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Santa Barbara murders

12,104 277 May 26, 2014 at 05:56 AM in News (2)
Hundreds gathered at a memorial service Sunday night to mourn six young people killed two nights earlier by a gunman in a California college town.


Elliot Rodger, 22, the son of a Hollywood director, fatally stabbed three people in his apartment before shooting dead three others on Friday in Isla Vista, near the University of California at Santa Barbara campus. He then shot himself.
Rodger killed two women and four men, aged 19 to 22, and wounded 13 people, including eight who he shot as he sped through town in his black BMW, exchanging fire with police, authorities said.
Minutes before opening fire the former community college student emailed his plans to some 30 people including his mother, father and former teachers, said Cathleen Bloeser, whose son was a childhood friend of Rodger and received a copy.
Rodger stated his intention to kill his housemates, lure others to his home to continue the mayhem then slaughter women in a sorority and bring his spree to the streets of Isla Vista.
The manifesto, which details Rodger's fear that his guns might have been discovered when police visited him less than a month ago, was not the first indication of a troubled mind.

Linky [chicagotribune.com]


Am I the only one who sees the results of raising a self-esteem based "everyone gets a trophy" generation here? When everyone gets a trophy and every child is constantly told that they are special and everything they do is amazing, they never learn how to deal with rejection and failure. Failure is part of life and shielding children from it to preserve their self esteem is like smothering your child in antibiotics their whole life to protect them from getting sick and then wondering why they have no immune system when they grow up. If a child never learns how to cope with losing and being wrong, when they reach adulthood they don't have the mental faculties to deal with the failure they will invariably encounter in their adult lives. The guy who shot those innocent people in Santa Barbara claims that it was revenge for being rejected by the girls and the popular kids at his college. I was rejected by girls and popular kids my entire life and shooting a bunch of people never entered my mind. Maybe instead of giving our kids a trophy when they lose, we should teach them that losing is a part of life and give them the tools that they need to cope with failure, learn from it, and then get on with their lives.

Just a thought.



I hope this thread doesn't end up in The Place That Shall Not Be Named.

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Joined Nov 2005
quick, like a bunny
> bubble2 28,148 Posts
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cav
05-26-2014 at 03:18 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:18 PM.
Popcorn
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Joined Oct 2004
Professor Fishslapper!
> bubble2 12,104 Posts
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Original Poster
dalokgawd
05-26-2014 at 03:18 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:18 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Wait, do you mean like you haven't read anything I posted here and just automatically go on about how I blame liberals for everything? Pot, meet kettle. Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)
Aren't the educators of our kids supposed to be open minded and not fall into the trap of preconceived notions?
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Here is where I state the obvious about how today's prevailing liberal mentality that is being spoon-fed to our youth in public schools indoctrination centers is destroying out country and you roll your eyes and tell me that not everything has to do with politics.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
What hate have I expressed?

The liberals fully endorse the things you are complaining about. Openly. They don't try to hide it. I don't need to blame anybody--they are proud of their efforts to keep kids from experiencing failure. It must be nice to live in a world where you can live with your head in the sand and pretend that you can't see the source of the things you admit are a huge problem.

And blaming one group? The liberals have their act together and are succeeding with what they desire to do. The Republicans are too stuck on their own desire for power to do anything useful to actually fix anything. And the public in general is too apathetic and focused on their own minute little existences to even pay attention to what is going on in the world around them. When you try to get people to use their brain a little bit and apply a little reason they just start to yawn and return to their facebook and twitter world.

You talk about dealing with this every day--where do you think it comes from if I am so wrong?
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Nice reading comprehension. Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)

As I said, I don't need to blame the liberals--they are proud to take the "credit" for it. They are proud of their efforts, why do you need to try and pretend differently? Why try to deny something on their behalf something that they are proud of?

As I said previously but you can't comprehend with your head in the sand--it isn't the liberals' fault--it is the fault of all of the rest of us that let it continue. But go on whining about how "the bunny blames everything on the liberals".

As long as you keep seeing things through that prism you are just continuing the indoctrination with your teaching. Hopefully enough of the students can overcome it as they learn from reality when they are out of school and facing real world problems.
Yeah you're right bunny. You never blamed the liberals. Roll Eyes (Sarcastic)


BTW... saying that you don't need to blame the liberals because the blame is so obvious you don't need to blame them is still blaming them.
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PaintTheSkyGrey
05-26-2014 at 03:19 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:19 PM.
Quote from Maleficent :
So... having nicer cars = being more content and/or happier? Does that extrapolate to all possessions in general, or does it stop at cars?
I can't necessarily speak for dzap, but I think what he's trying to say is that the individual could not even look at the pluses in his life. He was spoiled, had everything he wanted (mommy and daddy bought him cars, expensive laptops, let him live where he wanted), was convinced that he was the best looking male out there, was the most intelligent, had the best appeal... But he stuck on one thing - females.

And this may be where the Asperger's came in more - his lack of social experience/skill/ability likely prevented him from communicating in any meaningful way with girls. However, it's hard to not view this individual as selfish, spoiled, and suffering from affluenza when they can get most everything they want and pitch a fit and literally kill people when they can't get something.
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Joined Jul 2006
CDI gave me free netflix!
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dzap
05-26-2014 at 03:23 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:23 PM.
So...uh...I just started reading a bit of his manifesto...interesting. We have...some similarities in background.
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PaintTheSkyGrey
05-26-2014 at 03:24 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:24 PM.
Quote from dzap :
So...uh...I just started reading a bit of his manifesto...interesting. We have...some similarities in background.
Hide
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Joined Jul 2009
I am
> bubble2 18,145 Posts
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iamiamian
05-26-2014 at 03:25 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:25 PM.
Quote from dzap :
Maybe not, but the way he dressed and talked, gave off such a "Douche" feel to me.

