Is it coincidental that several recent mass murders involved shooters who had been romantically rejected?
Seung-Hui Cho, responsible for this spring’s Virginia Tech shooting, had a history of stalking girls and repeatedly making unwelcome advances after being asked to stop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seung-Hui_Cho (see "Relationships With Students").
Tyler Peterson, responsible for killing 6 high school and college students this past week in Wisconsin, "told [his friend] Kegley that he had gone to his ex-girlfriend’s house early Sunday morning in hopes of patching up the relationship after a recent breakup. But, he said, Peterson lost control when the meeting ended in an argument and other people started ridiculing him as a ‘worthless pig.’ … The police chief said Peterson and the young woman had been in a relationship for a few years. ‘They had broken up and gone back and forth,’ [Crandon Police Chief John] Dennee said (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071008/ap_on_re_us/wisconsin_shooting ).
To what extent do you think some inability to properly deal with rejection contributed to this violence? Why do our male mass murderers think taking the lives of multiple people is an appropriate way to deal with relationship problems and/or rejection? Do you think a sense of male entitlement toward women is a problem in all of this?
Heh. Corwin, Tyler Peterson actually *did* shoot his ex-lover.
Again on Cho:
"During the investigation, the police found a note in Cho’s room in which he criticized "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans." In the note, Cho continued by saying that "you caused me to do this."[86][5] Early media reports also speculated that Cho was obsessed with fellow student Emily Hilscher and became enraged after his romantic overtures were rejected.[87][88][89][90] Law enforcement investigators could not find evidence that Cho knew Hilscher.[91]"
Also, a mass murderer somewhat indiscriminately killing five to thirty other adults using firearms is rather different in many ways from a woman "drowning her four children." In fact, it is *very* different in motive, intent, and method. I’ll think on this.