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Old 12-19-2012, 06:29 AM   #59
ape descendant
 
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Smexyville, Colorado
Posts: 2,424
I know its tempting to fixate on mental illness, as these sorts of happenings seem to be unreasonable, un-rational, illogical and what have you, however, I think this is more of a case of correlation than causality. If mental illness were truly a main driving factor, then we would see a more diverse group of perpetrators than a bunch of white guys.

I think that this is a symptom of a wider problem, things like r*pe, domestic violence, and more mundane murders in general show the perpetrator seems to feel entitled to the victim's body. There are plenty of people who do not suffer from a diagnosed mental illness who hurt other people because they're mad or simply because they felt like the other person wasn't enough of a person to refrain from hurting.

I certainly understand the desire to separate ourselves from those who do heinous things. It is incredibly tempting to be like "hey, I'm not like that guy", then proceed to blame his behavior on a factor that you don't share with him. Its easy especially when that person is what people consider normal for the most part, a straight, white, dude, the kind of person who is held up as the standard for society. The thing is.. this is the kind of person that most of the people who commit heinous repeat or mass murderers have in common.

There are smaller symptoms that people of this demographic show, like a disregard for personal boundaries, a propensity for abusing people lower in the hierarchy they belong to, and our culture holds this sort of behavior up as what normal guys are supposed to do, how they're entitled to behave. The violence and murder is just taking this sort of attitude and behavior to an extreme.

So yeah, I guess my point is, perhaps we can stop blaming the mentally ill, and start admitting that people who shoot other people up because they're upset are acting on feelings of entitlement and failure to check that sense of entitlement against the rights of others not to be subject to the punishment they've decided to mete out to a world they feel has treated them unfairly.

Of course.. I've pretty much pulled this out of my ass, its my current working idea, after actually putting some thought into the idea since the last time it was discussed.
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