By Sean Nolan
I asked this on my own blog, but my own blog is pretty much just me and some random folks here and there. And my point was about not giving the killer the attention that he craves. But since I wrote it the other day, my own perspective has changed. So why do we say his name?
In the past few days, I came to a realization. As much as we may hate it, Elliot Rodger was a gun owner. He purchased his guns legally. We might argue all day on why he shouldn’t have been able to. (How many red flags were raised? In California of all places?) Or we could argue why he should not have been stopped. (He hadn’t committed a crime yet.) But one thing, the base we must admit, is that he was a gun owner. We do not feel that this killer had anything in common with us. But the other side does. And they are still the same circling vultures they have always been, looking for that little bit of flesh to grab.
He wanted attention. That is why he did it, so why give it to him? I asked myself this and realized he is not getting the attention he wanted. He is not getting it for the reasons he wanted. Look at the comments section anywhere that he is being discussed. He is openly mocked about every aspect of his manifesto. He is the butt of every virgin joke being rewritten.
His victims deserve it more. The police who brought him to an end deserve it more. We should give them the attention and celebrity. We need to stop making the criminal famous. And I agree with that. In cases like Elliot Rodger, however, we need to make sure the world knows that he accomplished nothing. The loss of life is tragic, but it is not what he intended it to be. He wanted to be famous for being “The Alpha Male”. Well, to be blunt, that ain’t the fame he’s getting.
We say his name, because he was not one of us. His actions were not those of law-abiding, responsible gun owners. We say his name, because attention does need to be directed at him and his actions. We need the world to see that his plan failed in every aspect. We say his name, so that those who might emulate him will see that the result is a dead failure.
We say his name, because while he was a gun owner, he was not one of us.
Sean blogs at http://magdumped.blogspot.com.
Basically…his name should be ridiculed?
I agree, let this loser’s story be told far and wide.
I agree wholeheartedly, lets get on his computer and find all the depraved stuff he tugged it to. Lets commit a public character assassination. These sick freaks do this because they want people to remember them, or feel bad for their struggle. They want to make their victims feel like they deserved it. They want to be infamous. I say throw all this creep’s dirty laundry out into the street and ridicule him. Then after a short period, delete his existence from the face of the earth. Tell it how it is, this kid died like the coward that he was, starring down the barrel of his own gun.
Lets make this guy and everyone before him an example so that the next sexually frustrated marginalized asshole who thinks he is buying his 15 minutes of fame by killing a bunch of people realizes “oh crap their gonna realize all the weird shit I was into, Ill just take these pills and leave the normal people alone… peace”
You think he killed those people to be famous? I don’t. He killed for “revenge.” Power and control, really. And now he’s dead, which is great, and he doesn’t care if we mention his name or not.
No, he wanted attention.
Specifically, he wanted attention for being something he was not. If it was all about revenge, he would not have made the videos, nor written that ridiculous manifesto. Revenge was a part of it, yes. But what he craved was attention, to be seen as superior by a world that treated him as inferior.
^^^ This.
It also gives the next batch of psychos something to hope for… i.e. They will kill the object of their hatred AND they get to be practically immortalized by the media. It’s a win win for a crazy person. I would like it more if they just referenced them as to where it happened and leave their names out of it. By all means post the names of the victims so THEY are remembered.
I like the emotions you are displaying here. We should not immortalize a crazy person who turns very bad.
However, I wonder why you think his victims should be remembered. I have to ask, because logical thought demands it. Did the victims do anything heroic or even unusual? No, they were just random targets. Getting shot or stabbed or run over is not really worthy of a hero’s memorial, is it?
There will always be crazies who flip out and murder a bunch of people. But the media coverage actually does tend to create more of these sorts of things: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8153751
His manifesto and videos say that he wanted blood.
The more attention and name recognition you give these people the more others will want to achieve the same immortality. These murderers get their place in history because you give it to them. Regardless of the story you write after their death their name remains exactly as it was when they were born into this world. Whether they accomplish exactly what they planned or it ends in failure, they remain in the minds of more people than before their deeds of destruction. The day prior only a few humans that lived amongst this person knew of his existence, the next day many people across this planet know more than the existence of this murder they know his family, friends, face, name, childhood events and actions throughout his life. Ultimately they have succeeded more than the majority of humans have or will as they get their face and name cemented in modern history on a global scale (due to the internet).
