Have we become used to or immune to mass shootings?

[glatt]

I didn't see that they caught him. That's awesome!

Had it gone on long enough to impact your life with fear and worry? The DC sniper back in the day did that to us.

[Clodfobble]

I wasn't personally worried in the beginning, because he seemed to be targeting politically-prominent black families. (Angry, of course, and concerned for others, but not nervous for my own home.) Then the most recent bombing was a trip wire across a sidewalk near a school, placed Sunday night--it was triggered by passing late-night cyclists, but in all likelihood was meant for kids first thing Monday morning. That got to me.

[tw]

Currently only known is his name, 23 years old, and home schooled. A first indication of someone without the necessary outside contacts so as to not become an extremist. Curious will be if that applies here.

When cornered, he (apparently) committed suicide. Just like suicide bombers in other countries that only learn what the dictatorial powers have order them to believe.

Overlooked is the school shooting of the week. This time in Maryland.

[Clodfobble]

Lifelong homeschooling can stunt you socially and give you poor self-awareness, but it's usually along the lines of thinking you're hilarious because Mom always laughs at your jokes and no peer ever told you to shut up. It doesn't do this. If this kid was homeschooled, it was likely because the public school system couldn't/wouldn't deal with him. I know tons of kids whose parents had to become involuntary homeschool teachers.

[DanaC]

The Austin American-Statesman newspaper reports that he was homeschooled by his mother during his high school years. His parent's home is now being searched by authorities, according to the newspaper.

"I officially graduated Mark from High School," his mother wrote on Facebook in a 2013 post showing her son.

"He's thinking of taking some time to figure out what he wants to do...maybe a [religious] mission trip," his mother wrote.

Followed by this:

US media have uncovered a 2012 blog which was written under the suspect's name and appeared to be for a university course that he attended.
In the blog called "Defining my Stance", he purportedly describes beliefs that "gay marriage should be illegal", opposition to abortion and why the sex offender registry should be eliminated.

I think we can start to connect a few dots here.

The other reason for homeschooling is to be able to prevent one's child from being exposed to competing ideologies or information that runs counter to an extreme religious position.

[Clodfobble]

Absolutely, and maybe that's the case here. But those folks also don't generally become religious at the moment their kid hits 9th grade. By that time, he would have already had multiple exposures to both evolution and sex ed.

It's possible that he went to a K-8 Christian school, though, and then had to figure out what to do next. There aren't nearly as many religious high school options around here as there are for the lower grades.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Parents teach their children, directly or indirectly, morality. Their morality, nobody else's.
Some think eating meat is immoral, some don't. Some think abortion is immoral, some don't. Some think racism and sexism are immoral, some don't. So you can't count on morality to thwart anyone's actions

[DanaC]

Another lost boy, whatever the reason.

[tw]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Another lost boy, whatever the reason.

The most important part of a story about a car crash - why it happened.

Same here. The largest reason this story is significant - we need know what that reason is.

[DanaC]

Oh, I don't disagree.

But we also need to know why this keeps happening. At an individual level there is a reason - but there is also a meta reason for why young people (mainly boys) are doing this.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Because the girls keep saying no, and the boy's hormones back up.

[tw]

Originally Posted by DanaC

At an individual level there is a reason - but there is also a meta reason for why young people (mainly boys) are doing this.

We would be decades farther into understanding had research into forensic psychology not been openly banned by laws desired and promoted by the NRA.

Only subjective conclusions from observation are apparent. These actions are common with people inspired by hate (ie Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, KKK, Donald Trump), educated in isolated environments where parents believe the world to be evil (also called racism, antisemitism, inspired by introverted news sources - propaganda, and contempt for what make science so useful - a hypothesis confirmed by experimental evidence and controlled experimentation).

What inspired Timothy McVeigh? What inspired so many Americans to so hate the American soldier as to believe Saddam had WMDs? Probably the same reason why most knew smoking cigarettes increases health. And why immigrants (legal and illegal) are evil. But again, we can only make conclusions from observation.

These latest bombings are only a worse case example of forensic psychology that has been obstructed due to emotions even inspired and aggravated by the NRA.

We know how Goebbels so easily promoted hate. We know from Philip Zimbardo's famous Stanford prison and torture experiments that so many adults are so easily manipulated and therefore will respond like children.

We also know pedophilia and other anti-social behavior has been created by brain tumors - and cured by removing those tumors.

So much more research is necessary. But extremists have subverted such research using the same emotional denials that also deny man made global warming.

So much to learn. So many just don't want to learn. So many so hate themselves as to not criticize the local gossip (ie 5PM news, tabloid newspapers) for not reporting why every car crash happened - so that we actually learn something.

Therein lies the underlying reasons and where a solution begins.

[Clodfobble]

Malcolm Gladwell made a very compelling argument about the root cause (in a nutshell, culture is contagious and social trends can go subconsciously viral) in his book "Tipping Point." Very much worth the read, as most of his stuff is.

[Undertoad]

Sudden crazy thought: most school shooter's worst fear would be that the classmates became more famous than he did from the event.

So: have the Parkland teens inadvertently found a cure?

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

So: have the Parkland teens inadvertently found a cure?

The NRA shifted tactics. They got guns into YouTube. To make it more interesting, this time it is a girl. They know how to keep our attention.