Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

Shooter planned ‘to go out in grand style,’ investigator says – CNN.com.

Call me heartless, but why can’t these people just KILL THEMSELVES FIRST instead of taking out so many people on the way? They always die in the end anyway. Not that I wish them dead, but if they’re going to kill themselves anyway, can’t they just skip right to the big finish instead of tearing families apart and slaughtering people who didn’t want to die?

I edited this from the original post to include my comment to the person who commented below, because I think it’s important to address this issue.

I understand that people “made fun of him” and that this may have contributed to his actions. I really do. I don’t condone it, but I understand it. That said, much of the time, the people who get killed are not the people who were responsible for creating a monster. Look at Columbine. Yes, some of the people killed were athletes who had tormented Harris and Klebold. But many of them were not. In this case a baby was shot, and a toddler killed. Did these children participate in any behavior that warranted a bullet? Really?

I don’t think mockery warrants capital punishment. And believe me – I know what it’s like to be made fun of by a lot of people, and I know what it’s like to be the target of everybody’s negative attention. But wouldn’t it be just as effective to go on to be more successful than the people who mocked you? Or take them to court for harassment? Or just tell them to fuck off? Why is killing them the logical answer? What is so fragile about the male ego that injuring it warrants capital punishment? You’re talking about the same sort of “shame” that makes men in Muslim countries throw acid on the faces of women who reject their marriage proposals. And god forbid a gay man should accidentally mistake a straight man for gay and say something even remotely suggestive – suddenly the gay man finds himself dead on a fence post. Why is it that men think they can excuse murderous behavior by saying they did it because their feelings were hurt?

In any event, killing people does not teach anybody to be nicer. It just gives people more reason to ostracize and avoid those who seem like they might “snap.” These people do worse for the fate of all outcasts than any athlete or smartass could possibly do, by becoming what everybody fears. You think things got any better for high school outcasts after Columbine? Fuck that. They got worse. The same will happen for people like this guy. People hate what they fear, and they oppress what they hate. This man just made things a lot worse for everybody else like him.

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