Drive-by Shooting Near University of California Kills Seven

My condolences and prayers go out to all those affected.

There are photos and videos in the linked source below.

Suspect in Calif. Shootings Felt Spurned in Love

• Source: USA Today
• Published: May 24, 2014

 

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Ugh. I started reading up on this on Twitter and it's honestly sickening.

It's clear clear he had some sort of mental disorder (though, I think it's more of a mental illness from the sounds of his lack of empathy/delusions of grandeur), and people who are focusing on "he should've learned to get laid!" or "I wonder who rejected him" are just as bad. (<--- Although I've only seen people say they've seen this being said across the Internet without any sources, so take that with a grain of salt).

The US is far too lenient with gun policies and very poor with mental health care. It is pretty easy for someone to acquire a firearm -- in my area alone, I've been to at least five shops that I know do sell them without too much fuss. As a country, it needs to hammer down and make the policy less forgiving; deeper background checks, required psychological assessment, incarceration records...the works. Furthermore, mental health care needs to be much more accessible and less stigmatized than it currently is. There are many people who go through life without getting the treatment they need because they honestly don't think they have a disorder, or are adamant against any kind of medicine as they see it as falsified emotions, despite it being the same as 'regular' medicine -- it's to help the chemicals in your brain return to a state of normalcy instead of being in disarray as they are now.

Equally as important is this demonization and treatment of women as purely sexual creatures, and objects to be won and bartered at men's leisure. It's extremely disheartening that this incident is what it took to get the mainstream media/audience to address and discuss this long standing horrific treatment of women, even though there are probably still people who refuse to acknowledge it or even try to fix it.

To be honest, I'm not inclined at all to believe this will incite change, as previous tragedies/shootings saw an outcry and similarly just...nothing came of it. I really hope this time is different, and that as tale said, we can be able to fix ourselves; very likely not soon all things considered, but at a quicker pace than we have been doing. Condolences to the families that suffered from this though, and people who are likely now even more fearful of this now more than ever. This is terrifying to read and even think about, and I really want to see a stop to these situations someday.

 

I'm sadly reacting the same way. I'm interested / dedicated in these things, I think that is pretty well known, but things like the extreme effects of misogyny and patriarchy, the violence in our culture and the ease of accessibility to guns... they're nothing new. They've been here for decades, centuries even, and countless people have died over it. It's upsetting to me that women need to die in order for some people to realize that there are some ****ed up perceptions of gender in our society.

Sadly, it's so difficult to not be bitter over this, to allow it turn into hate. I admit that I have my moments of misandry and I'm not proud of it, but when you see women and people of color and lesbians and gays and trans people, all kinds of minorities, differentiations from cishet white males being killed everyday... it's hard not to. But only a few of these cases get the recognition they deserve. And even when they do, like with the George Zimmerman case, there's an inspiring collective uproar about it... and then it dies back down to the activist groups who sadly go unheard.

So if you're reading this and you're horrified, that's good. But don't forget it, don't write it off by just saying "wow we need to address mental health in this country," "we have a gun problem," or "women are facing a lot of **** from men." Those are great realizations to come to and they're the first step. The next is doing something about it, and it is everyone's responsibility.

 

Plenty of people in the world deal with mental illness on a daily basis, yet few of them go out on murder sprees. I think first and foremost it's important to identify Elliot Rodger's motive and understand his position in society, and how it enabled him; a typical white, middle class American upbringing. "Mental illness" is not a catch-all excuse for the actions of serial killers, for murdering people. When the media calls their mental status to publicity, and speculates about the nature thereof they undermine the struggles of actual, harmless non-neurotypical people. Suddenly, any clinical disorder beginning in -schiz becomes synonymous with hearing voices and people forget that Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder. Any "normal" person can suffer a psychotic break when provided with an environmental trigger.

I remember when journalists were assuming the roles of shrinks during the Aurora theatre shooting, and there were all these badly thought out speculations (none of which were based upon firsthand accounts or evidence, they were merely going off of secondhand qualitative symptoms) about what "disorder" James Holmes must have possessed that would motivate him to commit such crime. The most ridiculous suggestion as I recall, was Schizoid Personality Disorder-- which was literally characterized by an aversion toward praise/criticism, attention, or social relationships (SPD was removed in the latest installation of the DSM).

Now, instead of focusing on what societal elements of Western society enabled Elliot Rodger to do what he did [and rectifying/treating the cause] we are once more diverting attention to what must have been wrong with him personally. He must have been evil, he was probably autistic, etc. Completely counterproductive.

 

Yeah, we have both guns and mental diseases in France too but we don' t have mass shootings on the news every week. Or at all really. Having a third of your guns per capita doesn' t suffice to explain the difference away. I' d wager on our more extensive background checks, scarce weapon shops and complete lack of gun advertising. If memory serves 97% of americans call for more extensive background checks, but as long as political bribery remains legal in your country that' s not gonna happen.

As for societal factors the only difference that I can spot is that you seem to care more about finding your 15 minutes of glory no matter what (you have much more real TV, empty pop stars, tabloids etc ...), and seem more prone to revenge as a whole. For instance most of you agree with the capital sentence, and from what I heard whenever Hollywood makes screen tests if there' s a revenge ending it' s the one that comes through every time (example : Seven).

 

This makes me afraid. Not a lot of stuff frightens me these days but this is in the top three. The fact that if I say no or I'm not attentive enough to a "nice guy", that I could be killed or worse. As a woman, I am an object, a prize, something to be taken whenever a "nice guy" wishes. And if I say 'no' or "friendzone" a "niceguy" then I deserve to be beaten, raped, and killed.

And it's flatout bullshit that I have to be terrified of crap like this. That if I somehow offend a male customer that he has the right to bring a gun into my place of work or wait for me until I get off. Just because I have a woman's body does not give men the right to deny me my status as a human being.

It is also bullshit that there are men, and some women, out there that are blaming the victims. That they brought this on themselves for not giving him a chance or being nice to him. That they should have just quote "gave him some tail" unquote. The women that were shot are just not hot piece of blonde tail. They are daughters, sisters, friends, cousins, and nieces. Potential lovers and wives and mothers and aunts. Those girls will never have the chance to be mothers because this ******* decided he was entitled to a hot blonde girl but couldn't get any.

I don't like being afraid and this has me so very disgusted and pissed off. This behavior is being praised and being re-inforced on the internet as we speak.

I'm going to link this because I think it's very important.