This in from Dr. Robert J. O’Hara at Harvard’s Residential Colleges and University Renewal:

I’ve been following the discussions of the Virginia Tech murders with interest on Phi Beta Cons and elsewhere. You concluded a post on the subject by saying “Any light on the matter is welcome,” so I thought you might appreciate the reflection I wrote this week: “The Question Mark Kid.” I can’t agree with those who see some sort of postmodern cultural decay as the problem — as my post tries to show, mass murders very much like this one appear in the earliest Western literature (and we can gain insight by studying that literature, as psychiatrists such as Jonathan Shay have taught us). What connects Cho with suicide bombers, in my view, is their shared sense of having been abusively humiliated. One may debate whether such feelings are justified (and the crimes of course are not justified, even if the feelings are). But it’s nevertheless true that human beings have exhibited similar violent reactions across history when they have regarded themselves as having been abusively humiliated. The “ounce of prevention” is to treat people with dignity from a young age — something most religious traditions would support — before they become irreparably damaged. Trying to shed a little light, for what it may be worth.