These rampages aren't coming from people who are schizophrenic or having a psychotic break. And they're not really indicative of sociopathy (though there's obviously some lack of empathy). I'm pretty sure the profile would be what's classed as a Personality Disorder.
But tracing it and looking for at-risk life changes (as one journal put it: "Methods most prominently used include firearms by males who have experienced challenging setbacks in important social, familial and vocational domains.") brings up other privacy issues.
I wouldn't want to fall onto a watchlist because I was going through a divorce.
On a broader cultural level, I do think there's a kind of rot and sickness in the American sense of entitlement. When it's thwarted it seems to bring on the rage and rampage.
Lots of people are that, especially now, hopefully they aren't all looking for a "Second Amendment remedy."
Interesting.
UPDATE: NBC and CNN have retracted the identification of Ryan Lanza as the name of gunman of the Newtown school massacre. The New York Post and NBC's Pete Williams have reported it could be Lanza's brother, Adam, 20.
That might explain some of the confusion about (a) whether the shooter was 20 or 24, or (b) why there were initial reports of two shooters.
Yeesh.
On a broader cultural level, I do think there's a kind of rot and sickness in the American sense of entitlement.
Which I find at odds with the whole individualistic, make your own way part of American culture.
Although contradictions haven't stopped people from being anti-choice yet pro-death penalty.
I suppose some people feel they tried to make their own way, failed, which they blame on some form of "them", and so someone else has to pay too preferably "them" but whoever might get in the way will do in pinch.
I suppose some people feel they tried to make their own way, failed, which they blame on some form of "them", and so someone else has to pay too preferably "them" but whoever might get in the way will do in pinch.
I think it's something like this. What started off as an ethos of self-reliance mutates when you peg those virtues as being the source of American Exceptionalism. Then once you're Exceptional you just deserve awesomesauce on everything and are not accountable for droning around the world and torturing Bad Guys, or shooting up shit when you feel bad.
That might explain some of the confusion about (a) whether the shooter was 20 or 24, or (b) why there were initial reports of two shooters.
One more reason why it's a bad idea to try to Understand anything from a suspect's Facebook page -- it might not even be the right name, much less the right person.
I just had a glass of wine at work, and I really don't understand three-martini lunches. Or, I do, and it makes me understand how productivity has gone up so much.
I want a glass of wine
so bad
right now.
Npr coverage seems to be very cautious and not releasing unconfirmed information.
One more reason why it's a bad idea to try to Understand anything from a suspect's Facebook page -- it might not even be the right name, much less the right person.
I really don't see why speculation is a bad idea, or piecing the story together. It would be one thing if there were people directly involved, but that wasn't the case. I was able to get a bead on the story much more quickly by piecing the bits and pieces that weren't reported immediately because they were unconfirmed or corroborated. Some of it was wrong and I mentioned that.
But many of the early rumors were true: a parent was killed away from the school, the principal was killed, most of the student killings were an entire classroom, it wasn't a parent but it was somebody with a connection to the school (so not random, or terrorist), etc.
I was never advocating bombing somebody's FB page or doing anything rash, so why not speculate? That's how you figure out what happened.
