Is it really this bad??????

[Thorne]

I think mental illness is clearly the primary causative factor

I've seen no evidence that this man suffered from any diagnosed mental illness, despite the fact that he had apparently been seen by therapists or doctors. Yes, we like to claim that this is not "normal" behavior, that only someone who is "crazy" would do something like this, but the truth is there are a lot of otherwise normal people who have done far worse! Don't be so quick to attribute this to mental illness.

I simply feel that it is inaccurate to attribute this person's actions to misogyny.

I would suggest you look up something called, I believe, the Slymepit. It is reputedly a rather disgusting collection of misogynistic men (and women!) who are actually praising Rogers as a martyr! Hatred of women, such as he related in his video, is par for the course among these people. And how many times have we read about someone who kills his wife or girlfriend just because she left him? Are you claiming they're all crazy? No, they are just men, mostly, who have been raised to believe that their needs are all that's important, and that all women, especially the hot ones, must submit to those needs at all times. Any woman, or even another man, who denies those tenets, who speaks up for the rights of women, who do not believe women are property, are automatically considered the enemy.

From everything I've read, Elliot Rogers was a privileged, over-indulged punk who finally snapped. I would speculate that, for much of his life, he was rarely denied anything he wanted, so when women didn't flock to his door, throw themselves at his feet, or worse, went out with someone he deemed "lower" than himself, he viewed them as attacks upon himself.

So, was he insane? I doubt it, though I would like to hear from the psyches about that. He apparently suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, but from what I've learned just about everyone in the world suffers from that to one degree or another. And I don't think it's classified as a mental illness.

He targeted a specific class of women as indicated by the fact that the first place he went was to a sorority house when he was ready to start shooting. He went elsewhere only when he was unable to gain entrance there.

His plan was to START at the sorority house, since he considered those women to be the worst of the worst, and then proceed to killing randomly in the streets, based on the transcripts of his video which I've read. While he may have had a specific type (he did mention blondes) it sounded to me like he was going to target everyone, eventually.

There is simply no excuse for having those kinds of feelings toward other human beings. It is simply abnormal.

Sadly, it is far TOO normal. Look at fundamentalist Muslims, who will kill a woman for speaking out of turn, or fundamentalist Jews, who want separate buses for women, or fundamentalist Christians who blatantly pronounce women to be a subservient class. Look at the hardcore politicians who would rather see women die than give them control of their own bodies. It may be evil. It may be horrifying. It's sadly not abnormal.

thir asked "Is it really that bad???" Read about the MRA's. Read about Rebecca Watson. Read about Ashley Miller. Not only is it really that bad, it's worse!