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How mass shooters pervert a universal desire to make a difference in the world

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By Arie Kruglanski

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An interesting read on the psychology of teenage mass shooters, searching for significance amidst the polarizing influences of main stream media and available interactions among social media. Bear in mind the original title used by The Conversation and posted on other online media is “A quest for significance gone horribly wrong: How mass shooters pervert a universal desire to make a difference in the world” and was re-edited/amended since it’s original publication Mar 11, 2021.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

It is the idea that progressive leftists are planning to flood the country with people of color, aiming to disempower the white population and destroy its values and way of life.

In their grand conspiracies the targets are never the architects of their oppression in the offices of government and business but pedestrians, students and shoppers.

There is a similar dynamic at work with alt-right populism, where billionaire funded propaganda outlets convince people with few economic opportunities their enemies are not pro-corporate neo-liberal politics but immigrants, the poor, other races.

And convince them to vote for politicians of the same class (multiple bankrupt "billionaires") who work to oppress them.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Kruglanski’s analysis is an interesting psychological discourse but make no mistake, the problem is not the lone wolf shooter.

Rather, it is the persistent high level of murder found in certain areas in cities across the world.

Example: In 2020, in Chicago there were 797 homicides.

Many of those black on black.

Where’s the moral outrage and action plans to stop it?

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Even a non psychologist can clearly see the shooter was a drama queen that wanted to attract attention to himself through a violent scandalous act.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It is the idea that progressive leftists are planning to flood the country with people of color, aiming to disempower the white population and destroy its values and way of life.

It's more about keeping in power for the Democrats. It's about keeping the status quo since they are losing more and more of their biggest constituent voters, they need to replace them with new voters, preferably people that are in need of government assistance or entitlements.

In their grand conspiracies the targets are never the architects of their oppression in the offices of government and business but pedestrians, students and shoppers.

Not really and most people know this, the problem is the architects THINK the average person doesn't see through this political ploy.

There is a similar dynamic at work with alt-right populism, where billionaire funded propaganda outlets convince people with few economic opportunities their enemies are not pro-corporate neo-liberal politics but immigrants, the poor, other races.

Most people don't see it like that, which is the reason why more and more people are voting Republican they know who the real enemy is in Washington and they know their time is almost up.

And convince them to vote for politicians of the same class (multiple bankrupt "billionaires") who work to oppress them.

Well, not quite, most people be it left or right believe in the rule of law, believe in borders, believe in a heavy police presence, and believe that crime should be punished and never rewarded. They believe in the system and want the rule of law back and not to have this chaos of lawlessness continue because of the ruling class. the richest people (Democrats) would never live anywhere near these people despite them telling you they love, respect, and support the poor and downtrodden and yet, none of these people would want them anywhere near their residence, but they sure do want and need their votes. If you want crime to go away or lower, you have to be aggressive, if not, crime will only increase, just look at NYC and CA to see it, that should be the model of how a State or city should never be.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

The level of crime is why I'm so glad I don't have to live in USA.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

Well said, dagon.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It's all part of trends that have been going on for over 30 years. After the Cold War ended, there was no true 'enemy superpower' to speak of and a 'new one' was made. Advancements in communication gave us constant war on TV, safe to view at home. All the armchair generals loved it. And since US casualties in succeeding wars weren't as high as say Vietnam, it all became entertainment. Soldiers became the new gladiators. And since some (like Yugoslavia both times) were just air and sea wars for the USA, no sweat, right? Haiti? A TV cakewalk. We only lost one or two there. No big deal, right? We lost no one in Libya 2011. Fun fun fun, folks.

Not to mention, violence for no particular reason became fashionable. The head of the NRA keeps telling paranoid lies about 'so-and-so is gonna take your guns away'. Gun show billboards scream 'Get them before they're outlawed!'. The AM dial is clogged with morons who never matured past age 16 telling conspiracy theories, racist BS and lies. The ultraviolent 'Mortal Combat' video games were being hogged in the arcades because the action you can do to 'Finish him! (or her) was ultra-graphic to the max.

We had the 'Y2K' panic (remember?), militia scum doing terrorist acts like the OKC bombing, and in 2016 the rise of the fascist antichrist traitor who sold the nation and even HIMSELF out to Russia.

We've been building the perfect beast and it got released thanks to Russian collaboration and cyberhacking in 2016.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The head of the NRA keeps telling paranoid lies about 'so-and-so is gonna take your guns away'.

No lies, the absolute truth. Of course the left can’t and won’t take our guns away all at once, because they can’t and they’re not that stupid, but they would do it incrementally by banning hunting guns starting with hunting guns like the AR-15 and then slowly move down the chain. Take California for example, it used to be a lawful, safe Red conservative State and slowly through the years, I would say around 1989 it started to change and now the state is blue, one party State, far-left, out of control crime-ridden and that didn’t happen overnight, it took time. So we do know for a fact that is what the left wants to do and gun owners know this as well as the GOP and will not allow it.

Gun show billboards scream 'Get them before they're outlawed!'.

That is right, given the lefts hysteria towards guns, how they govern, what we see how blue States are run, how the left have demonized and defunded the police, limit their powers, so yes, gun sales are going up and that’s not the fault of the right, it’s a reaction to what the left keep threatening gun owners and the right with.

The AM dial is clogged with morons who never matured past age 16 telling conspiracy theories, racist BS and lies.

Not according to stats.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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