America's Rational Killers

A teenage gunman in Omaha just killed eight civilians in a random act of violence. He then killed himself. Earlier in the year a teenage gunman killed thirty three civilians in Virginia. He then killed himself. Last year a gunman killed eleven school girls before killing himself. The Columbine killers left a mound of dead bodies in Colorado before killing themselves.

Every few months we are subjected to the same horrifying narrative, and every few months we mourn, and move on. We seem to have become consigned to the suicide killers among us. We chalk it up to irrationality, and that seems sufficient.

Yet, these people are not irrational at all. We know that because Camus told us something about those who commit suicide after killing others: the fact that they kill (punish) themselves after killing (hurting) others is a clear indication that they were rational at the time of their murder, and rational at the time of their suicide. They could recognize the difference between bad and good. They felt guilt. Guilty people cannot be irrational.

Labeling people irrational is an act of laziness. It allows us to disparage them, and disclaim responsibility for their behavior, and engage in self-flagellation without introspection. This was the same thing we did when 9/11 happened. Those men were not irrational guerillas who learned to fly a plane. They were rational murderers. They had reasons for why they behaved that way.

To accept the rationality of a mass murderer is not tantamount to blaming oneself. Innocents are not to blame. It is, however, an opportunity to evaluate the circumstances that led to the mass murderer's behavior. We, unfortunately, seem not at all interested in that. On one hand we are afraid that we might find ourselves implicated in "their" behavior. On the other hand we are too arrogant to think such a person's actions deserve to be subjected to critical reflection ("why should I waste my time thinking about an animal").

The gunman in Omaha left a note saying he wanted to be famous. The Virginia Tech gunman sent packages to the world's largest media groups. The Columbine killers dressed up in correspondence with film characters of great notoriety. When will we realize that America has a problem: it has created a culture where affirmation from others is the sole method of individual validation left. It is not the presence of guns; it is not the absence of religiosity; it is not the breakdown of the family. The simple fact is that we are growing up to think that we are only complete if others give us confirmation of our importance.

How did we get like this? Actually, scratch that. We have always been like this. Rational murder has always been with us. In another age, such people didn't go to malls to kill, but to Europe or Africa. In another world, troubled people simply become Taliban and suicide bombers and kill. We have to ask how our culture can produce complete individuals, and we have to do it without waxing nostalgic about a mythical age "when these kinds of things didn't happen." Because that is simply another way of escaping to the very real problem we have to face.

Comments

[RSP]

It is not necessarily true that these shooters felt any guilt. Rather, by ending their lives through suicide, they go out on their own terms, still fully in control. That's what they want.

[rabun666]

"How did we get like this?" Institutionalized co-dependency fostered by the pretend christian churchianity religionists and is mimicked by the government for their votes, most notably Republicans. Co-dependency is a mental illness whereby an individual seeks approval, attention, from others. They have no sense of self identity so they take on the identity of another, factual or fiction it doesn't matter, as long as they receive attention apparently posthumously is not a problem. With institutionalized co-dependency it assumes normalcy, whatever that is, respectability because it is a support system. Being told from birth that infants are born into sin
because they were born. That's where it starts and only get more complicated from their on.

[Cranbot]

I have to disagree a little with your statement that the breakdown of families does not play a role. I've seen plenty of kids shunted aside because Daddy has a new girlfriend and Mommy has to work 2 jobs to make ends meet (or vice versa). They are isolated and alone without attention or support. Friends of my kids were always coming to our house because I would talk to them and ask them about their lives and remember things about them. They were soooo lonely and feel invisible. Now combine that with maybe getting picked on at school, made to feel dumb or just having no one to turn to when you don't know what to do or how to do it (ie: growing up) and rage grows and grows. People are isolating themselves more and more behind the internet and video games and not learning or enjoying to be out amongst real people.

Add in that this generation has grown up with people famous for being famous - not because they are talented or geniuses or outstanding citizens, but for flashing their underwear or having an inheritance. What and who gets the most attention in today's media? Celebrities, not soldiers, not teachers, not inventors - nothing can knock the celebrities off of the "news" casts and out of the papers. Some people will internalize the message more than others - If I am not well known and wealthy than I am worthless. I don't see how we can stop the celebrity worship, but it is having a huge effect on the dumbing down of America.

The stress we all live under in our modern world, coupled by the killing of the middle class to benefit the haves and have mores is doing tremendous damage to all of us.

[bach]

And that very real problem is ourselves. Since the very first murderer, Cain, we all have it in us to murder. As long as we value self over the greater good, murder will out.

[Boobaloo]

"the suicide killers among us"

--wow. I have never heard it put that way but, my god, that is such an apt description. These murderers really are like a suicide bomber detonating in the middle of mall.

Interesting article.

[Merlin7]

DudeE is correct. It's time to ban the sale and possession of most automatics and semiautomatics, including handguns, AND the ammo for those weapons. Civilians should be allowed to own one small-caliber (.38 and smaller) revolver and one smaller-gauge shotgun.

Our present system is madness, sheer stupidity. Future generations will look back on the current U.S. with laughter and disgust.

[vipersdad]

DudeE: At a visceral level, I agree with your statement:
"Why not give up your guns in the name of saving thousands of innocent lives each year."

I abhor guns and think that they have only one purpose: to terrorize, to kill and to maim. For reasons often discussed, however, our founding fathers gave us the right to keep them in the second ammendment (actually, "arms," not "guns,").

So I am left with the quandary: If we react to the fear we all feel in the aftermath of this recent shooting rampage by taking away our second ammendment rights, how is that different in any way than taking away our right to privacy, or our freedom of speech, or our right to a free press, or any other rights guaranteed in the constitution? We are all up in arms (so to speak) because those rights are being attacked by people exploiting our fear of "terrorism." Why are we willing to give up another right because of that same fear?

There are no simple answers. I know this is a complex question and the reality is that there will always be very troubled people who kill others. While I decry the fact that this person took guns and killed innocents, I stop short of "gutting" the constitution to prevent it.

Fill in your favorite right here:
"give up your _______ to save thousands of innocents each year."

Just food for thought. I LOVE the idea of melting down all these hateful things and making a giant monument to peace and harmony. That genie is out of the bottle though and I think we need a "systemic" solution. If we have to ammend the constitution, let's have a great debate and decide who we want to be as a people. If we decide we'd be better off without guns, then so be it. But let's not let fear of anything be the decider.

[tbone99]

The shocking thing is not that these things happen, but in this crazy country where men are see people in high places get somewhere because of their flagrant disregard of human values that it doesn't happen more often!