Sunday Rant: I Play Psychologist
April 29th 2007 11:29
I can't help but run my mouth about what happened at Virginia Tech. It is so tragic and yet not as incomprehensible as the "drive-by media" would have you believe. The shooter had a familiar air to me. He was an outsider and apparently this wasn't exactly what he wanted to be. He wanted to be accepted, especially by the other sex. When this didn't happen,even though he made repeated attempts to get female attention, he became depressed and then homicidal. This horrible event thus grew out of frustration and the rage that frustration engendered.
His experiences taught the shooter that he was inadequate to get what he wanted. He saw those who did and, like anyone might, wondered how the situation could be so unfair, metaphysically unfair. You will note how the mental states of the shooter progressed. He became depressed first-a kind of rage turned inward upon himself for not being adequate and at the universe for making males that could attract females, when he could not. He was so intelligent,but a rational explanation for this failed him and this frustrated him more and brought him closer to the threshold of imbalance. The ravings he uttered in his postumus tape make sense to me as the irrational taking up where the rational failed. I also see in them the sad spectacle of valid religious teaching perverted by this rage-induced insanity.
The shooter liked to watch professional wrestling, said his suitemates. I get it. Pro wrestling is about injustice-a soap opera for men in which this injustice is requited by the victim with brutal and satisfying finality. You physically beat your provocateur into submission. And in his twisted mind in the weeks before his act the shooter watched wrestling and bought guns and did something else: he went to the gym. One of his mates remembered him going in the time frame when he may have made his final plans to confront the innocent coed whose murder unleashed the whole spree.
Building up his body and simultaneously plotting mayhem. It might seem logical that he was preparing himself for the act-getting in shape to be able to spray as much death as possible,just like he was learning to use his hand guns. I don't think so.If you are going to use guns to do your work, what do you need to be strong for? I think part of his mind was planning its death and another was still to live and valiantly trying to find an earthly solution to his sense of inadequacy. The shooter was going to become a muscular and capable man that he envisioned being able to right his own wrongs with his body. He was desperately seeking masculinity by becoming bigger and stronger. The shooter was desperately trying to find a solution in the gym and yet careening toward murder at the same time. That I am afraid is schizophrenic and I am sad for him and all those who got in his way.
I just wish that the shooter would have found the gym earlier and more often. The rage of frustration could have been denatured there and he might have reached a place in his head where he was adequate.If he had stumbled into a dojo I think the same thing could have happened. He did not.
A few posts ago I lamented the pathetic state of physical education in US schools, where the opportunity to introduce kids to lifelong esteem building activities is not even considered. Let me speculate that if poor Chou had been introduced to martial arts or weight training(whether he liked it or not) at an early age he might have channeled his feelings of inadequacy into something that would have calmed his frustration and maybe even attracted others,who would have seen what he was inside through what he had become outside. If you are a man reading this and you feel inadequate, take that feeling seriously. I think weight training or martial arts can help you. You need help. Your servant,as always
His experiences taught the shooter that he was inadequate to get what he wanted. He saw those who did and, like anyone might, wondered how the situation could be so unfair, metaphysically unfair. You will note how the mental states of the shooter progressed. He became depressed first-a kind of rage turned inward upon himself for not being adequate and at the universe for making males that could attract females, when he could not. He was so intelligent,but a rational explanation for this failed him and this frustrated him more and brought him closer to the threshold of imbalance. The ravings he uttered in his postumus tape make sense to me as the irrational taking up where the rational failed. I also see in them the sad spectacle of valid religious teaching perverted by this rage-induced insanity.
The shooter liked to watch professional wrestling, said his suitemates. I get it. Pro wrestling is about injustice-a soap opera for men in which this injustice is requited by the victim with brutal and satisfying finality. You physically beat your provocateur into submission. And in his twisted mind in the weeks before his act the shooter watched wrestling and bought guns and did something else: he went to the gym. One of his mates remembered him going in the time frame when he may have made his final plans to confront the innocent coed whose murder unleashed the whole spree.
Building up his body and simultaneously plotting mayhem. It might seem logical that he was preparing himself for the act-getting in shape to be able to spray as much death as possible,just like he was learning to use his hand guns. I don't think so.If you are going to use guns to do your work, what do you need to be strong for? I think part of his mind was planning its death and another was still to live and valiantly trying to find an earthly solution to his sense of inadequacy. The shooter was going to become a muscular and capable man that he envisioned being able to right his own wrongs with his body. He was desperately seeking masculinity by becoming bigger and stronger. The shooter was desperately trying to find a solution in the gym and yet careening toward murder at the same time. That I am afraid is schizophrenic and I am sad for him and all those who got in his way.
I just wish that the shooter would have found the gym earlier and more often. The rage of frustration could have been denatured there and he might have reached a place in his head where he was adequate.If he had stumbled into a dojo I think the same thing could have happened. He did not.
A few posts ago I lamented the pathetic state of physical education in US schools, where the opportunity to introduce kids to lifelong esteem building activities is not even considered. Let me speculate that if poor Chou had been introduced to martial arts or weight training(whether he liked it or not) at an early age he might have channeled his feelings of inadequacy into something that would have calmed his frustration and maybe even attracted others,who would have seen what he was inside through what he had become outside. If you are a man reading this and you feel inadequate, take that feeling seriously. I think weight training or martial arts can help you. You need help. Your servant,as always
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