The BMW just kind of helped solidify that.
To me, he seemed like a kid unsure of himself, not comfortable with life. Kind of sad really.
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PaintTheSkyGrey
05-26-2014 at 03:26 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:26 PM.
Quote from Foreveryours :
To me, he seemed like a kid unsure of himself, not comfortable with life. Kind of sad really.
To me, he seemed like a kid so sure of himself that he couldn't grasp why others didn't grovel at his feet.
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The Mistress of All Evil!
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Maleficent
05-26-2014 at 03:26 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:26 PM.
Quote from dzap :
So...uh...I just started reading a bit of his manifesto...interesting. We have...some similarities in background.
Roll


Thank goodness I don't live anywhere near you! EEK!
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Joined Jan 2004
Here's to the future
> bubble2 25,141 Posts
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Iaaaiws
05-26-2014 at 03:27 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:27 PM.
Quote from dalokgawd :
I don't make a lot of money, but I love what I do and I wake up every day excited to go to work.
Quote from dalokgawd :
I have to teach these lazy self entitled kids every freaking day. They don't turn in their assignments on time, they don't come to class, they don't study... and yet it's always my fault for being too strict. "What do you mean I can't turn this assignment in 3 days late?" "What do you mean you don't drop the lowest test score?" "What do you mean there's no extra credit to help boost my grade?"

Everything is always someone else's fault and they always expect someone else to come in and clean up their messes and save them from the consequences of their own laziness and apathy. The self esteem generation of kids is going to be the downfall of this country because they don't have even the most rudimentary tools to survive in the real world and yet someday they are going to be running things. God help us when that day comes.
Glad to see you enjoy it so much. Coverlaugh



Serious question though:

I saw that mentality from a lot of kids when I was still in school and I'm sure it is a lot worse now. I only had a couple of professors/instructors who wouldn't put up with the whiny bullshit and from your posts I wouldn't think you would tolerate it either.

You are fortunate to be in a position to do something about the behavior of these "lazy self entitled kids". How do you handle that and what do you do individually to attempt to make them see life differently?
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Joined Jul 2006
CDI gave me free netflix!
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dzap
05-26-2014 at 03:28 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:28 PM.
Quote from PaintTheSkyGrey :
Hide

Haha. I have no intention to kill random people. I think it's selfish. Besides...the gun thing is so cliche. LMAO


I'll keep reading and follow up. Good thing it's my day off.


When I have problems, I deal with them on my own. I do not take it out on others.
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Joined Jan 2004
Here's to the future
> bubble2 25,141 Posts
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Iaaaiws
05-26-2014 at 03:29 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:29 PM.
Quote from dzap :
So...uh...I just started reading a bit of his manifesto...interesting. We have...some similarities in background.
Are you saying he plagiarized your manifesto? EEK!
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Joined Jul 2006
CDI gave me free netflix!
> bubble2 51,186 Posts
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dzap
05-26-2014 at 03:29 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:29 PM.
Quote from Maleficent :
Roll


Thank goodness I don't live anywhere near you! EEK!

laugh out loud Yeah. I would be too lazy to write up a 137-page manifesto anyway. Ain't nobody got time for that. I don't even plan to write that much for my thesis. I'd be nice and concise it down to a few paragraphs at most. Maybe some footnotes. laugh out loud
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Joined Jan 2007
The Mistress of All Evil!
> bubble2 22,510 Posts
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Maleficent
05-26-2014 at 03:30 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:30 PM.
Quote from dzap :
Haha. I have no intention to kill random people. I think it's selfish. Besides...the gun thing is so cliche. LMAO


I'll keep reading and follow up. Good thing it's my day off.


When I have problems, I deal with them on my own. I do not take it out on others.
Yeah, you say that now...


Then, one day...







Blowup
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Joined Jan 2004
Here's to the future
> bubble2 25,141 Posts
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Iaaaiws
05-26-2014 at 03:30 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:30 PM.
Quote from dzap :
Haha. I have no intention to kill random people. I think it's selfish. Besides...the gun thing is so cliche. LMAO

Are you saying you have a specific list of people to kill? EEK!

And that you are going to use a far more devastating weapon to kill them? EEK!
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PaintTheSkyGrey
05-26-2014 at 03:31 PM.
05-26-2014 at 03:31 PM.
Quote from dzap :
Haha. I have no intention to kill random people. I think it's selfish. Besides...the gun thing is so cliche. LMAO


I'll keep reading and follow up. Good thing it's my day off.


When I have problems, I deal with them on my own. I do not take it out on others.
I just skimmed it - I found the best parts that kind of clued you into his state of mind were towards the end of his teenage years. When he starts to get into computer gaming, playing World of Warcraft, and then headed off to college. The way he describes his mexican roommates... Eek.

It's clear that he has some sort of narcissism going on, and also clear that he doesn't exactly do the whole social interaction thing well. It makes me wonder if he really has Aspergers, or if rich parents swayed doctors to diagnose his personality disorder in a certain way.
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