What else can we blame Rodger, Elliot's actions on?

[JJChambers]

So far, the most common culprits I've seen blamed on DU are:

NRA
Misogyny
Mental Illness
White Privilege
Affluenza
Law Enforcement
Elliot's Family
*closet Homosexuality (yes people really blamed his actions on this)

I think Elliot is responsible himself; to blame anyone or anything else is wrong. Clearly he had extreme, dangerous mental illness issues but Elliot still made the choice to stab three people to death and shoot three more to death.

As a society we too often blame everyone and everything BUT the person responsible.

[treestar]

1. It is frustrating, because we want to figure out how to stop these things

They keep happening.

Gun control would go a long way. Knives are harder and slower to kill people with. This case is interesting for the use of different weapons. He probably did the knife killings because he didn't want the noise of the gun to draw attention. Those couldn't have been prevented, likely, but the gun deaths could have.

[stone space]

2. If it were up to me, ...

[YarnAddict]

21. Wouldn't have done much for the 3 people he stabbed to death

Just sayin'.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Particularly in the case of severe mental illness

"Choice" isn't really an issue. That's the basis of the insanity defense.

[JJChambers]

5. His mental illness made him see the world as being against him

He still chose to stab and shoot people.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. What's an example where you'd be ok with

The insanity defense?

[JJChambers]

11. One where an attack wasn't planned, methodically, for years

Say a father walks in on a man raping his toddler, and the father pills the man off the boy and in a temporary fit of I sanity he smashes the rapist's head in with the nearest handy object.

[X_Digger]

35. One can be severely out of touch with reality and yet make meticulous plans.

That seems to be a common delineation that some people make- as though one can't be truly mentally incompetent and make plans.

Common misperception, and I wonder why it's so prevalent.

[JJChambers]

37. Because it's hard to imagine

Someone competent enough to meticulously plan a killing spree over the course of months or years, and then execute that plan, is surely competent to stand trial.

[X_Digger]

38. I'm not talking about what a court would consider incompetent..

I'm talking about someone clinically psychotic, or having lost touch with reality in one way or another.

Having worked with the mentally ill, I can tell you that's a dangerous assumption to make.

There are people getting along with their lives, dressing themselves, raising their kids, balancing their checkbooks, planning for their retirement.. who nevertheless have firmly held convictions at odds with what the rest of us would consider reality. If you had a conversation with them and never touched on their particular divergence from reality, you'd never know.

These divergences from reality could very well make them unable to evaluate right from wrong the same as you or I.

[JJChambers]

39. I work in a field that puts me in touch with those folks frequently

I can think of several who match your description whom I've met this month alone. Everyone's world view is a little different, ethically and morally. Many of the people we are discussing, those who appear to love normal lives -- at least on the surface -- are well aware that their actions are violation of the laws. They just don't see them as morally or ethically wrong, and in fact, often they view their criminal actions as morally and ethically righteous, even necessary.

[X_Digger]

40. Agreed. And yet these same people can make meticulous plans.

I find it interesting that it seems to be a commonly held belief that "the truly mentally troubled could never make and execute a long drawn out plan", or some variation like that.

[pnwmom]

34. You don't know that. His parents were quoted as saying he was hearing voices.

People who believe they are being directed by voices aren't necessarily responsible for their actions.

[JJChambers]

36. He didn't mention voices in his videos or manifesto

The overall theme of the manifesto was life isn't fair, not satan told him to do it.

[Rowdyboy]

4. Did you miss the thread that blamed it on him being a closeted homosexual?

You know, his fixation on women was all just pretend-he really was "teh gay"

[JJChambers]

8. I forgot about that

Added it to the list

[janlyn]

6. Ummmm...

Someone with mental illness is most often totally incapable of making the proper decision. You are correct to say that about the other topics used to blame his behavior, but to say that mental illness shouldn't be used, shows a lack of understanding about mental illness and its affects.
There is nothing wrong in saying that his mental issues caused him to commit his crime, because it most certainly did play a HUGE factor.

[SidDithers]

7. GMO corn...nt

Sid

[quinnox]

10. Its getting pretty silly. I care about the environment, so maybe my next OP will be how

this guy must have really hated the national parks and been anti-environmentalist, as everyone else seems to be using this incident to score cheap points on their pet causes.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. It was obviously global warming that was the last straw.

[quinnox]

14. There you go. Global warming made him do it!

[JJChambers]

16. I just don't understand why people feel compelled to blame things on their pet issues

I see it here all the time

[quinnox]

17. Its "reinforcement bias". I just made that up actually

Or maybe I saw some term like that on DU recently. Its the idea that when a person has a pet issue that they concentrate on, or maybe are even obsessed over, they tend to see things that happen with that lens as the filter. Kind of like the old saying, if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.

[Laelth]

12. It's easy to blame "the person" responsible.

And there's no lack of condemnation of this murderer, neither here nor in society at large.

But the dude's dead now. No more punishment can be meted out against him. As such, it does no good to "blame" him. If we want to prevent similar tragedies in the future, we had better not settle for the simple, easy answer.

-Laelth

[PeaceNikki]

15. it's Elliott Rodger

Some guy named Rodger Elliott would probably appreciate a correction.

[Nye Bevan]

18. I suspect that he consumed GM food.

Just saying.

[Pathwalker]

19. The Mother. "It's always the Mother's fault".

Anyone but the actual perpetrator, who are somehow mysteriously excused.

[etherealtruth]

20. The proliferation of guns in US society brought to you by the NRA

The other stuff is pure BS

[Eleanors38]

22. Oh! The NKA. Add that.

[flvegan]

23. Somehow, this is Obama's fault. And violent video games. And PETA.

[Starry Messenger]

25. It's called *pattern recognition*

[uppityperson]

26. Recognizing that people do not exist in a vacuum and trying to figure out why they do what

they do and how to possibly try to prevent things in the future is....bad?

I do not see anyone not blaming Elliot but I do see many people trying to figure out why and what and patterns.

[Demit]

30. I agree. The OP is being dense about this, as well as unnecessarily flip.

Which to me shows a desire not to understand. He'd rather wave his hands & say what happened isn't important. He doesn't even care enough to get the bastard's name right.

[itsrobert]

27. i blame it on Elliot's illegal alien friends

Here is Elliot smuggling his friend across the border

[HereSince1628]

28. Oh say, what is false...which are devoid of truth for the posters who post on it?

I'm encouraged that DU hasn't approached it as a unified opportunity bash the mentally disordered.

The suggestion that readers are presented with a multiple choice response clearly communicates that there is variation, if not freedom of choice, if not any degree of unique truth possible in available perspectives.

IMO, the possibility that the personal concern or fear aroused, or offense take re culture/society from this event is a matter of multiple-multiple choice is outstanding.

[RandySF]

29. You forgot video games.

[JJChambers]

31. World of Warcraft and GTA, for sure

Can we find someone who will blame this on Muslims? Anyone?

How about Clinton? Or Reagan? Come on, any takers?

[gollygee]

32. So when a white supremacist kills a group of people of color

Can we recognize a connection to racism?

What about when a right-to-lifer kills an abortion doctor. Can we talk about motive there?

[X_Digger]

33. It's a bloody tabula rasa on which people get to paint their favorite societal ill. n/t

[PeaceNikki]

41. **** Hey, OP!! AGAIN You got his name wrong. It's "Elliot Rodger" ****

Again, some guy named Rodger Elliot would appreciate a correction.

[JJChambers]

43. FTFY

[Crunchy Frog]

42. Easy access to guns

And those who enable or excuse it.

But, "because there are bad people" works pretty well too.