For the record...

I've about had it with the overuse of the word "kid" when the talking heads are going on about the Virginia Tech shooting.

The evil cowardly sniveling whiny wannabe shit who did this...let's please not soften the vileness of his acts by referring to him a "disturbed kid," or a "kid who needed help."

He was 23. He was a grown man.

23 and in college does no confer upon one some sort of "errant child" status. 23 is five years past the age of majority.

I find this whole trend offensive. Hanging out in college is not, it is generally accepted, a sign of emotional, intellectual or social retardation. So why is this little fucker getting off with the label "kid?"

Why does infantilizing some guy in his early 20s piss Abby off? Well, folks, because it infantilizes all the guys in their early 20s. We should not allow that.

It pissed me off, when I heard either Glen Beck or his guest use the term for the shooter. For some reason, it made me think of another guy in his early 20s. A year younger than Cho, in fact.

Cpl. Jason L. Dunham was 22 when he died.

These two young men should not be mentioned in the same breath, unless we're discussing the very finest and the very worst that we produce here in America. But it remains useful when we need reminding that childhood does not extend into one's 20s. It simply does not. To do so is to try to put off accepting responsibility for one's actions. When we allow this sort of "cute term" to be applied to GROWN MEN, we increase even further that ever-growing goddam group of people who we don't simply expect to able to pull their weight.

A 23 year-old man is fully responsible for the things he does. Beyond just Cpl. Dunham - an exceptional example, one of the finest men of his generation - hundreds of thousands of 23-year-olds in this country are adult, productive members of society. Fathers, mothers, guys with five years' seniority on the assembly line, nurses with degrees and couple of years of experience. Teachers.

It is possible that Cho should have been more forcefully handled by the University. It is possible that someone, somewhere along the way could have done something to prevent this specific event.

But he alone is responsible. He was a disturbed, pissy, whiny, sulking little beast. He wallowed in his own perceived little world of drama and torment. He was smart enough to be a student at Virginia Tech - this is not East Podunk Junior College - he was a functioning adult who conciously made bad, evil, murderous decisions.

Just because we don't like what he did doesn't mean we get to pretend he's a dumb little kid. He was a bad man.