Friday, February 22, 2013

On pain and rage and school shootings.

This most recent school shooting has caused a lot of hate-filled writing about the young man who did shooting.  Sensationalist media are looking for any kind of oppressed minority to which they can attach his name, so that they can further demean and ridicule him, and incite further hate, it is sickening.

He had a mental illness. Yes, that seems clear, and that he wasn't being adequately helped is also clear.

He was autistic / had aspergers. So do many, many other people who do not perpetrate violent crime. Yes, people with autism spectrum disporders sometimes have sensory overload, but so does everyone else. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your life, and yelled about it? That's about it.

He was a masochist. Well, this is based on anecdotal evidence that he burned himself with a lighter. So did I, so do many many other young people.  It is one of two things.  1.  Adolescent male rituals of strength and endurance, or self harm by those who don't know any other outlet for the pain and rage that they feel and do not want to take it out on others!  If someone noticed it, they needed to talk to him, and get him help, not identify him as a masochist.