The Charles Wirick's Case: Part 3 of 3 - ganged up?

With all the recent bullying commentaries in various blogs with some serious ones and some nonsense ones I couldn't help but comment about Charles Wirick's whether if he was a victim of bullying of sort in this latest saga of some possible campus crime he was about to commit. Or so they say. From the looks of it he appeared to have been "ganged up" over the few days after he opined/warned Michael Sprouse about a possible Gallaudet University campus shooting. I or anybody else do not know what the exact words were and how they were expressed during the conversations between Wirick and Sprouse (and his friends that were with him - how many now?).

But first it'd be good to know what was Michael Sprouse was like as well as Charles Wirick by reading some of their writings or stories about them. For Sprouse as I found out he has written several blogs in Gallaudet's "gBlog - how we see it" that covered some of his likes, dislikes, and personal stories.  As for Charles Wirick, there was one other article written about him in the Buff and Blue on his attempt to go barefoot throughout the college campus. Reading comments in BnB's article about Wirick's alleged shooting threat gives us a few more additional insights about Charles Wirick and even to some degree about Sprouse, too.

Jeff    28. Oct, 2010 at 9:58 am #

I’ve talked to Wirick several times over my time here at Gallaudet, To me I felt that he were more outspoken than an outcast. it’s a shame that Sprouse chose to go and report him rather than sitting down and discussing that with him, to see where his viewpoint came from. I wonder if Sprouse and Wirick weren’t roommates, would all this drama have occurred? nobody can tell now. but I do agree that he made a poor choice in focusing on a specific clique.

I’ve also observed Wirick and he doesn’t seem to be an total outcast like the article portrayed him as.

The behavior of the cliques is a different article and issue though.

Michael Sprouse countered in the same comment thread (although Jeff clarified they both were floormates and not roommates):

Michael Sprouse  29. Oct, 2010 at 1:23 am #

I have spoken to Wirick several times before this specific conversation occurred and he was fixed on those two groups and I have seen where his viewpoint came from and when that conversation occurred and I knew that a) I could not risk assuming anything where things are at stake and b) I knew he needed serious help. Prior to this incident I have tried to help him to learn ASL in a natural setting which he desired and despite my suggestions,he did not socialize with people.

Interesting observation by Sprouse claiming that Wirick did not "socialize with people." What was the reason for bringing that up? How did he know that Charles Wirick did not socialize with people (i.e. people at Gallaudet University)? Exactly what does "socialization" must entail? Is "not socializing" a taboo on the campus of Gallaudet University?

And then for some reason this "Meredeth" person made comments in the same thread and made indirect allusions about Charles using words like "crazies" and made a direct reference to his mental health as if she had an inside scoop on his health history:

Meredith 27. Oct, 2010 at 10:52 am #

I agree with you that he has mental problems but as laypeople we can’t go around making diagnoses. That’s up to his doctor.

And there is no shame in mental illness if you get it taken care of. I’ve had problems myself. Getting treatment is the important part.

And later in the thread Meredith makes another indirect allusion that Charles Wirick went around making threats.

Meredith 08. Nov, 2010 at 10:32 pm #

Lots of people at Gallaudet don’t fit into Deaf Culture ideals, but they don’t go around making threats and such like.

According to what I've read in the BnB I never gotten the impression that Wirick was doing the threatening but more like opining and going overboard with it perhaps. On the other hand we still DO NOT have the whole story on this oversized drama coming mostly from one person and a BnB writer who did the story on Wirick. In fact, I'd say the BnB raised far more questions on the whole spiel consisting of out of control rumors and a story that seems to paint Wirick at the outset as a crackpot, a loner, mentally unstable and an outcast than anything else. Was BnB's example of good journalism at work or more like a mini-hit piece?

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3