If confronted with the question, should the videos and photos of the Virginia Tech killer be aired publicly, both Confucians and Taoists would say "no."  And it may be instructive to work through their responses because they may provide different reasons than those most commonly expressed in opposition to the public presentation of these images. 

     For a Confucian the first question to ask is: do these images advance the ideal of Humanity?  Obviously they do not.  They are a grotesque indulgence of a mad man’s criminal ego.  They serve only to broadcast his inhumanity and, thus, do no real good. 

     To those who say that the pictures provide a glimpse into the workings of the mind of the perpetrator, and therefore help us understand why this horrible offense occurred, the Confucian would also say "no."  There are really only two explanations, (or maybe three if we combine the two into a third) which can be surmised without the affront of these pictures: the man was insane (which seems to be the case), or the man was rational but extremely depraved, or there was some sort of combination of the two.  The crime speaks for itself in this regard, at least it would for a Confucian.  Killing in cold blood is, by definition, an extremely depraved act.  The words used to rationalize it are unnecessary (especially in this case where the words seem to be merely an angry screed) to understand it for what it truly is.

      Images are important for a Confucian, insofar they can serve the purpose of exemplary moral education.  From this perspective, we should strive to present images that encourage us all to dedicate ourselves to the cultivation and preservation of our closest loving relationships, the fulfillment of our primary social duties.  Images of war and brutality, in moderation, might be useful in this regard, to remind us of what might happen when Duty is forgotten.  But giving the public stage over to a garish display of inhumanity for no good purpose would be rejected by Confucians.

      Taoists would agree, but for different reasons.   They might ask: why should we care about this deluded individual?  Mass killing is obviously not in keeping with Way.  The ‘inevitable nature" of mental illness is not necessarily this sort of crime.  There are thousands and thousands of mentally ill people who do not kill like this.  So, a Taoist might suspect that this case is about a person whose mental illness was filtered through a prism of materialist desires and frustrations that distorted his "inevitable nature."  It is just another story of a person out of touch with Way, with a particularly terrible outcome. 

      Thus, a Taoist would not want to invest Cho with any particular importance.  Better to look to a "sage" for a sense of what it means to get closer to Way, than to pay attention to a brutal and inhuman person so out of keeping with Way.  No reason, then, to beam his image all over the country and world.

      Too bad the NBC officials did not think more about this decision before they allowed themselves to be swept along in the race for profits, thereby elevating inhumanity over Humanity and Way.