A society that drives its citizens mad & then allows them to arm themselves like a fucking S.W.A.T. team. It's a sick joke, right? You can't all be totally insane.A family friend of the gunman who killed four people during a Santa Monica shooting rampage said he had an intense interest in guns.
The friend, who asked not to be identified, said John Zawahri, 24, had "a fascination with guns. We were all worried about it.... Everyone is wondering where he got the money for the weapons."
Law enforcement sources described Zawahri as an emotionally troubled person who armed himself with high-powered weapons and may have had up to 1,300 rounds of ammunition.
Several of the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Zawahri had struggled with his parents' bitter divorce. He also had a history of mental issues, the sources said, but they could not be more specific.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Still No Snitching
Feel free to speak up, any time. I mean, if you're, like, worried or ... Oh, is it too fucking late now? How'd that happen?
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4 comments:
There is something uniquely American about how young men respond to trouble in their lives by dressing up as soldiers/paramilitary and then going out to kill members of their peer group before ending their own lives/committing suicide by cop.
What is it? Why is there an impulse to randomly kill other people while committing to your own destruction?
The use of guns is key, too - they don't do this by putting cyanide in the coffee maker, it's gotta be a gun.
The costume is key, too - although it's evolved: in previous decades it was camo, like a hunter; now it's the all-black SWAT team look. Are they costuming themselves as good guys (cops) or bad guys (terrorists)?
What's with the change, too, in protective gear - is that a sign they plan to survive, or is it just part of the costume? Chief Seabrooke noted at her presser than Zawahri had the vest but didn't have the plates in it.
"School shooters" generally don't target schools just because they are schools - Adam Lanza was atypical - they do it because it's their own mileu and their own peer group, just as workplace shooters target their workplace and co-workers.
I am really curious if someone has done a study on the very few members of this group of young men who have survived, to find out what the thinking was. If any of those who have ended up in jail are in any way sane, it would be interesting to hear what kind of outreach or counseling might be done to turn people away from this.
I dunno. I have been a bit of a 'gun nut' since I was a kid. I was always frustrated with toy guns because they didn't operate correctly, eject spent brass or recoil. I've also always been one to wear some kind of macho/tactical gear. Either black leather or OD/Khaki tac vests, D-Rings, Velcro Pouches, thigh pockets and such. And, as I mentioned here yesterday, as much as I've carried a gun throughout my life I never used it to just shoot unarmed people. We have baseball bats, pool cues, beer pitchers and convenient rolls of nickels for dealing with the unarmed riffraff...
What is it? Why is there an impulse to randomly kill other people while committing to your own destruction?
I think a lot of it has to do with the "culture"- in just about any big movie, or video game, or foreign policy decision, violence is seen as the best option for getting results.
No, seriously, I really don't understand it. "I lost my job, I I'm going to go kill some random people." "The kids in my class pick on me, I'm going to kill everyone at school." "My family life sucks, I'm going to take out everyone in Target." "My wife left me, I'm going to shoot up the beauty salon."
Do they think it will make it BETTER? Or are they thinking, it sucks so bad to be me now, let's just make everybody's life suck.
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