Topic: Elliot Rodger

[Mooning Freddy]

http://mashable.com/2014/05/25/elliot-rodger-profile/

What do you guys think about the story? It makes me feel that there is something horribly wrong with America. Okay, probably not all of America. And it's probably not only America. But something became horribly wrong with the first world.

I can see no other explanation to a handsome, intelligent young man from a rich family feeling that his life is worthless and hating the world. Seems as if he had absolutely no ability to evaluate his situation and see how much more fortunate he is than others. How does a man become such a sociopathic spoiled brat? Could it have anything to do with living in a golden cage, not being able to see the world beyond it?

It's insane. I often think that the time when I truly learned to appreciate my own life and appreciate what I have rather than being bothered by what I don't, was during my military service. The extreme situation of tension, lack of privacy, responsibility, and modesty, as well as altruism required from me in that time made me understand my own freedom and taught me to be brave, balanced and careful in my behavior.

Is this really the only way? Do you really need a mental shock in order to break away from that cage of self-indulgence that you may be born into in the first world? The whole story is like a bad Hollywood film, but it isn't. It's real, and it's fucked-up. Is THIS the sad fate of the American dream? 

[beingthehero]

His manifesto was a rambling, corny mess, but his sense of entitlement was extreme. Even though he raged about women rejecting him, it seems he never asked any girl out. Like...he just expected for them to love him.

[crisis]

its not just america dude

we live in a fallen, broken world whos major activity is tribal warfare

which is why if there are extraterrestrials monitoring us (and im sure they are), theyll most likely quarantine us until humans as a species get our act together, which wont be for a long time

[Ratty]

He was an unbalanced sociopath who listened to the so-called "Men's Rights Movement" which is mostly (though not all) a collection of angry men who feel they're entitled to women's bodies. As this crazy guy did. You're right, the very rich don't know what real suffering is but that's not exclusively an American problem. This guy was an entitlement killer. But his belief that women "owed him sex/attention" didn't come from nowhere. Here is a humorous article (to keep us all from getting too depressed) that goes over some of the reasons this happens. http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-trained-to-hate-women.html

Also note that he claimed to be a "nice guy" which would be funny if he hadn't killed 6 people. But it exposes what a lot of guys who self identify as victims of women because they're "too nice" really think. When you hear a man complain that he's a "nice guy" and women won't go out with them, what he almost certainly, actually means is "I keep putting niceness/friendship coins into lady machines but sex doesn't fall out!" As if not treating a woman like shit obligates her to sleep with you, and as if that's the only reason to treat a woman with respect.

[X]

The whole story is like a bad Hollywood film, but it isn't. It's real, and it's fucked-up. Is THIS the sad fate of the American dream?

Truth is stranger then fiction. The person who quoted this lines was sure on the ball.

He was an unbalanced sociopath who listened to the so-called "Men's Rights Movement" which is mostly (though not all) a collection of angry men who feel they're entitled to women's bodies. As this crazy guy did. You're right, the very rich don't know what real suffering is but that's not exclusively an American problem. This guy was an entitlement killer. But his belief that women "owed him sex/attention" didn't come from nowhere. Here is a humorous article (to keep us all from getting too depressed) that goes over some of the reasons this happens. http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-trained-to-hate-women.html

Also note that he claimed to be a "nice guy" which would be funny if he hadn't killed 6 people. But it exposes what a lot of guys who self identify as victims of women because they're "too nice" really think. When you hear a man complain that he's a "nice guy" and women won't go out with them, what he almost certainly, actually means is "I keep putting niceness/friendship coins into lady machines but sex doesn't fall out!" As if not treating a woman like shit obligates her to sleep with you, and as if that's the only reason to treat a woman with respect.

Just one of the many reasons why the overly-defunct patriarchal system is s**t and needs to go. As long as people keep on pushing it in tidbits like this then humanity will never know true equality and respect. But humanity's ego is also a major proponent of such bitterness and it's our personal jobs to get ourselves under control. To stop and thing carefully about what we're doing and why we're ding it at all. Unfortunately Sociopathic individuals don't have that ability. They just do what they do; destroy others for themselves. Extinguishing others' light so they can fuel their own darkness.

[KaZudra]

Honestly, if you can't get a girlfriend, it's your problem, not women's.

[Dracula9]

There are plenty of delusional fucks out there who think the female population is obligated to owe them love and sex just because they have an extra hole. Unfortunately, those lovely folks aren't going anywhere for a long time. This wonderful fellow felt that extreme overreactions and unjustifiable acts of violence were the correct answer. And there are going to be more misogynistic assholes backing Rodgers in the near future.

Overaggressive, violent, sexually frustrated alpha males...with nothing to do. No hobbies. No medication. No scruples. The American Dream.

(Thank ya, George.)

Yeah, I'd say there's something wrong with the country, Freddy.

