# Fuck this guy (Santa Barbara shooter) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 24, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182 "2014-05-24T14:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/281 "2014-05-27T16:55:34Z")
News crews are aggressively seeking people who knew the guy so that they can get some backstory or anecdotes. I wonder if they’ll ever turn up any woman who says “Yeah, he asked me out and I turned him down because he was creepy.” I’m willing to be they’ll never find any such woman - because he never asked anyone out. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/282 "2014-05-27T17:01:21Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > I can go to Craig’s list right now find a car, go over lay down cash and drive away. Legally. > That is unregulated in my book. > I can’t do that with a gun. You can’t do that legally unless you have a driver’s license. BAM! Regulated. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/283 "2014-05-27T17:05:40Z")
He indeed didn’t seem like he would ask. More like demand. “YOU ! Yes, you, with the tits. I deserve you. Come here, filthy vicious animal, we’re going to my car where I will proceed to angrily facefuck you like the perfect gentleman I am.” ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/284 "2014-05-27T17:07:32Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > You can’t do that legally unless you have a driver’s license. BAM! Regulated. You don’t need a driver’s license (except maybe as identification) to buy a car. It’s a private sale. Does your state require private car sellers to verify a buyers drivers license? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/285 "2014-05-27T17:07:37Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > You seem to have an eight year old’s understanding of misogyny. > > This creatures entire worldview, his entire identity, and his primarily way of organizing his thoughts was based on a set of sick and twisted ideas about women. Now, men got caught in this as well, but that’s because he was seeing men through the window of hating women. > > Or put this way, if he work up tomorrow and said “you know, I guess women don’t owe me sex. I’m actually kind of cool with them,” his thing against men would fall apart. > > Men were victims of this, and that’s not surprising, because men often get harmed by this whole system of understanding the world through gender. We aren’t in some kind of zero sums battle of the sexes here. Both men and women will benefit when sexism stops being such a major force. I totally agree with all of this. His craziness was a mix of extreme sense of entitlement, fear and misogyny. I think that the sense of entitlement was the overriding factor but it’s ridiculous to argue that hatred of women didn’t play a part and that the hatred of women came from unrealistic culture expectations. > [@](#): > > Maybe absent misogyny, he would have just gone crazy in a different way. But maybe, he would have also gone “Holy shit these are some wack thoughts. Maybe I need help” rather than “Awesome! There are boards and subreddits and mailing lists for people just like me!” I am nearly certain that he would have found something else that didn’t fit in with what he thought that he deserved. I am equally certain that forums and subreddits would have existed for whatever it was. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/286 "2014-05-27T17:15:03Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I am nearly certain that he would have found something else that didn’t fit in with what he thought that he deserved. I am equally certain that forums and subreddits would have existed for whatever it was. And making porn with it, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/287 "2014-05-27T17:17:29Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > A closer look at his “manifesto” reveals his anger was equally aimed at men and women - basically, he considered he was a god, and he was pissed at everyone for not recognizing it. > > Certainly, his lack of recognition was most evident in not obtaining the sex that was his “due”, but his anger was aimed at the human race in total, not just fueled by a hatred of women in particular. He equally desired to kill other men. Women were to die for refusing him, men for surpassing him - both are insulting to a “god”. ISTR reading, some years ago, that the constant inflation of kids’ self-esteem - regardless of actual achievement - that seems to have become the norm in the past couple of decades tends to lead underachieving kids to react with anger when they became adults and suddenly find that the real world refuses to validate their unduly inflated sense of self-worth. I wonder if this is such a case, i.e. maybe he developed delusions of grandeur because his parents and teachers constantly told him he was a winner and attractive in spite of his total lack of achievements and attractiveness, and flipped out when his classmates started dropping hints that he was actually an unattractive loser. Maybe he shoulda read this Cracked essay: [6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person](http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/288 "2014-05-27T17:41:23Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > You