Severe humiliation and bullying can drive violent rebellion against low self-esteem

Evidence

Korean-born Seung-Hui Cho, who had a long history of mental health problems and social isolation, demonstrated how rebellion against compromised self-esteem can also be a solo affair. In middle and high school in Virginia, Cho was routinely bullied and ridiculed. In an English class where students were asked to read aloud, Cho reluctantly started to read with a Korean accent. According to a classmate, “As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, ‘Go back to China.’ ” — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 253

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to discussions of honor and humiliation; the systemic humiliation motif parallels a larger literature on school shootings and status threats. — connects to: Sartre’s childhood bullying shaped his adult attitudes toward violence — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 872; Student rebellion arises from physiological suffocation rather than revolutionary conditions — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2669