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I know it sounds like a topic for Politics and Controversies but, after reading the article I really feel like it belongs here more. I found it a compelling read:
Food for thought. I do think that shooting up a public place is a script that disturbed or unhappy men follow. Malcolm Gladwell has elaborated on this, and I think he makes good points. If you are a disturbed person, you have a script to follow. You acquire weapons and you shoot people in a public space or a school. Then you shoot yourself, or get shot, or possibly get captured. Maybe you think you can escape, although mass shooters never do.
It is as if the shooter is committing suicide and taking as many people as possible with him. I also suspect that the shooter wants to go down in "history" as the most or the worst or the most prolific killer. People read about these cowardly, violent men on the internet with admiration.
And that is what they are. It is one thing to kill yourself. But to stalk humans out of hatred to kill them at random, is cowardly.
I started to read the article but it was too boring. And it annoyed me with the "poor guys just want to cuddle but they are too manly to ask so they shoot people boo hoo" thing.
The problem is that men want to be super heroes. That's what they aspire to be as children.
And most of the guys committing mass shootings think that they are going down as Heroes.
Most of them believe that they are heroes to some sort of cause like the ISIS crap.
The Vegas guy thought he was a hero.
Or maybe it's because his DNA is crooked.
Or maybe it's both.
In my opinion he was definately some sort of hardcore "life of David Gale" type activist that was able to pull off mass murder because he is the product of a psychopath.
It is one thing to kill yourself. But to stalk humans out of hatred to kill them at random, is cowardly.
To stalk people you don't hate and not kill them is just as cowardly. Everyone knows that stalkers are cowardly freaks and weirdos with hardcore personality disorders.
The argument advance d in Posts #1-#3 is a valid one, but there is undoubtedly a small, but likely more-intensely-resentful group of men, almost completely alienated and radicalized by the "Peter Pan Syndrome / Boy Meets World" advocacy promoted by a segment of the feminist movement; and the more these individuals feel cornered, the more likely it becomes that the most deranged among them will lash out at some point.
I can offer no answer short of a serious re-evaluation of the "soft militancy" (??) that seems to provoke this reaction; the means to carry out these attacks are simply too accessible to be overcome by a Big Brother/Sister approach; and I don't doubt that there are some in the opposite camp who feel that even the raising of arguments like this one should be suppressed. "Kumbayah" ([i]und Seig Hiel[/I)] to them!
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 10-08-2017 at 08:09 AM..
^^ I also think there is a big element in how over-scheduled children are with organized activity. There doesn't seem to be much opportunities for kids to just go out and play, explore, make mistakes and learn from them anymore.
The argument advance d in Posts #1-#3 is a valid one, but there is undoubtedly a small, but likely more-intensely-resentful group of men, almost completely alienated and radicalized by the "Peter Pan Syndrome / Boy Meets World" advocacy promoted by a segment of the feminist movement; and the more these individuals feel cornered, the more likely it becomes that the most deranged among them will lash out at some point.
I can offer no answer short of a serious re-evaluation of the "soft militancy" (??) that seems to provoke this reaction; the means to carry out these attacks are simply too accessible to be overcome by a Big Brother/Sister approach; and I don't doubt that there are some in the opposite camp who feel that even the raising of arguments like this one should be suppressed. "Kumbayah" ([i]und Seig Hiel[/I)] to them!
Um... who's the opposite camp? Why do you want there to be sides when this effects all people?
Remember when tragedies used to bring people together? Now it is all about assigning blame.
Um... who's the opposite camp? Why do you want there to be sides when this effects all people?
Remember when tragedies used to bring people together? Now it is all about assigning blame.
I'm not trying to "take sides" but I do believe the early posts are missing an important point; too many of the goody-two-shoes types who preach about "reaching out" to supposedly-alienated (and often otherwise quite self-reliant) single men are actually intent upon luring them into a social structure that will diminish, and possibly even destroy that autonomy, There are very few jobs out there which are compatible with the "lighthouse keeper" personality, and what's left are diminishing rapidly.