seem to have an eight year old’s understanding of misogyny. > > This creatures entire worldview, his entire identity, and his primarily way of organizing his thoughts was based on a set of sick and twisted ideas about women. Now, men got caught in this as well, but that’s because he was seeing men through the window of hating women. > > Or put this way, if he work up tomorrow and said “you know, I guess women don’t owe me sex. I’m actually kind of cool with them,” his thing against men would fall apart. > > Men were victims of this, and that’s not surprising, because men often get harmed by this whole system of understanding the world through gender. We aren’t in some kind of zero sums battle of the sexes here. Both men and women will benefit when sexism stops being such a major force. > > Maybe absent misogyny, he would have just gone crazy in a different way. But maybe, he would have also gone “Holy shit these are some wack thoughts. Maybe I need help” rather than “Awesome! There are boards and subreddits and mailing lists for people just like me!” The root of his problem wasn’t that he hated women, though he clearly did. The root of his problem was that he thought he was a god, and saw everything through that lens - women turning him down was evil, as was him not winning the lottery, or men living normal lives. All were evidence of a corrupt humanity deserving of vengence - at least, according to his “manifesto”. Assuming this is true, him not hating on women would have made little difference - pretty well everything is insulting, if you are a god and are treated like an ordinary person. It is true he was particularly fixated on sex, but grant him success (or at least, not caring) about that, it would have been something else. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/289 "2014-05-27T18:22:18Z")
There isn’t misogyny at play here IMO. This is just an extreme version of a loser’s rationalization and reflexive justifications. “She wasn’t good enough to date me anyway” or the more crude “she won’t be interested in me because she’s a vapid whore cruising for meatheads”. Sad, really, for the innocent victims most of all. It just reads to me as a privileged, spoiled, socially isolated and deeply troubled kid seeing the world through a very distorted lens and lashing out violently and tragically. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/290 "2014-05-27T18:58:46Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > He was dropped down mere inches from the finish line, and he just set there brooding about the injustice of world that refused to pick him up and carry him across. > > On the other hand, I do agree with him that the last Indiana Jones movie was pretty weak. Well put. ---
**Author:** ![cococ173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@cococ173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cococ173)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/291 "2014-05-27T19:03:50Z")
This kid hated everybody and everything This kid hated himself. I don’t think there is one label that covers his pathology. “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” Groucho Marx He devalued everyone. His autobiography and last video seems stilted. He wrote and spoke what he wanted us to see, not what was really inside him. IMHO he regarded everyone as better than him and viewed himself as permanently inferior–defective. I think his defense mechanisms started crumbling months before his acting out and he could not live with the pain and isolation. He imploded. I am surprised he lived as long as he did with all the red flags he exhibited along the way. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/292 "2014-05-27T19:16:08Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The root of his problem wasn’t that he hated women, though he clearly did. The root of his problem was that he thought he was a god… The shooter in this case didn’t think he was god; he just felt obscenely entitled. Which doesn’t make him much different from most extreme misogynists. White supremacists too. What makes him different from others is the sheer magnitude of his entitlement, not just that he was entitled. If we have to describe the “root of his problem”, I would say its his delusions of grandeur, his complete lack of empathy, and his homicidal ideation. You can be as massively self-entitled as he was and still not want to kill anyone. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/293 "2014-05-27T19:20:04Z")
This guy was such an outlier that I don’t think that there would be any law, policy or procedure that we could reasonably change and catch someone exactly like him. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/294 "2014-05-27T19:21:15Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > The shooter in this case didn’t think he was god; he just felt obscenely entitled. Which doesn’t make him much different from most extreme misogynists. White supremacists too. What makes him different from others is the sheer magnitude of his entitlement, not just that he was entitled. This is why the parents should do jail time. Especially the mother. She’s a woman and she should know better than to teach such extreme misogyny to her son. That poor child never had a chance. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/295 "2014-05-27T19:22:40Z")
