very little discussion on the actual mental state of the individual is going on, which i believe is the crux of the situation..
This is an incredibly difficult thing to do, because his manifesto and videos are extremely contradictory on many aspects, and, furthermore, there are certain elements within the manifesto that raise conerns about it being an unreliable source of information.
As Pants states:
The guy had a bit of everything going on. Entitlement complex, narcissism, misogyny, racism, ostracization, superiority complex, isolation, warped world view, misanthropy, jealousy and like 100 other issues. He's like christmas for psychologists
There are so many different aspects that any valid discussion is going to need to simultaneously deal with everything, and how all of them interact. I mean, not only does he have sexist views, but these are tied with his feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and worthlessness, while simultaneously having a superiority complex wherein he is a divine figure. He has intense hatred for his parents at times, yet later views them as some of the best people in his life. He loves his brother and views him as one of the few individuals he likes, yet wishes to murder him for the potential for success. He's filled with near-paradoxical beliefs and it's incredibly difficult to determine what preceded what, he's incredibly far-gone and very meglomaniacal.
One thing that is made extremely clear early on is that he very much dislikes a lack of control (
unpleasant teacher because she wanted him to catch up on material,
hated the rules, including the uniform), and is more than willing to engage in petty squabbles, taking satisfaction in lashing out at perceived 'enemies' (
satisfaction in not inviting Joey to his party,
Keaton Webbler as an somebody he disliked, but not an 'enemy') and acquiring 'vengeance'. Later on, this desire for revenge and suffering obviously increased exponentially, and the 'targets' broadened, going from specific individuals, to types of individuals (ie 'jocks', 'sluts'), to an entire gender. This is obviously tied into his extremely misogynistic views, but everything is tied-into everything as far as his motivations are concerned, it's a storm of intertwining events. What is clear, however, is that even at an early age, mental illness, or at the very least, severe issues, were apparent, as his level of spite and uncomformity extends beyond normal child-like pettiness and into a clear extreme. These word made far worse not only by his lack of empathy (
perplexed by James' lack of bother and the view that James was
over-reacting to such disturbing comments) contributing to an 'awkwardness'/'quietness', but a severe lack of positive qualities as he is unable to take any satisfaction in the success of others, is paranoid about the motivations of others (
skateboarding and
his mother),
manipulative, and perceives almost everything as a slight against him (
killing characters online over passed meetings in spite), even without any actual acknowledgement (
splashing, and seriously, he does this so many times for nothing). While certainly things escalated (
with further desire for vengeance, even if this example is less extreme than the many, many others), it is absolutely clear that psychiatric services would have been required even with this trait alone (and, in fairness to his parents, they seemed to do so).
Yet his desire for conformity and acceptance made it incredibly difficult, it seems, for psychiatric services to have much of an effect and is what I think is one of the most major issues in his develop, contributing significantly to his loneliness, spitefulness, misogynistic views, parental issues, and desire for wealth. Having moved multiple times, and faced numerous changes to his household, it is very clear that he came from a rather unstable background (that is, the dynamic continuously changed) which seems to have had an effect on his desire to belong, as school constantly changed and remaining in contact with past associates proved difficult, contributing in making him a lonely individual. He thought the
cool kids were "obnoxious jerks" yet so desperately desired to be one of them throughout his life, as he
abandoned his sense of self in a desire to fit in, something that he still wouldn't be content with as he wanted to be 'the superior gentleman', not only one of the 'cool kids'. As the 'cool' and 'popular' thing to do transitioned from 'skateboarding' to meeting women, he was at a complete loss (due to the mental illness he certainly seemed to face) as to how to go about
doing so, continuously blaming others not only for
not teaching him how to attract women but also for almost every issue he faced, as he rarely has responsibility in anything he does, in his opinion; there's always somebody worse, somebody who is punishing him.