The majority will think negatively about these killers. The majority will belittle them, demonize them, laugh at them, etc. However, a few people out there will see them as heros, as role models of successful destruction, as badasses getting the revenge they deserved. The next murderer will use the actions of prior killers to draw up more successful plans for their event — they will use them as motivation to actually carry out the plan.
hmm did you even watch the ” manifesto” or do you just ass ume that you know what eh wanted
I saw the videos, and I read the manifesto.
I stand by my statements. Inside all the stuff he prepared, you still see fear. You see uncertainty. Everything was scripted and carefully worded. Very poorly executed, but he prepared it to come off a certain way. So you have to look past it. Look at what he said, and ask yourself WHY he said those things.
I could only take about five seconds of the first video before I almost threw up. I don’t even know why I’m following these threads, unless it’s that same morbid urge that makes people rubberneck at car crashes and stuff.
We say his name because that is the most convenient and efficient way of discussing him and what happened, nothing more. Going out of your way and performing verbal or written calisthenics to avoid saying “Elliot Rodger” is just stupid.
+1
No calisthenics, just refer to him as the coward (for which he was). Doesn’t take all that time or effort.
And yes, he is being ridiculed in the comment sections but some little weasel will read his manifesto and watch his video and say, I can do him one better. Look at Adam Lanza, he had an obsession with Columbine, happens all of the time.
It’s like grown ass adults going out of their way to avoid cursing. I’m not going to take you seriously if you refuse to directly refer to that of which you are speaking. I guess if pundits go on about “the B-word” in rap lyrics we have to call this clown “the ER-person.”
How about “The Isla Vista Murderer?”
I call him “the Santa Barbara killer,” like I call the others “the Columbine killers,” “the Virginia Tech killer,” “the Navy Yard killer,” “the Boston bombers,” etc. By the way, note “killers,” not “shooters.”
No names, no gyrations.
Those names do nothing but glamorize the killers. Use their real names, not “.44 Caliber Killer,” “Trailside Killer,” “Co-Ed Killer” and other names made up by tabloid writers to make murderers sound cool.
BTW, most of those scumbags loved having a “cool” nickname.
What planet has kids that look like that? Shouldn’t we be looking for more of ’em?
His mother was from Southeast Asia, that was already being reported when Michael Moore used this tragedy as an excuse to mount his soap box and declare that disturbed white males are the problem. Reminds me of “white hispanic” George Zimmerman. But this isn’t really about who is white and who isn’t, that is a label the so called progressives want to throw around because they deal in bigotry.
Personally I am skeptical when it comes to calling this young man a gun owner in any sense beyond the most basic and literal interpretation of those words. I would really like to know how much range time he had with his three pistols and whether his parents knew he had them, what have you. How exactly DID this go down? Because we aren’t getting a lot of detail from the media, just a lot of bloody shirt waving.
Michael Moore is a “disturbed white male.”
I think you meant “disturbed white whale”
Please. That impugns Moby and his friends.
I think all car drivers and knife owners should hang their head in shame too. It was with a knife he killed three people and a car he maimed others. *sarcasm
He was a killer, who used all tools at his disposal to cause destruction. Nothing more, nothing less and he died like an Eschita.
These spree killers are well known to try and out-do each other for attention. What makes you think they care whether you make fun of them? “We” keep plastering their face all over and giving them a platform for their manifestos they keep showing up with more… but somehow you expect a different result because you call them nasty names?
These people are not looking for your praise. They are looking for infamy.
Nope. When it comes to people like this, I don’t give a damn how they feel. They usually off themselves anyway.
While I ridicule him here, that is not the main point. The point is that we should not hide from it. When the antis come forward, blaming anything BUT the killer, we need to put that focus BACK on the person. Emphasis needs to be placed on him not getting what he wanted.
They are looking to murder people. That’s it.
Hannibal is totally correct, and this article is a feast of dumb.
It’s important to understand the shooter, more than anything else, had a broken mind. He simply could not process the workings of human existence well enough to be part of it. If his issues were not getting a girlfriend, being coddled as a child, hating women, or wanting to be an alpha male, then all the others with his problems would have reacted in a similar way.
