Comments on: Maybe the Michigan prosecutor should charge the video game manufacturers with a crime

By: neo

neo — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 14:33:04 +0000

Mike SMO:

It’s not clear that the school or the parents saw the social media postings, which may not have been posted under his real name. What they did see were some drawings and notes he left in school.

I completely agree that the school should have done more, however.

I also mentioned the possibility of a sudden schizophrenic break in one of my posts or comments. The problem with that is that, except for the notes and drawings (and social media posts), his behavior appeared normal. He was calm and rational, and gave a seemingly plausible explanation of the notes and drawings. He did homework for 90 minutes while he waited in the office that day, under observation and answering the counselors’ questions.

That doesn’t really add up to a psychotic break, ordinarily, although it certainly is possible for a sociopath. Sociopathy is, by the way, a very very serious thing, both “profound” and “dangerous,” and is almost never amenable to treatment. Not all sociopaths are violent, but violent sociopaths are very difficult to detect prior to their violent acts.

By: Mike-SMO

Mike-SMO — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 10:30:44 +0000

The social media postings and notes were all “Red Flags” to those who are used to seeing them. They might have been artistic “creativity”, but if the school staff saw them, they had an “obligation” to follow through and quarantine the boy. If what they saw was “art”, then no harm done, but obviously, the events made it clear, that they were symptoms of a real mental disorder. Get off concepts like “Sociopath”. I’d be looking for a profound and dangerous psychosis. Some greater disturbance than “misbehavior”. An individual hearing “command hallucinations” is dangerous business. The teen years are when some very troublesome psychiatric disorders become obvious. This isn’t a place for amateurs. An experienced psychiatrist might have been deceived or fail to evoke the disorder, but this young man was definitely worth some investigation by an experienced professional. Not following up on the symptoms was clearly negligent on the part of the school authorities.

By: jon baker

jon baker — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 05:15:37 +0000

On the discussion of whites and psychopaths, mass murders etc. Years ago I spent some time around a white prison parolee. One of his observations about prison life was the difference in the way white and black prisoners retaliated against another inmate. He claimed that blacks would react immediately whereas whites would tend to plan out their revenge. Now we could take that with the proverbial grain of salt, while still accepting that white mass murderers and black mass murderers, might take different approaches. How many of these dozens of shootings every week in Chicago are committed by the same repeat offenders, and “ snitches get stitches “ and bad law enforcement and prosecution allow them to get away with it? How many mass murderers are there running around in Chicago that are not white?

By: Wesson

Wesson — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 03:15:42 +0000

We also have no evidence that Ethan Crumbley was a loner, and in fact a lot of school shooters are not loners.

The Daily Mail UK quoted or posted an interview with the shooter’s 18 year old half brother (who moved to FL to live with his mother due to issues with his stepmother). He said the shooter basically went to school and played video games at home after school. He didn’t say he was weird or a loner.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 02:32:55 +0000

There was a school shooting in, iirc, Paducah many, many years ago. One of the aspects was, according to one story, the fantastic accuracy. The professionals were gobsmacked.
Turns out the kid had a video game involving shooting some kind of fake pistol with a laser beam at a screen, fast-moving targets. Fired a bazillion shots.
Tragically, the actual gun he brought to school had the same “fit” or “hand’ or whatever the pistol guys call it. As a result of his scores of hours of practice, he had only to look at something and it was dead.
It would be odd if he were to have sought out that particular pistol from all that are available–to adults.

By: Richard Aubrey

Richard Aubrey — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 02:28:44 +0000

young. “known” But to whom and to what end?

By: YoungHegelian

YoungHegelian — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 02:20:54 +0000

@Neo,

If he’s a psychopath or sociopath it often works that way. They are brilliant dissemblers.

When they’re in their mid teens? That i doubt, too.

Generally, those sort of boys act out in some way, such as bullying, cruelty to animals, or just being so weird and obnoxious that they have no friends at all. It just shows in some way that they don’t have any sort of conscience at all.

In any case, I doubt that this kid was an unknown wolf.

By: geoffb

geoffb — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:59:19 +0000

A couple of links to numbers of mass shootings worldwide.

https://nypost.com/2018/08/30/america-doesnt-actually-lead-the-world-in-mass-shootings/

https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-the-us-leads-the-world-in-mass-shootings/

A certain professor seems to be at the heart of this “fact.”

By: neo

neo — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:46:11 +0000

Frederick:

There is a mistaken impression that mass murderers are disproportionately white, but I think that’s because gang murders are not classified that way.

But it’s not my impression that people in the field think that psychopathy is mostly a white phenomenon. Perhaps the public thinks that, because of some high-profile cases like Ted Bundy?

By: neo

neo — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:42:37 +0000

Roy Nathanson:

My point is that some of those murders are probably mass murders and are not classified by authorities as such.

We also have no evidence that Ethan Crumbley was a loner, and in fact a lot of school shooters are not loners.