I can recognize that the model cited above has its downside, and that women, many of whom are still conditioned to depend upon a male breadwinner and to assume primary responsibility for child-rearing, are the more-vulnerable sex, and often pay a heavy price. The demands and dictates of a manufacturing-oriented, "heavy"-industrial society provided more options for the traditional breadwinner -- not so much to "opt out" as to find a less-structured and less-interactive role than in a service-oriented occupation, many of which now involve entry-level work with that irrational, demanding critter we call "the public".
And as a person forced to "start over" in a call-center atmosphere while in my early Fifties, I can attest that plenty of games are played, especially when a large percentage of the supervision is female. Most men can, and do learn to adapt to much of this, especially with the help of the right partner,
But the number of men who feel ill-at-ease in the hyper-sensitized and over-politicized atmosphere of the typical post-industrial workplace (modeled, in turn, after a classroom, and a primary-school classroom, at that) is grossly under-stated. My father was a dairy-farmer; his choice of employment called for a wide variety of skills, and could also present its share of physical perils. For over forty years, he rose at 5 AM to milk and, when he could find someone to fill in for him, couldn't leave the farm for more than a day or two. But he possessed far greater dread of being sent to a back-row desk in a large, heavily-politicized office.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 10-08-2017 at 07:29 PM..
I remember early on, oh say the 2nd or 3rd, maybe the 4th, chapter of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nu..._Beast_(novel) where Zeb observes, "where the favorite form of suicide is to take a rifle atop a tower, start shooting, and let the riot squad settle it". That book was published almost 40 years ago.
An interesting thing or two about "play". In Star Trek, one learns that the more complex the mind, the more the need for play. Secondly, remember a few years ago the woman at Disneyworld who was upset becasue she was told to change out of her costume? Looking at the comments, there were some that were like "I gave up dress up at 12!". Well, in my world of friends with Renaissance Festivals and Cosplay, we never out grow such....OR to put it another way, "The Fae: this is what happens when you find out that growing up sucks!".
In my case, one of my strengths is that I have a VERY POWERFUL fantasy life. Some might say that my approach to problems by invoking this or that fantasy personalty is a grand example of MPD but it is more a derivative from writing fiction where my characters can neither be mirror reflections of each other nor of me.
There is, however, one flaw to this suggestion that as adults, we don't play enough; we have lots of first person shooter games. I don't know if we know enough or not to say which way on those. Sunday morning, I wrote this observation about them from my standpoint as a professional shooter: http://www.city-data.com/forum/49756782-post2373.html
One thing on that skill, however, is that I don't shoot with a scope. I never have used a scope in my life. I got to thinking Sunday that it rather seems counter in that someone using a scope would see the face of those they are shooting which would make it more personal and stressful while with my approach, they are just a dot on the post. It might seem that "my way" is the way not to care about those people and that it is the way a mass shooter would target, but I don't know.
It may not only be men. In my younger decades, I was not the happiest and I did have a certain degree of blood thirstiness. It was that kind environment where we would think nothing of sinking a Soviet hospital ship to get a clear shot at a destroyer (in the submarine simulator)....or at least until we learned that our own POWs may be on said ship.
It is being out of that environment that things have changed, such as being able to play this or that part more easily, such as being the flirt.
STILL, however, there are many elements of my younger decades which I would not give up or change if I could, so I cannot say if it should be this or that theory. What's probably the most significant thing to stop someone from being bitter and alone?
I know it sounds like a topic for Politics and Controversies but, after reading the article I really feel like it belongs here more. I found it a compelling read:
There is a definite pattern and while men hate facing this, the truth is what it is. According to public health studies, women actually have more psychological issues but as we can all see they seldom if ever lead to violence, at least the kind that takes so many lives.
So why are men so much more likely to be mass shooters? That would take weeks to unpack and would not be possible in a forum like this. Among the possible reason are a lack of mens' rites of passage today, men's changing roles in society and their displeasure with them, and what so many people feel today; the feeling of powerlessness...and some men decide to reclaim a feeling of power by killing others. Its a sad and awful way to get attention, but those who do this think its a reasonable option.
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