“It’s important to understand the
shootermurderer, ….”ftfy
New to the American lexicon:
Guess the ladies will be saying, “I just ‘Rodgered’ that loser…”
The guys? “Don’t be such a ‘Rodger’, ya dickhead!” or “Dood, you just got “Rodgered’!”
Homophone to the British version that means the exact opposite?
I like it.
Do not use his name. Let him die anonymity as “the Santa Barbara murderer”. Experts in this field (Dave Grossman among them) point out that the notoriety is a spur to these losers. Many serial killers get off on hearing their names mentioned or crimes described in the press (Ted Bundy for one).
These kind of losers are in classrooms, so starved for attention that even negative attention from teachers is worth it to them.
Damn right.
I won’t use his name or his likeness.
I refer to him as [Scumbag’s name redacted].
John
He wants the world to know how much pain he was in. Simple as that.
He wasn’t in pain. He was a sociopathic loser wallowing in self-pity for not having all the things he thought the world owed him. He gets no sympathy.
Well, he’s not feeling any pain now.
The main point of distinction is that Rodgers bought his guns with the explicit purpose of and as part of his plan to commit mass murder.
I am not that kind of gun owner.
There was an NCIS plot where the bad guy bragged about how famous he was going to be. At the end you heard a newscaster talk about not releasing the name due to “national security.”
You have to wonder what the potential copycats would Bo if the news just reported “A loser that never scored with a girl killed.”
How about just call him fvxktard
In 1966 Charles Whitman fired from the Texas Tower.
When reading about it in Life magazine at the age of 12, I said to myself “I will always remember the name of evil”.
Not speaking or writing evils name, does not make him disappear.
He will show up at Columbine, V Tech and Newtown no matter what we do.
Let’s just be ready for him.
If we stop him before he gets going, he won’t be famous because the media doesn’t talk about the failures nor those that stop him.
Begging your pardon, but he had committed a crime. Several of them, in fact. And not obscure paper crimes, either, like falling to report quantity x in box y on form z pursuant to the second revised ruling on section ‘s’ paragraph ‘p’. He committed simple battery, early and often. But on various occasions, his victims didn’t report it, or police decided there wasn’t enough evidence for charges, so he never faced consequences. This guy was like the mean little dog whose owners tolerate its growling and nipping, believing it’s incapable of harm.
Without a conviction…. the laws and background checks and such cannot be applied. Legally, he had nothing on his record to prevent his purchase.
There SHOULD have been.. but do we really want to get into lecturing each other about the laws not being enforced while new laws are trying to be shoved through?
Pretty sure that is why the most verbose antis are still pretty quiet on this.
After watching his video the only conclusion is that He was a self centered, narcissistic little pussy. If he had no access to a gun he would have found another weapon, maybe something even more destructive to use. Like a pressure cooker. We should not mention his name.
No matter what we do, we will never be able to stop the media from saying a mass murderer’s name over and over and over again. The main reason being it’s good for business when you’re a 24 hour “news” channel. Just look how the vultures flock to every disaster or mass murder, not to report facts or newsworthy details, but to drive ratings that they so desperately need. Their very jobs depend on a steady stream of sensational stories in order to stay in business. When that story also includes one of their favorite political topics, they can also use it to bludgeon those who’s politics or beliefs the network bosses don’t agree with. It doesn’t matter if a killer is politically and idealistically “one of their own”, they will just omit details and still blame it on their enemies. Most of us catch their lies but millions of LIV’s don’t, and that’s why they keep doing it. As long as the American media keeps making these murderers household names, there will always be another one in waiting that will decide to make a name for themselves on the way out. I wish it weren’t that way, but it is.
If Shannon Watts had a son it would look like Liberal spree killer and closeted-homo Elliot Rodgers, a registered Democrat and Hillary Clinton supporter. Speaking of the Shameless Twat, I saw her on TV last night while switching channels and noticed she’s not only intellectually inferior to our women but has cross-eyed as well, something that could be cured with a simple slap upside that empty head. How’s THAT for a “War on Women”?