[Mooning Freddy]

Good article Ratty. Makes you think. Does Hollywood continue making films in which the female heroine / sidekick is perceived as a reward for the male hero's accomplishments? I would say that has always been the kind of romance in many classic novels, that the protagonist always ends up together with his love interest, it's a kind of a happy ending (double meaning lol), that is considering that he has only one (real) love interest, which makes it romantic to our monogamous society.

But do all movies present that kind of romantic outcome? I would say mostly the ones who want to present a perfect happy ending, like Bollywood movies. "My best friend's girl" comes to mind, a romantic comedy which presents quite a different outcome:
The girl, Alexis (Kate Hudson), ultimately falls in love with the charming, hot douchebag, Tank (Dane Cook), rather than her nice, romantic, yet uninspiring, friend, Dustin (Jason Biggs), who desperately tries to gain her love. Of course, in order to gain her love, Tank needs to stop being a douchebag and a womanizer, which can hardly be seen as an accomplishment to most.

Then there's the romantic comedy "He's just not that into you", which interestingly enough, reverses the sexes in its message.
Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), the cute and overly-romantic girl who fails to find a partner, eventually is awarded with the love of her womanizing best friend Alex (Justin Long), who ultimately realizes that he likes her much more than all the random ladies he lays, and starts to appreciate her love.   

Meh, there are all sorts of movies with all sorts of messages. While I can see the point in uncovering the patriarchal messages, they're not always there. Or maybe it's just over-simplifying romance.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I think the problem lies with the detachment of humans from one another.
Parents do not know or ignore that their children have problems.

[Gunlord]

Forgive me for the self-promotion, but I just wrote a series of posts on my blog addressing the Elliot Rodgers issue. I think you guys would really like 'em:

http://gunlord500.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/giving-up-on-misogyny/
http://gunlord500.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/the-futility-of-appeasement/
http://gunlord500.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/misogyny-and-misandry/
http://gunlord500.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/why-i-dont-fear-elliot-rodgers-and-what-we-should-have-done-about-him/

Some of my best writing, IMO. I hope you find it useful.

[PFG9000]

There are hundreds of millions of Americans who would never do something like this, a relatively microscopic handful that would, and even fewer who actually do.  Why blame it on America, or even on the first world?  There are serious problems in all parts of society.  This is just one of them.

[X]

Very informative reads there Gunlord. In reading either the first or second blog I actually found some of those negative elements you mentioned identified within me. That's a scary thought. Id sooner commit Hara-Kiri then lose it like that. Hopefully being an introvert helps safe-guard me from all that in it's own little way. Then again I shouldn't be that surprised. Almost all my life I've always felt I was walking the razor's edge, and that someday, something would come along and give me that one tiny push towards the 'Dark Side' (yes, it's a Star Wars metaphor ;p) But in the end, we all have that evil within ourselves and must make damned-well-sure that it never, ever get's out of hand. Even if it kills us.

[Gunlord]

Thanks, brother. I wish you the best with your own struggles.

[Shiroi Koumori]

I'd like to comment on your last blog post.
Sigh, as people say, hindsight is 20-20.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I have started to notice a pattern that more and more people nowadays are diagnosed with mental illnesses as opposed to past and a lot more people are living their lives without any diagnosis but are showing signs of such illnesses. Is it because society is becoming impersonal, now that everyone is relying on the computer? Bragging and gloating (sometimes faked) on personal pages on the net without a care on the consequences of their actions and only counting on the number of likes they get. Children who are used to getting whatever they want, then are faced with problems no matter how simple and just snap because they don't know how to solve it by themselves? Parents and/or relatives who are nonexistent due to the demands of the workforce? Friends who don't care, not because they don't want to, but they are also faced with problems of their own. Or maybe people are just simply losing it, since life is noticeably more fast paced and the race to the top has become so difficult? People should then learn to slow down.

[X]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I have started to notice a pattern that more and more people nowadays are diagnosed with mental illnesses as opposed to past and a lot more people are living their lives without any diagnosis but are showing signs of such illnesses. Is it because society is becoming impersonal, now that everyone is relying on the computer? Bragging and gloating (sometimes faked) on personal pages on the net without a care on the consequences of their actions and only counting on the number of likes they get. Children who are used to getting whatever they want, then are faced with problems no matter how simple and just snap because they don't know how to solve it by themselves? Parents and/or relatives who are nonexistent due to the demands of the workforce? Friends who don't care, not because they don't want to, but they are also faced with problems of their own. Or maybe people are just simply losing it, since life is noticeably more fast paced and the race to the top has become so difficult? People should then learn to slow down.

I tend to think that it's a combination of all the aforementioned factors. And you're right. In that we really need to learn how to slow down. But there is also the fact that there are just some people out there--that no-matter what type of environment they are living in--will digress into a sociopathic state. For these types of people its unavoidable and will happen sooner or later, and depending on the conditions it'll set them off like a wad of Semtex. Sometimes we get lucky and never hear or see a sociopath revel him/herself to the world. If only it happened more often.