I have had about all I can stomach with regard to the recent spate of mass shootings. What motivates these people to kill a bunch of other people? In Elliot Rodger's case, he hated women. He couldn't get a date, he couldn't find someone to have sex with him, in Southern California, not even trolling around in an expensive BMW that daddy bought for him, something that (according to legend) absolutely melts panties. Guys, I just had my 12th wedding anniversary and I still occasionally get women that hit on me, and I am not exactly a superior specimen. I'm overweight, I have plaque psoriasis, I'm a confessed alcoholic, and my job isn't what you would call high-paying. I was a solitary person growing up, I didn't relate well with people, and I suffered from a fairly moderate case of depression. Somehow I managed to impress a woman or two.
I only mention this because the person in question this time lacked something that I have. For all my faults, I am a caring individual, almost to a fault. It shows in the dedication I have at my job, the mannerisms I display, and my interactions with others. In other words, I am not a raving lunatic. This guy was, and the most obvious explanation for why he couldn't get laid is because he scared the living hell out of every woman he encountered. There's an old axiom about this: if you think that everyone around you is crazy, you're the one that's crazy. Instead of recognizing this fact for what it was, he decided to become the American Marc Lepine and take it out on a bunch of innocent women.
This is just the most recent incidence of loons going crazy and seeking some sort of revenge, closure, I don't even know what to call it. Suffice it to say that it simply doesn't make any sense to the rest of us. So I humbly submit a proposal: rather than killing a bunch of other people, stick the gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. It would save us all a lot of handwringing, it would spare the families of those killed a never-ending feeling of loss, and it would solve your problem, all in one fell swoop. It's what you want anyway, so do it and get it over with. Some people simply cannot be saved. Let's save our time, resources, and sympathy for those we can and give the rest the way out they so clearly desire.
One thing we should not do, even as I do it myself, is let these people occupy any part of our time or our thoughts. We should reinstate the old Roman policy of damnatio memoriae. Don't name the person, don't put his picture up, don't pay any mind to lunatic "manifestos" that are nothing of the sort. Treat the killer as an object rather than a person. When they do these things they are of no more value than the half-ounce piece of lead they put through their deranged brains. Maybe then we can eliminate these idiots, these attention-whoring nutjobs that shoot people up because they have no other way to become famous.
In any case, stop shooting people. Do yourself and let the rest of us live in peace.
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