Prediction: in the next few years we will see a mass murder epidemic...

[Lizzie Poppet]

15. Thank you for the detailed response!

As it happens I don't disagree with three of four of your points (and I can see the argument for the remaining one).

I consider the sociological trends to be the most relevant indicators. Our culture is experiencing a rather rapid decay of social bonding, of the sense of community. There are a number of factors beyond this, not the least of which is the replacement of physical community with no less intense but considerably more transient feelings of community bonding arising in our digital lives. This shift in how we conduct social interaction doesn't inculcate the sense of deep community to the degree in-person interaction does.

I also see the ability to become an instant international "celebrity" via the mechanism of atrocity to be a major contributor...and as you say, the can happen more swirly and readily than ever before. If I recall correctly, some nations have instituted a policy of media blackouts of the perpetrator's name and likeness in an effort to lessen the attraction of this sort of event.

I don't really agree about the trends towards mass killings increasing. Some of the more recent have been somewhat deadlier, but the number of incidents per annum has remained relatively flat. Moreover, they remain such rare occurrances that it's difficult to predict trends about such things as deaths-per-incident. That's a statistical analysis problem I'll gladly accept...I don't want a large data pool!

Again, thank you for the thoughtful and detailed reply.