We Want Media

After more than 32 students are dead at Virginia Tech, people have begun flocking to the killer's LiveJournal, or so they thought.

(Note: While writing this at 10:42, the LJ-writer, last name Chiang, has since acknowledged he is not the shooter and that he was going to donate to "charity.")

As Xeni Jardin sums up today, people are looking at the "copycat" element to this attack, especially with the Colombine anniversary this Friday.

But what about on the unknown shooter (who is identified as Chiang on his LiveJournal)? Why would one claim to be the shooter?

In his post,

Coming out. I am not the shooter. Through this experience, I have received numerous death threats, slanderous accusations, and my phone is out of charge from the barrage of calls. Local police have been notified of the situation.

My original intention was to wait until I got AdSense on my site and donating all the proceeds to Charity. However, this situation has now spiraled out of control. I am now confirming that I am not the shooter. I will be available for interview by a news agency to clear my name, talk about the experience, and give my opinion on how the situation could have turned out better if other students were allowed to be armed. I will only speak with individuals who are interested in donating to charities resulting from today's events. Please e-mail all correspondence to null@vt.edu

He has since turned off comments. (12:33 am: He has since resumed comments.)

This in fact is not about being armed or not. This is the case of a sick joke being taken too far, and then being found out in his own comments.

To go back to the actual tragedy, Jardin looks at the variety of ways that students examined the tragedy as it unfolded. And hopefully, Chiang will be ignored by the media and shunned by his classmates.

(Livejournal link found and disproven via Warren Ellis )

edit: CNet looks at how bloggers are being covered by the MSM in the shooting's wake.

edit, 12:29 am: Chiang sends a new update up after making the front page of Drudge (just refresh the link to his LiveJournal to see the images. Text provided here:)

Drudge. I can now die happy. Shout out to South Park, the best show out there. Maybe they will make a reference. Then I will die happy.

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hoax?

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My prayers to the families and those affected my today's events.

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Edit: I apologize for any confusion caused by today's events. The purpose of this post was not to gloat, but rather show the sheer ridiculousness of how bad communication can affect one's credibility. (Read: Duke case) For those claiming that this was a elaborate hoax, my journal has been around since 2001 with over 3500 posts over these past 6 years. Once again, I offer my condolences to all those at Virginia Tech. Go Hokies.

update, 10:57 a.m.: The gunman was named as 23-year old Cho Seung-Hui . Reports still vary on exact number of dead, but AP published this morning that the count is now 33.