# Shooting and mass murder in Isla Vista **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177 "2014-05-24T13:07:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/21 "2014-05-24T22:35:38Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > On the bright side, he’ll probably get lots of fan mail and wedding proposals while in prison. What a strange, twisted world we live in. He can’t. He’s dead. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/22 "2014-05-24T22:42:16Z")
> [@splatterpunk](#): > > Yes, what a strange, twisted world we live in, putting dead people in prison and all. So what, we just let him get away with it? Typical liberal attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/23 "2014-05-24T22:46:42Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I know it sure beats killing seven other people. You don’t appear to realize that a crazy person’s mind is crazy. I’m not saying that his craziness rose to the level of legally insane; however, it’s an error to appraise his motives as one would appraise the motives of a rational person. And to call suicide “selfish” or “coward’s way out” trivializes or demeans the very real pain and anguish of those who suffer from suicidal tendencies. In this case, it’s still too early to know (unless I missed it in the barrage of news coverage) if this person killed himself or if he was killed by police. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/24 "2014-05-24T23:14:05Z")
I saw a news report which suggested he had Aspergers, which may explain why he felt socially frustrated (although not justifying or linked in any to what he did as a result). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/25 "2014-05-24T23:22:02Z")
I wish more people who choose murder/suicide as their way to end it start the other way 'round. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/26 "2014-05-24T23:28:21Z")
[Oh fuck!](http://www.keyt.com/news/alleged-gunmans-apartment-now-a-crime-scene/26157468) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/27 "2014-05-24T23:31:12Z")
I don’t think it’s been officially determined whether his death was suicide or otherwise. I had to change the channel when CNN said that his manifesto included killing all women except those needed for procreation. :eek: When I found out who his father was, it explained why it was getting such heavy coverage. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/28 "2014-05-24T23:32:21Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [Oh fuck!](http://www.keyt.com/news/alleged-gunmans-apartment-now-a-crime-scene/26157468) You’ve got that right. ☹ :eek: I sure hope that between this and Sandy Hook, people don’t get the wrong idea about people with Asperger Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/29 "2014-05-24T23:53:27Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Two people in this thread have used the word “coed.” Aren’t female college students just called “college students” these days? No. Weirdly, they are called “female college students”. Oh, that is not a shot at you - it’s just weird to me that the distinction in always made. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/30 "2014-05-25T00:22:28Z")
At the risk of someone getting mad at me for posting this because it gives him more of an audience, his manifesto is so sick and sad (sad not so much for him - though that is true - but sad because you know what is going to happen). [http://www.scribd.com/doc/225960813/Elliot-Rodger-Santa-Barbara-mass-shooting-suspect-My-Twisted-World-manifesto](http://www.scribd.com/doc/225960813/Elliot-Rodger-Santa-Barbara-mass-shooting-suspect-My-Twisted-World-manifesto) He talks about how police officers came to his apartment to check on him because of reports about his youtube videos. He appeared completely normal and had an arsenal in his apartment at the time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/31 "2014-05-25T00:36:38Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > He appeared completely normal and had an arsenal in his apartment at the time. He appeared normal because high levels of misogyny are endemic in our culture. Lots of guys act like women owe them romantic attention. They rant about stuck-up bitches, and how nice guys don’t have a chance, and about how they hate the “friend zone”. He may have been nuts (although that remains to be proven) but he wasn’t operating in a vacuum. His attitudes were fueled by a virulent masculine subculture that sees women as prizes to be won – a subculture that projects anger and bitterness toward women who don’t meet their expectations. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/32 "2014-05-25T00:43:36Z")
> [@tesseract](#): > > At the risk of someone getting mad at me for posting this because it gives him more of an audience, … No, I am not mad at you for that reason; information is always a good thing, and information that puts other information in perspective is even better. I am angry that you exposed me to that, but, yeah, that’s my problem, not yours. I made it past the first sentence, but just couldn’t go on past the first paragraph. Okay, that was wrong - if I am going to judge him, I should at least read his manifesto … I’m sure he was a troubled, damaged soul, but, to be frank, he sounds like just another dick to me. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/33 "2014-05-25T01:16:41Z")
Yes, a racist, mysogynistic, narcissistic asshole, utterly self-focused, deeply insecure but at the same time convinced of his own superiority. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/34 "2014-05-25T01:36:05Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I sure hope that between this and Sandy Hook, people don’t get the wrong idea about people with Asperger Syndrome. Didn’t see Asperger’s mentioned anywhere in connection with this. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/35 "2014-05-25T05:13:06Z")
We don’t know if Elliot Rodger was mentally ill. We don’t know if he was a “madman.” We do know that he was desperately lonely and unhappy, and that the Men’s Rights Movement convinced him that his loneliness and unhappiness was intentionally caused by women. Because this is what the Men’s Rights Movement does: it spreads misogyny, it spreads violence, and most of all it spreads a sense of entitlement towards women’s bodies. Pretending that this is the a rare act perpetrated by a “crazy” person is disingenuous and also does nothing to address the threat of violence that women face every day. We can’t just write this one off – we need to talk about all of the fucked up parts of our culture, especially the movements that teach men that they have the right to dominate and intimidate and violate women, that lead to this, and we need to change things. Because if we don’t, I guarantee that this will happen again. And again. And again. ETA: A few people have been commenting to tell me that I’m wrong about Elliot not having a mental illness, as his family members have reported to the media that he had Asperger syndrome. Asperger syndrome is not a mental illness – it is a neurological condition, and it does not predispose people to violence. Correlating Asperger’s with violence is wrong and uninformed and you are doing more harm than good by saying that. ( from [Elliot Rodger And Men Who Hate Women | The Belle Jar](http://bellejar.ca/2014/05/24/elliot-rodger-and-men-who-hate-women/) ) ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/36 "2014-05-25T17:38:16Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > We don’t know if Elliot Rodger was mentally ill. We don’t know if he was a “madman.” We do know that he was desperately lonely and unhappy, and that the Men’s Rights Movement convinced him that his loneliness and unhappiness was intentionally caused by women. His manifesto creates the impression of a whiny deranged narcissist who began developing a hatred for women and young couples years before he could ever possibly have been introduced to the Men’s Rights Movement. In the bit I actually read, he describes following young couples out of restaurants and attacking them with cups of coffee and soda on two unrelated occasions. As far as I can tell, he finally settles on his violent shooting spree plan specifically after the failure of his last plan, to win the lottery. He seemed to have been obsessed with winning the lottery, driving all the way to Arizona multiple times, because he was convinced it would absolutely certainly make his life the sex filled romp he dreamed of. Over all, he seems more angry than crazy but it sounds like there was plenty of crazy going on too. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/37 "2014-05-25T18:10:37Z")
we can have a messed up sexist culture AND he can be crazy, doesn’t have to be one or the other. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/38 "2014-05-25T18:20:05Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > We don’t know if Elliot Rodger was mentally ill. We don’t know if he was a “madman.” We do know that he was desperately lonely and unhappy, and that the **Men’s Rights Movement convinced him** that his loneliness and unhappiness was intentionally caused by women. Because this is what the Men’s Rights Movement does: (post shortened, underline and bold added) Who is _The Belle Jar_ and how does he/she/they know that Elliot Rodger’s initial stabbing spree was cause by something called _the Men’s Rights Movement_? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/39 "2014-05-25T21:17:46Z")
X-Treme Nice Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177/40 "2014-05-25T21:31:29Z")
If someone is crazy, they will find an excuse and something to blame it on. Women were merely convenient at the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-and-mass-murder-in-isla-vista/689177.md?page=3)