This, again, ties in with his incredibly unusual inferiority-superiority complex, something that is frankly mystifying. Not only does he feel himself to be the superior gentleman, and a
godlike being, deserving of a perfect life (which he displays naivety in thinking the wealthy never worry about anything in
their hedonistic lives), but he also views himself as one who felt he had no talents, played up his own 'weirdness'; simply to have some acknowledgement, saw his life as pathetic, and put on a false sense of confidence and vanity to convince himself that he was beautiful and being acknowledged. His viewing of the height of others, and their physical stature is repeatedly mentioned. Similarly, his viewing of blond hair being superior is clear as many important men with blond hair are mentioned, Maddy, his first female friend, had blond hair, he was popular when he dyed his hair blond, has a sexual preference for blondes, his imaginary girlfriend had blond hair, and continuously obsessed over blond women. He's insecure about his race issues, viewing it as different and a barrier
to his ability to fit in, but also used it as something to put down others through some of the incredibly racist comments he makes, repeatedly stating the race of people and putting them down for it ("Chance" and "Angel"), and referring repeatedly to heritage. He continuously cries at the slightest provocation and feels embarassment over almost everything. He lacks the self-confidence to speak to women (partly motviated by fear of failure) yet views himself as superior to those that do speak to women. He views himself as such a deity that women, to him, are objectified, simultaneously unworthy of his greatness, and unworthy of rejecting him. He feels as if men are at the mercy of 'evil women', yet feels as if men are superior to women, visible via his clearly misogynistic and
sexist views. He feels himself of such divine importance that he is destined to win the lotto every single time he plays at, and feel that another winner is stealing his money, while noting that he is so incapable of doing anything else that he might as well do this, because he would have an equal chance with anything else (and he doesn't want to put in the effort of writing a book, somewhat ironic, for immediate results). He is extremely insecure about his social status having been bullied early on by
Connor over his area, yet never wants for anything as all is paid for by his relatives and he lives lavishly, ignorant that he is wealthy. He felt he had magical powers, and could will a win of the lottery, while recognising the delusional nature of this thought. He wanted money to acquire women, believing they were that shallow and attracted to status, but associated speaking to his female therapist like seeing a
prostitute as it ultimately made him feel like a loser (implying using money would too, perhaps).
He continuously isolates himself (with games and also
due to his vow), and laments over his isolation, trying to break free while not understanding that he has put himself in the position. His relationship with his parents is extremely unstable, clearly loving his mother, despite hating her for her refusal to marry a wealthy man, something which he feels
is selfish, but still ends up calling her constantly for support. His father fluctuates between feeling he's
never present to somebody who persecuted him by abandoning him for his step-mother, to a symbol of a successful man in acquiring a girlfriend so quickly, despite (Elliot) hating her. He claims he mutes his feelings as he needs them, yet continuously argues, flees from, berates, and cries to them. He feels he's not properly being recognised and that his brother owes him his life, while thinking he loves him. He things he needs to brag to his brother or he won't be respected. He constantly lies and manipulates them for additional items (laptop, money) and goals (removing his sister's boyfriend from the equation) and makes unreasonable requests (bedroom in his fathers house). He gets relatively free-reign yet complains for some of the rules imposed by his step-mother (his side of the story paints her as a cruel person, but I'm guessing this is far from reality given his delusional nature).
I really cannot go on any further; this, already, is skimming over far too much and making the situation far shallower than it actually is; every point mentioned has numerous conflicting and relatable points contained in his video and his manifesto and should be explored more. There is, absolutely no doubt, that he is a sexist, and that his views are absolutely abhorrent, objectifying all of those around him. There is no doubt that his vehemently spiteful nature left him an individual that nobody would want to be friends with. There is no doubt that it is tragic that somebody could view events in such a sad manner, feeling as if everything was going against him (yes, even if that person is an immoral individual, he suffered intensely, rightly or wrongly is not my place to say). There is no doubt that he needed even more psychiatric help (and even then if anything could have actaully helped him is unclear). There is, finally, no doubt we should not have some degree of distrust in his manifesto, as he himself states he
considered, and enjoyed, writing fiction, typically revolving around victimising and empowering himself. So while it is possible to glance over his state of mind, I am of the opinion that the level of depth needed to do so adequately makes it a less-feasible thing to do than tackling the widespread sexism that exists in society, which can be discussed in 'lighter' posts.
Kind of getting back on subject here and I don't want to sound insensitive, but I imagine the parents of the shooter are sick to their stomach to say the least. The heinous act committed, the parents just lost their child and they must be beyond belief on what their child has done and they'll have to live with that for the rest of their lives. The father will probably no longer work in Hollywood. I can't imagine what it would be like to be the parent of a child who just murdered people in cold blood. It can be argued if they didn't raise him better but they, the parents, don't deserve this.
Most of all of course are the victims of Elliot Rogers and their families. Senseless, random death that in no way, shape or form should have ever happened. Their parents will have to suffer nightmares and depression along with those who survived the attacks. If I were in any of their shoes, I'd be throwing up right now.
I don't want to point blame at anyone except the shooter, Rogers but I think somehow the mental health system needs drastic improvements. I admit I don't even know what could be done to improve it but I know that at least some people working within that system really don't seem to show any care towards their patients. Not saying that is the cause of the problem, however.
Indeed; I think, from their perspective, one of the most tragic things is that they appeared to do everything right; that is, he seems to have been in touch with psychiatric services and counsellors since
was at least thirteen, they tried different approaches to his education, they tried giving him what he wanted, they tried encouraging him to continue his education, tried to get him further help, contacted police (allegedly) when they saw the videos, friends tried to talk him down, and it still wasn't enough. Given how far gone he was, and how much support he seemed to have received from the mental health services, it really is hard to pinpoint where exactly this could have been prevented.
The victims' relatives, are, as you've mentioned, obviously the most likely to feel the greatest anger and sadness, having been subjected to a 'senseless' attack. It's difficult to imagine how one copes after such an incident, and learning that a loved one was one of the unfortunate victims.