7 dead, 7 wounded in Santa Barbara shooting rampage

[93Devil]

What is one step above name calling? I forget.

 

[Boom_70]

The shooter was mentally ill. Any attempt to tease out some chain of logic or causality between things happening in his life and what he wound up doing is just so much b.s. He could have grown up poor, he could have been rich. He could have been ridiculously successful with the ladies. None of that would have changed the fact that he was terribly, terribly sick.

Honest query: Is there a mass killer or serial killer you'd describe as not mentally ill?

Obama

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Even Aristotle complained the youth of his time were shiftless and self-indulgent.
Important not to fall into that trap.
What would you call U.S. soldiers who raped and killed Iraqi nationals?

 

[Stoney]

Your posts are exhibiting an increasing reduction in sagacity and diminishing growth in coherence.

And yours confusingly excessive wordiness. And no shining examples of coherence themselves.

Ya know, you could just say "becoming less sagacious and coherent." Just sayin...

 

[dirtybird]

Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow don't appreciate the blame pointed their way:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/05/27/seth-rogen-and-judd-apatow-dont-blame-us-for-misogynistic-massacre/

Half-baked column still half-baked?

Maybe we should blame every TV show or movie where a schlubby guy has a hot girlfriend or wife. Seems beyond ridiculous.

You can't can't lay blame, but I actually think that trope might inform elements of this. Few unattractive women are in TV/movies. Many quasi-unattractive men are. I'd guess being bombarded by images of a world where really attractive people are considered average could have some warping effect, and this kid's crazy seems to line up with what that bombardment could cause.

I mean, this kid had no social skills, and ranted about how he wanted to be noticed. He didn't go up and talk to women, he just wanted them to see him and like him instantly. And for all the types of women out there, he was fixated on tall, tan, leggy blonds. And he thought he was so majestic he was uninterested in affection from any other sort. I wouldn't blame media for that, but I could also see how it could link. That said, maybe the motivations of a crazy person are just a manifestation of crazy, but I don't think it hurts to think about.

 

[Boom_70]

Even Aristotle complained the youth of his time were shiftless and self-indulgent.
Important not to fall into that trap.
What would you call U.S. soldiers who raped and killed Iraqi nationals?

It's judgement that defeats us

 

[Pancamo]

How massive will prisons be if guns are outlawed? Can someone explain how a ban on guns would work?

FYI-I have not shot or owned a gun.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

How massive will prisons be if guns are outlawed? Can someone explain how a ban on guns would work?

FYI-I have not shot or owned a gun.

It will never happen, so it's not even worth discussing.

 

[outofplace]

Your posts are exhibiting an increasing reduction in sagacity and diminishing growth in coherence.

And yours confusingly excessive wordiness. And no shining examples of coherence themselves.

Ya know, you could just say "becoming less sagacious and coherent." Just sayin...

He's trying so hard that it seems as if his words don't even say what he hopes they will say. Diminishing growth in coherence does not mean there is a decrease in coherence, just that there is no increase.

 

[JayFarrar]

What would you call U.S. soldiers who raped and killed Iraqi nationals?

Criminals is the place to start, convicts is where it would finish.

I know cops and soldiers who have shot and killed people. But I don't know a single concealed carry holder or gun rights advocate who has actually shot another person.

I also know plenty of cops who went their entire career and never shot anyone.

The belief of violence lurking around every corner and actual violence occurring seems to both wide and vast.

 

[ifilus]

If you don't think this isn't about money and greed, well, it's about money.

Not quite following here. Money appears to be the one thing this lunatic DID have going for him. How did money cause this one?

He blamed his parents for his lack of wealth.

"If only my damnable mother had married into wealth instead of being selfish," he wrote. She dated wealthy men after her divorce, giving her son hope and prompting him to "pester" her to marry one, he said. "I will always resent my mother for refusing to do this. If not for her sake, she should have done it for mine. Joining a family of great wealth would have truly saved my life. I would have a high enough status to attract beautiful girlfriends and live above all of my enemies."


http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/justice/california-elliot-rodger-wealth/

 

[Guy_Incognito]

So what is the solution? Or are we all foolish to think there might be a way to prevent this from happening as frequently as it seems to be happening?

I'm not suggesting on any level that it's an easy fix or that any specific moves prevent this from happening again, but having covered one of these shootings, I get sick every time it happens again. I remember after covering one, someone told me, "You have to realize that there won't be anything like this again." and while I wanted to believe that at the time, that person could not have been more wrong.

There's no solution.

NRA wins. Get used to it.

One day, the NRA will lose and probably lose big. It's not a question of "if" but "how."

We are in one most conservative eras of American history. It'll end. And we'll move on.

What do you mean by "one of the most conservative eras of American history"? And how exactly does that "conservative era" -- as you define liberalism versus conservatism -- relate to people who are gun happy.

Are we more conservative than when gay marriage didn't exist at all? More conservative than when pot wasn't being legalized in places? More conservative than when some states enforced segregation of the races? More conservative than when our Congress was issuing subpoenas, accusing people of being communists and trying to frighten them into naming names? More conservative than when women weren't allowed to vote? Or when slavery was legal? Or when we had anti-sedition laws?

Is slavery a conservative position?