time studying and imagine that they don't need to do anything in life except get good grades. They are not aware of threats, potential threats, crazy people, that kind of thing.
A lot are simply not streetwise.
I never became very streetwise, but I was cautious, and I did learn a lot (hopefully). As the saying goes, the wise man learns from other's mistakes. Whenever I talked to an American (and that includes panhandlers), I tried to learn something.
I had roommates of all kinds and I learned to keep my eyes open and respect my sense of smell.
The fact that Roger was NUTS should have been freaking obvious to all except, regrettably, the same Asian kids I remember who only know how to shuttle between the library and their rooms. I knew lots of Asian kids who hardly knew or cared a damn about their roommates - they just studied, went home, studied some more.
This Mad Murderer is largely a white American kid, by his background, his upbringing and his general looks. His face is the kind that most people aren't going to call him Asian and do nasty slitty eyed gestures on. He's got an Anglo name, an Anglo father and a BMW. I don't think he would have been out of place among other privileged white kids from 90210. Not to mention his racist rants suggest he would have self-identified with other white kids.
The fact that he isn't hanging out with other privileged white kids, of course, is that the white kids figured there was something wrong with him. Like that white ex-roommate who mentioned hearing the click of a gun all night and got out asap.
One thing I did notice, is that white kids, even the rural or suburban ones, are much more streetwise.
Why would Roger hang out with Asian kids who are clearly from Taiwan or China? [Based on the names, I ascribe much lower probability of them being Cantonese so I excluded HK.] I think these were the only people willing to take him on as a roommate.
Long before he went amok (deliberate use of an English word of Asian origin), he was collecting guns and talking and acting weird. He got a visit from the police. His roommates didn't clue in?
I served in the military. I can recognize the clicking sound of a gun. I would have talked to my roommate if I heard these sounds. I actually like guns but never had the chance to shoot in the US (no license). If roommate didn't engage me properly, if we didn't make a connection and become buddies over our liking for guns, if he seemed to be holding on to a gun because he was weird and deluded and angry or something, I would have moved out ASAP. Even would have made the effort to move when Roger was not in, so that I wouldn't risk his anger.
One has to be streetwise to survive!
Damn it, I'm so frustrated at the bad things that happened to these 3 roommates of Roger. Such freaking bad luck! But they could have swung the odds very much in their favor! That's exactly what it was like also when I was in college. The Asia-Asian kids lived in their own bubbles. One Singaporean in an Ivy League told me she was proud that she could spend a month without talking to a non-Singaporean or Malaysian student. I was thinking: she's nuts.
If my roommate was visited by a whole bunch of police, I WOULD know, because someone in the block would have told me, because I made a point to at least greet people and know them by face and have an idea who is living in my block and strike up conversations in the lift and what not. I'm not a sociable man actually - I just think these ice-breaking acts are good in general. I certainly spent a lot of time talking with doormen in the places I lived that did have doormen; doormen are your No.1 line of defense in the gun-totin paradise that is America.
lastly: really am puzzled how come Roger could have stabbed 3 people to death without at least sustaining some injuries. He's not a trained commando and is in fact a notoriously bullied nerd/ klutz. I'd have grabbed something, anything, and fought back. I do have a model F on my table now, and back in college I had my model M. All students must have at least a light or table lamp; something with metal in it within easy reach. One versus three - the other roommates didn't arm themselves, call the police, or at least make a lot of noise that the neighbours would know? Were they taken off guard so easily?
I always locked my bedroom door when I was sleeping in college. It's a basic security precaution. Even in the 1990s it was a well known fact that the US was bristling with guns and crazies and these two often came together. [Since I was living in a ghetto, I was mostly concerned about home invasions by the gun-totin homies indigenous to ghettos. Lots of people were burgled.]
It's so distressing. And you can see I'm distressed, that's why I am typing up a storm. (I also like my current keyboard, sold to me courtesy of Tarzan.)
As an experienced cook by the time I was in college, I am probably a lot less afraid of knives than some people. But yes, it takes many stabs to kill if someone is not trained. Cutting meat is not that easy. The roommates had time and opportunity to resist. They had no choice; their lives were on the line. They needed to fight and not cower and beg for mercy against a madman!
Sigh. Characteristic Confucians.
[btw when said in Chinese, the above is a pun, because Confucian also means nerd/ weak. I'm bothered that many students of Asian origin in the US have come from very peaceful, low-crime cultures. They are lacking in street smarts and don't know how to take decisive action to protect themselves in the predatory environment of the US. I expressed these concerns years ago, I was laughed at. Sigh Sigh Sigh.]
