What Makes a Mass Killer

I guess it would be neat and tidy if every mammal was the same and behaviours could be tracked to one reason. Good thing our brains are so complex that we don't all behave in the same way in response to triggers or trauma.

In the New York Times' article published in 2019, it says "many would-be mass killers see themselves as part of a brotherhood of like-minded, isolated and resentful boys and men" and previous murderers perceived as idols.

Is there a link between violent video games and the desire to shoot real people in public places? Video games are very popular in Asian countries where mass killings are rare. 

Only a small fraction of those with a mental illness commit violent acts and they are more likely to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia characterized by delusional thinking, frightening voices identifying threats where none exist. Most of the people I have met who have a diagnosis are in pain themselves and more insightful to their problems than those who are thought to be normal and healthy.

Another New York Times article on mass murderers and mental illness states they tend to belong "to a rogue’s gallery of the disgruntled and aggrieved, whose anger and intentions wax and wane over time, eventually curdling into violence in the wake of some perceived humiliation." 

Dr. Stone "has concluded" this article reports "that about 65 percent of mass killers exhibited no evidence of a severe mental disorder; 22 percent likely had psychosis, the delusional thinking and hallucinations that characterize schizophrenia, or sometimes accompany mania and severe depression."

A special forum of the American Sociological Association held in Montreal in 2006 asked several experts to discuss various forms of mass murder, their causes, and possible means of prevention. Panelists Katherine S. Newman, Michael Mann, Randall Collins, and James Ron, were invited to express their knowledge in Contexts, Summer 2006. Yet nothing conclusive was found.

A recent column in the Globe and Mail by Elizabeth Renzetti draws connections between these senseless crimes to misogyny; "despite the mounting carnage, we fail to draw any connections between these crimes, preferring to see them as unfathomable, unpredictable and random. They’re none of those things. Violence perpetrated against women is widespread, exists in a spectrum, and comes with a whole series of red flags that we continue to ignore at our peril – until the next tragedy has officials scratching their heads again, wondering how such a horrible event could occur."

But drawing conclusions on what happens inside a mass shooter's head are not facts.  We can't find facts on the why of things but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have conversations about them. The denial in the comments section tells me all I need to know about the problem. Carl Jung had a vision where he saw masses of people drowning in blood when he learned his patients projected what they didn't want to see in themselves onto others.

I witness today statements about women, men, blacks and the ruling elite that blame, as if that is the cure and not the bandaid. In this way, our refusal to deal with difficult conversations means we are signing the warrant to our own deaths.

Let's be kind.