The Baffling Stories Behind the Epidemic Of Mass Killers This Last Year

[Dr. Zaus]

David Wong's work is often spectacular, but this article is particularly amazing. Each one seems to have a totally wrong "Media Narrative" that changes based on which parts of the internet you follow.


Wong's Stuff
"Don't tell me the attacks are 'inexplicable.' Anything can be explained. So I've examined the lives of the mass killers who've made headlines over the last year, and what I've found is that the ensuing narrative in each case was usually either wrong or laughably oversimplified."

Oregon: A Guy Shoots 18 People At His Community College

Media Narrative Afterward: Either that this is proof of a War on Christians, or we need to ban assault rifles and require background checks for gun buyers.

San Bernardino: A Married Couple Drops The Baby Off At Grandma's, Then Shoots 36 People
Media Narrative Afterward: ISIS attack! Seriously, what is there to even discuss? We're at war!


Orlando: Man Opens Fire On A Gay Nightclub, Claims 102 Victims
Media Narrative Afterward: Either an ISIS attack or an anti-gay hate crime,

Dallas: An Army Vet Ambushes Police At A Black Lives Matter Rally, Shooting 14 Officers and Two Civilians

Media Narrative Afterward: Depending on whether Facebook is feeding you stories from the left or the right, you either got "Black Lives Matter terrorists murder cops" or "lone wolf shooting by an Army vet who snapped."

Nice, France: A Driver Plows A Truck Into A Crowd And Runs Over 400 People
Media Narrative Afterward: ISIS strikes France again!

Baton Rouge: A Guy Drives Hundreds Of Miles To Ambush Police, Shoots Six Of Them
Media Narrative Afterward: A copycat attack after Dallas by another anti-cop terrorist.



Munich: A Teenager Shoots 13 People -- Mostly Other Teenagers -- At A McDonald's
Media Narrative Afterward: Either you heard he was a jihadist who shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the rampage or that he was an anti-immigrant racist who worshiped Norway killer Anders Breivik. Again, depending on which headlines you're filtering for.



So what do all of these people have in common?

* Their average age was 27, no one older than 31.
* Most, but not all, came from broken homes.
* Most, but not all, felt like they had no prospects for the future.
* Most, but not all, had latched onto a violent movement's ideology.
* Some, but not most, had studied or idolized previous mass killers.
* Some, but not most, had histories of criminal activity or violence.
* All of them thought mass murder would give their lives meaning.
* All of them saw their victims as nothing more than fodder -- lifeless vessels to absorb their rage.


My Take:
We need to end the dehumanization of the 'other'. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when we insulate ourselves into a world where the media takes we read become the reality we experience.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Another take: most/all of the shooters have personal stakes in their rage and see their surroundings as dehumanizing them. Hard to see value in other people's lives when you can't see any value they hold in yours.

 

[werepossum]

No love for the Charleston church shooting? That to me is one of the most chilling - a shooter walking in, calmly speaking with worshippers for almost half an hour, and then calmly murdering them.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

No love for the Charleston church shooting? That to me is one of the most chilling - a shooter walking in, calmly speaking with worshippers for almost half an hour, and then calmly murdering them.

It was over a year ago: and the author says he was only speaking of a one year period. I'll update the title.

I agree though, meeting a person and then shooting her or him is lazy-serial killer depraved.

 

[compuwiz1]

It was over a year ago: and the author says he was only speaking of a one year period. I'll update the title.

I agree though, meeting a person and then shooting her or him is lazy-serial killer depraved.

Is there a text book, proper way of serial killing? 😉

It's all horrible. It's happening so often, it's almost become just another day in our lives, and an expected occurrence. 🙁

 

[Exterous]

* Some, but not most, had studied or idolized previous mass killers.

I suspect that they also seek to be idolized and have the world take notice of them. All the media coverage gives them the perfect outlet for that.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

I suspect that they also seek to be idolized and have the world take notice of them. All the media coverage gives them the perfect outlet for that.

Good point... I wonder if not knowing these folk's names would help reduce this behavior?

 

[Moonbeam]

I think mass killers seek revenge for being made to hate themselves and that they go after what they imagine is the cause. Suppose you imagine that as a white person you are entitled to a racial privilege that black people also are struggling to get. Say it was Christian ideology that taught you to feel evil. Black Christians would make, via an insane logic, an apropos target.

 

[justoh]

It's dehumanizing to assume that they all saw their victims as nothing more than fodder. This 'tude is exactly what gets them all murderery in the first place, probably. Try having a little empathy for the perps for once.

 

[Moonbeam]

My Take:
We need to end the dehumanization of the 'other'. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when we insulate ourselves into a world where the media takes we read become the reality we experience.

I think dehumanization begins as a result of being verbally put down in childhood, told you are of value only if you conform to the shifting sands of whatever you are told is good. In order to have any worth you have to measure up and win in competition where measuring up is to something meaningless and where competition is hate. We are all insane and some of us more than others. We will never fix the extremely ill because it would require seeing that illness in ourselves. We call the problem inexplicable because we need it to be not because it is.