This is an interesting case for me, in that it’s the first mass murderer whose Youtube channel I could watch, and whose Facebook page I could read. I think it’s also interesting what went wrong for him, and people have different ideas. My impression is that he has Asperger’s. This disorder is often falsely seen as narcissism, since they share several phenotypes. He was blindly focusing on one thing, blondes, and digging himself into a deeper and deeper psychological hole about it. The more bitter he is, the more difficult it would be for him to get a girl. Although Im not sure exactly how far removed from reality he was. Did he actually ever talk to a girl, who rejected him, or did he just expect them to magically come beside him? Would he ever have a chance with a girl, if he had a good friend that could help him, and he was willing to try new things, or was he so far removed from reality that he could not actually interact with a real girl? David Wong from cracked has previously made the case that movies and especially music montages have had damaging effects on many people. They expect that they can achieve things easily like in a montage, and that the good guy will always get the girl in the end. When this doesn’t happen, they feel cheated by the world. This would be a perfect example of that. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/296 "2014-05-27T19:38:48Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > The shooter in this case didn’t think he was god; he just felt obscenely entitled. Which doesn’t make him much different from most extreme misogynists. White supremacists too. What makes him different from others is the sheer magnitude of his entitlement, not just that he was entitled. He certainly _said_ he thought he was a god - in as many words, quoted upthread. Is there some reason to doubt his own account of his particular delusions? I think there is a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference between a Caligula-like ‘I am a god and I will take a terrible vengence on a degenerate humanity’ [my paraphrase of his “manifesto”] and your common or garden-variety spoiled brat, mysogynist, or racist. > [@](#): > > If we have to describe the “root of his problem”, I would say its his delusions of grandeur, his complete lack of empathy, and his homicidal ideation. You can be as massively self-entitled as he was and still not want to kill anyone. Yes, all of that is part of him thinking he was a god. Another part is him being nuttier than squirrel shit. Even the most massive psycho, totally lacking in empathy, does not necessarily take it as a personal affront that he did not win the lottery. That speaks of a dissociation with reality - thinking that the very laws of probability have insulted you. ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/297 "2014-05-27T20:03:00Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > It’s. Bullshit. In. The. Context. Of. This. Thread. Fuckin’ A, man! Oh, go fuck yourself. Because you decided to be a dick, I might be a dick and come back into this thread again. Or maybe I’ll just tell you to go fuck yourself again. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/298 "2014-05-27T20:07:42Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > He certainly _said_ he thought he was a god - in as many words, quoted upthread. Is there some reason to doubt his own account of his particular delusions? ::shrug:: I saw it as hyperbole. I don’t think he actually thought he was imbued with magical god-like properties. I don’t believe he thought he created the universe, and I don’t think he was under the impression that he was omnipotent. What he actually said was this: > [@](#): > > **I am the closest thing there is to a living god.** Humanity is a disgusting, depraved, and evil species. It is my purpose to punish them all. I will purify the world of everything that is wrong with it. On the Day of Retribution, I will truly be a powerful god, punishing everyone I deem to be impure and depraved. > [@Malthus](#): > > I think there is a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference between a Caligula-like ‘I am a god and I will take a terrible vengence on a degenerate humanity’ [my paraphrase of his “manifesto”] and your common or garden-variety spoiled brat, mysogynist, or racist. I don’t think we should read too much into his spewings. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/299 "2014-05-27T20:09:43Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > This is why the parents should do jail time. Especially the mother. She’s a woman and she should know better than to teach such extreme misogyny to her son. That poor child never had a chance. I can’t tell if this is a whoosh or not. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182/300 "2014-05-27T20:18:31Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > My impression is that he has Asperger’s. Oh, take your impressions and blow 'em out your ass. We’ve got enough armchair quarterbacking in the media by psychiatrists with paper-thin degrees to deal with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-this-guy-santa-barbara-shooter/689182.md?page=16)