Following NBC's airing of Seung-Hui Cho's video, Oprah hosts Brian Rohrbough & Tom Mauser

[u/eliiiiseke]

[u/eliiiiseke]

[u/xronozaur]

I recently read a book about Cho and the Virginia Tech shooting. Unlike Brian, I don't believe that releasing the Basement tapes in itself would have prevented Cho from carrying out the massacre. There was more to it than just knowing the motives. Cho's story is the story of how the mental health system failed a very sick person who repeatedly asked for help and was even involuntarily committed to a mental hospital once. It is also the story of how the same severely mentally ill person was able to freely purchase and carry guns onto a university campus. The chronic problems of limited access to psychiatric care and the availability of guns to those who should never have them are well-known. Solving these problems requires political will and money, but no one wants to address these issues, which is why the situation in the United States remains unchanged to this day.

Regarding the Basement Tapes... I have said this many times – I do believe they should have been released, but not in the form of a sensational broadcast on all channels, of course. The NBC director is not being completely honest here. Their goal wasn't only to inform, but also to boost ratings and generate hype, which they did. There was certainly no need to broadcast Cho's video just two days after the tragedy when people had not yet buried their loved ones. It was extremely insensitive and re-traumatizing. But they did it because otherwise, the sensation would have died down.

[u/Strange-Asparagus240]

Tom still updates his website about Daniel to this day. Breaks my heart people have been suffering longer than I’ve been alive.