Inside the head of a mass shooter

[struggle4progress]

DECEMBER 21, 20157:09AM
Emma Reynolds

... Romantic and sexual frustration is a common theme. British-born Chris Harper-Mercer, a 26-year-old who executed nine and injured another nine at Umpqua Community College in Oregon in October, wrote in his manifesto: “I am going to die friendless, girlfriendless and a virgin” ...

Anders Breivik, who killed 77 Norwegians in 2011, had clear ideological aims. Days before his rampage, he released a 1500-page manifesto and YouTube video, calling for action against “Islamic colonisation”, and blaming multiculturalism for a decline in Western civilisation ...

Racial hatred is often a strong motivator, even when murderers aren’t trying to be part of a global movement. Dylann Roof, who killed nine black people at a Charleston church in June, harboured a deep hatred for non-whites, saying he wanted to “turn every jew blue for 24 hours” and speaking up in favour of slavery. He was particularly incensed about black-on-white crime and said he chose Charleston because it “at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country” ...

A major factor in mass murder is alienation, feeling that you are in an unwelcoming country or culture. “You give them justification for extreme action,” says Prof Goldsmith. “<Extremists> appeal to young men to join their groups as a cure to alienation, a sense of belonging instead of feeling like an outsider in your own country. It’s intoxicating” ...

http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/why-do-they-do-it-inside-the-head-of-a-mass-shooter/news-story/c7f0cc03b5cb2e965b79f6ea463ced83

[raccoon]

1. Well, Professor Goldsmith sure said this right (from the article):

“If there are a lot of angry people with access to military-grade weapons then you have a problem ... a potent opportunity to wreak damage.”

[Igel]

2. Ding, ding, ding.

One bell, whatever the situation you get the same pitch.

"Alienation" is a big deal. We all have access; alienation is often a precondition, a motivating factor for this kind of shooting. (Issues of perceived alienation and "machismo" in some cultures account for a lot of other homicides.)

The problem with alienation is that it's a tough thing to discuss. I knew a lot of alienated people--many were in a non-mainstream church and felt that the mainstream culture wasn't welcoming. In other cases, you find people who are alienated because of the rhetoric and oral traditions that surround a community to protect it from a no-longer-existing or much reduced threat. In both cases, a low incidence of negative interactions are falsely generalized, and the actions that the "community members", whether in that church or other subcultures, fail to see what they do that not unreasonably provokes rejection.

So one friend in the church said that people were hostile to "the faith." His example was a blind date that was set up for him a few days before Xmas (he did not observe Xmas). All he did for 30 minutes was rail against Xmas and those who observe Xmas, until finally his date got up, said something very negative about him to his face, walked out, and hiked the 2-3 miles home. When he told some of us his story, we repeated what the young woman said. He was an f--king a--hole. Others, more radicalized "in the faith," took his side.

The only way to be "accepting" would be to acquiesce or misrepresent your views.

The second problem is that not all alienation leads to violence. Nobody in that church's tradition committed violence against outsiders. It was pacifist. It suffered more violence than it produced when some alienated from that "faith tradition" returned with non-assault-weapons and killed numerous members of a congregation or two.

But some alienation does lead to violence. Now, one could argue that it's an accident, but those hate-filled OT passages calling for genocide were more valued by this church than, say, by Baptists and other "male white haters" like the guy in Colorado.

"Military-grade weapon" is just another kludge to obscure the problem. A six-shooter was military grade and could get off 6 shoots fairly quickly. The difference between a 6-round semi-automatic and a revolver is fairly technical at this point--both failed the "I need to reload or reset after every round" test. (And semi-automatics were adopted later in military and police work than by many civilians.)