So, I've been reading portions of the shooter's 141 page essay, which he title "My Twisted World", as well as statements by his family. While the loss of the victims and their families perhaps deserves to be the bigger story, I couldn't help but become fascinated with the psychological profile of Elliot Rodger.
After thinking about where blame for the events should be placed, I am inclined to separate the sequence of events into two parts:
1. Kid fails to mature into a psychologically healthy adult, and becomes down and out.
2. Down-and-outer legally purchases firearms and shoots a bunch of strangers.
People like to talk about #2 a lot w.r.t. U.S. gun culture and laws, and how this kind of thing would be preventable if we reduce levels of ownership and accessibility of firearms to levels on par with other developed nations. Of course, our deeply rooted love-affair for guns means that typical, ignorant Americans, and gun lobby that exists on their (and the gun manufacturer's) behalf, will continue to push for people to own guns who don't need them. I'd imagine that very few people who own a gun in the U.S. really need one.
Although random shootings like this probably don't account for a great deal of violence in the U.S., gun violence in general surely does, to the extent that we are a more violent nation than similar European countries.
Assuming that #2 (sadly) doesn't seem likely to change any time soon, here's my theory about how he became down and out.
Crucially, at some point he seems to have developed a debilitating Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In addition, he doesn't seem to be all that bright, since his number one goal in life seems to be based on his primitive sexual urges. Anyway, as a result of his unchecked narcissism, his complete lack of social skills go wholly uncorrected. This seems to further impair his deductive reasoning skills. Witness the hundreds or thousands of dollars he spent on lottery tickets, even driving from California to Arizona to buy lottery tickets with a bigger jackpot.
Eventually, he humiliates himself by trying to force himself into an Isla Vista party by showing up drunk, and acting out violently towards others in a spat of jealousy. He ends up getting pushed off a 10-foot ledge and breaking his leg. Then he gets beat up, and has to drag himself home.
At this point, he is full of jealously and hatred, and has utterly isolated and humiliated himself.
For those of us living in a country that allows people in this position to legally purchase a firearm, it does make one wish he wasn't so bullied or isolated. Perhaps his situation and apparent lack of intelligence predisposed him to it. But there are surely a lot of other isolated kids in a similar position that don't resort violence, and thus we don't hear about them. This one just happened to be a painfully shallow, spoiled rich kid with no social skills who developed a Narcissistic Personality Disorder, ultimately allowing him to justify a "if I can't have it all, then nobody will" attitude to himself.
After thinking about where blame for the events should be placed, I am inclined to separate the sequence of events into two parts:
1. Kid fails to mature into a psychologically healthy adult, and becomes down and out.
2. Down-and-outer legally purchases firearms and shoots a bunch of strangers.
People like to talk about #2 a lot w.r.t. U.S. gun culture and laws, and how this kind of thing would be preventable if we reduce levels of ownership and accessibility of firearms to levels on par with other developed nations. Of course, our deeply rooted love-affair for guns means that typical, ignorant Americans, and gun lobby that exists on their (and the gun manufacturer's) behalf, will continue to push for people to own guns who don't need them. I'd imagine that very few people who own a gun in the U.S. really need one.
Although random shootings like this probably don't account for a great deal of violence in the U.S., gun violence in general surely does, to the extent that we are a more violent nation than similar European countries.
Assuming that #2 (sadly) doesn't seem likely to change any time soon, here's my theory about how he became down and out.
- Kid grows up having high expectations for his life, somewhat naturally, since he seems to come from a successful and somewhat wealthy family. His dad was an assistant director of Hunger Games.
- Either is genetically predisposed, or develops, an extreme shyness.
- May be somewhere on the autistic spectrum as well.
- Changed schools quite a bit as a kid. He also didn't come to the U.S. until he was five (he was born in England).
- Never seemed to develop a sharp intellect or any amount of common sense.
Crucially, at some point he seems to have developed a debilitating Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In addition, he doesn't seem to be all that bright, since his number one goal in life seems to be based on his primitive sexual urges. Anyway, as a result of his unchecked narcissism, his complete lack of social skills go wholly uncorrected. This seems to further impair his deductive reasoning skills. Witness the hundreds or thousands of dollars he spent on lottery tickets, even driving from California to Arizona to buy lottery tickets with a bigger jackpot.
Eventually, he humiliates himself by trying to force himself into an Isla Vista party by showing up drunk, and acting out violently towards others in a spat of jealousy. He ends up getting pushed off a 10-foot ledge and breaking his leg. Then he gets beat up, and has to drag himself home.
At this point, he is full of jealously and hatred, and has utterly isolated and humiliated himself.
For those of us living in a country that allows people in this position to legally purchase a firearm, it does make one wish he wasn't so bullied or isolated. Perhaps his situation and apparent lack of intelligence predisposed him to it. But there are surely a lot of other isolated kids in a similar position that don't resort violence, and thus we don't hear about them. This one just happened to be a painfully shallow, spoiled rich kid with no social skills who developed a Narcissistic Personality Disorder, ultimately allowing him to justify a "if I can't have it all, then nobody will" attitude to himself.
