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I agree that being on the autism spectrum has little to do with this man's anger and self hatred. He sounds a lot like Elliot Rodger, the suspect in the 2014 Isla Vista (U.C. Santa Barbara) killings, who had similar issues.
It may not have anything to do with his anger and self hatred but it has a lot to do with his social and romantic failures. Then the forum took that and poured gasoline all over it and helped him light the match, then cheered as the fire burned and people died. Again we can choose to think this guy is an anomaly, but there are too many incidents now not to recognize there’s more going on. While we sit here and write about this guy, these hate groups are creating more just like him. And they should be looked at as hate groups IMO.
I think the Aspergers is being discounted, but we ignore it at a peril. Many of these guys have similar issues, resulting in zero understanding of social skills and inability to fit into society. Sure, we can play whack-a-mole and wait till they kill people and then kill them, but its not a very effective way to actually stop what has become basically online recruiting and egging on by these online forums that they join that feed and feed their anger and sense of societal injustice until they lash out. many of these sites operate just like ISIS recruitment sites do. I know it's a tricky balance between protecting the first amendment and policing the internet, but it is the internet creating these monsters and unleashing them on society, and taking down one while 100 more are being created seems kind of short-sighted. I understand the desire for vengeance, but I'm actually more interested in prevention.
This is a great post.
I don't know what the solution is but I'd like to know the origins of this anger.
When I was in my teens and early 20s, I don't recall male peers being so angry or entitled. So much of this is linked to the internet. Before, if you couldn't get a date, your buddies might have given you a hard time, told you what you needed to do to change, but if you were unsuccessful, you sat home on a Saturday night playing D&D or listening to angsty music. You certainly didn't decide to rent a van and run down someone's grandma to soothe your fragile ego. You didn't have an audience of like-minded people to rage with, making your "suffering" something bigger than it actually was, and planning revenge against strangers for your own shortcomings.
I don't know what the solution is but I'd like to know the origins of this anger.
When I was in my teens and early 20s, I don't recall male peers being so angry or entitled. So much of this is linked to the internet. Before, if you couldn't get a date, your buddies might have given you a hard time, told you what you needed to do to change, but if you were unsuccessful, you sat home on a Saturday night playing D&D or listening to angsty music. You certainly didn't decide to rent a van and run down someone's grandma to soothe your fragile ego. You didn't have an audience of like-minded people to rage with, making your "suffering" something bigger than it actually was, and planning revenge against strangers for your own shortcomings.
How does society fix that?
Or if you lived in a small town you connected with the last single female. Or you were just an oddity, alienated, and mainly in your own head without knowing why. Now that the world is a lot smaller, you failures are constantly thrown in your face, all day, every day.
Aspergers is just a form of Autism with less functional impairment. I don't care how unpopular my position is but autism IS brain damage.
A recent (2014) donation of post-mortem brain tissue harvested from donors by a specific Autism research foundation & distributed to research facilities around the world, has resulted in identical findings: Disabled Microglia (immune cells in the brain) that are unable to regulate synaptic growth.
It is occurring all along the human age-timeline. The identical damage is found in young adults with Schizophrenia & in aging adults with Alzheimer's. If the damage occurs during the early childhood development stage; it results in autism.
This guy's profile is similar to that of mass-shooters. Blaming it on being 'unlucky in love' or violent video games or being bullied is just a distraction. It's the same behaviors being caused by the same brain damage.
It's human nature to try to explain with these marginal excuses but it's not going to help in preventing these events from occurring. We are sick people; as in unhealthy. Something has gone terribly wrong.
I have a son on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. Asperger's can, but need not, feature violent anger. One wonders why, when he was meowing and biting like a cat in class, no one did anything.
This is a far bigger mess than I ever imagined. These people act like they are the only ones that were ever hurt in this life. So everyone else has to pay for it. This isn't Aspergers, this is evil!
Aspergers is just a form of Autism with less functional impairment. I don't care how unpopular my position is but autism IS brain damage.
But Asperger's by itself is not the cause for violence on this scale. And according to medical professionals, people with Asperger's, are no more likely to commit violent crimes than members of the general population.
Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooting) had Asperger's. But he also had a host of other mental disorders--possibly fed by isolation and his own Internet use--that led to his choice to massacre his mother, 20 six-year olds, and 6 school staff members.
I agree with Mlulu, above. That's a horrifying video clip. And so reminiscent of the Isla Vista killer Elliot Rodger.
But Asperger's by itself is not the cause for violence on this scale. And according to medical professionals, people with Asperger's, are no more likely to commit violent crimes than members of the general population.
Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooting) had Asperger's. But he also had a host of other mental disorders--possibly fed by isolation and his own Internet use--that led to his choice to massacre his mother, 20 six-year olds, and 6 school staff members.
I agree with Mlulu, above. That's a horrifying video clip. And so reminiscent of the Isla Vista killer Elliot Rodger.
I really think the difference in the guys who turn to violence are those Internet forums, which cultivate the rage and encourage the violence. Just like ISIS, it becomes a community of acceptance and validation for all the wrong things, to outcasts who never felt they fit before.
This is a far bigger mess than I ever imagined. These people act like they are the only ones that were ever hurt in this life. So everyone else has to pay for it. This isn't Aspergers, this is evil!
Thanks for posting that 5th Estate video about the incel terrorism movement. It's definitely worth the 22 minutes of viewing time to watch it and get some perspective about the phenomenon for anyone not familiar with it.
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I really think the difference in the guys who turn to violence are those Internet forums, which cultivate the rage and encourage the violence. Just like ISIS, it becomes a community of acceptance and validation for all the wrong things, to outcasts who never felt they fit before.
Agreed. Without the Internet, we may not have ever had Columbine. Eric Harris used the Internet to feed his rage, and he enlisted his clinically depressed and suicidal friend Dylan Klebold to assist him.
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