Wow. It’s comments like these that make me question my allegiance. You, sir, are THE epitome of the problem with our side.
That’s the biggest problem with freedom – it means that sometimes people do and say things you don’t like. Too many people think freedom means “You’re free to do whatever you want, as long as you only want to do stuff that I approve of.”
It isn’t popular speech that needs to be protected by the 1st Amendment.
Fascinating, Cap’n Obvious.
Sticking to facts and not ad hominem attacks is how we’ll win this thing. Not dragging our knuckles. I never suggested his 1st A rights be limited, but his choice of how to exercise that right harms our message. The left loves s*** like this.
You sir have no guts, the anti-firearm alarmists that appear on Liberal news outlets spreading misinformation and skewed statistics while blatantly lying in order to influence the uninformed in their unending campaign to strip us of our Constitutionally guaranteed Rights ought to have their tongues cut out.
“How’s THAT for a “War on Women”?”
Disgusting, and you should be ashamed of yourself for advocating violence.
I’m not as you say “advocating violence”, the truth is a “slap upside the head” is a mandated form of treatment for cross-eyed people under Obamacare.
We say his name to keep the hope alive in the minds of any potential impersonators that their names can be famous too, if only they commit an act of mass atrocity like he did.
See, that’s how I thought the other day.
But we don’t hide things. We don’t deny them. When these things happen, we respond. But our response needs to be sane. The other side will never stop using these people as martyrs. We need to prove they are not. We need to show the world the real story.
Saying his name doesn’t hurt us. And if we keep the truth flowing, show the potential psychos of the world that it will not turn out how they wish. Show them that they will not be honored or revered in death.
Elliot Rodger is a dead failure at life. He went on a rampage because of his failures in life, and failed at that. While he did kill some, it was nowhere near the bloodbath he imagined. And his videos and manifesto, which he meant to chill people.. is making him a punchline, rather than the hero he wished to be.
This article makes the mistake of thinking that irrational people will think rationally. They will not. Rodger will be emulated by the same sort of nutters that emulated Klebold, Lanza, Holmes, and all the rest of them. They know the world hates and ridicules their heroes. They want to be just like them. I don’t think they want the world to love them. I wonder if perhaps they just want us all to know how much they hate us.
It’s the same with delinquents that vandalize public toilets. They want to leave their mark.
Is that how it reads to you?
I was trying to target more of the rational people who react to these things irrationally.
Flawless B&B reference.
We can give this L-O-S-E-R the attention he deserves. Turn his burial plot into to state’s largest outdoor public toilet. The flowers will certainly grow with all the nitrogen and fertilizer (pee and poo) they will get.
One tiny flaw in your theory…
You can’t shame a psychotic narcissist.
You’re assuming that when you say “he’s not getting the attention he wanted” that he thinks like you and me. I would have shot myself, if I had done that, too. The difference being, I would have done it because I could not have lived with myself. I don’t pretend to know what kind of attention a psychopath wants.
Maybe he just wants to be a household name and be famous. In which case it worked. I say we call this guy what he is. A domestic terrorist. Just because his goal isn’t religiously motivated doesn’t make this psychopathic prick any less of a terrorist. The actions and end results are the same, regardless of the motivations.
Never mention the perps name or display his picture.
If I am considering a rampage through a school, executing six year olds with a guns, a machete, a baseball bat or a large, heavy book on non-violence, it is obvious that I will not be remembered fondly. These rampage killers appear to be satisfied with that. We should not be.
I propose this latest one be called the Alta Vista cretin. This allows us to identify and discuss him, but it leaves him with well deserved anonymity. The six year olds died at the hands of the Sandy Hook cretin.
Right now, Salon.com has article after article on the latest cretin’s misogyny. This provides his life meaning that he simply has not earned. Remember Columbine and all the talk of trench coat mafias, and jocks bullying goths? It turns out that the Columbine cretins were nothing more than a psychopath, and his depressive follower.
In Canada, the misogynist École Polytechnique cretin is being used as a symbol of violence against women, in complete disregard of the fact that most attacks on women are carried out one at a time by significant others. Those significant others deserve to be named and shamed. The École Polytechnique cretin’s name and any
opinions he held about anything, deserve to be forgotten.
The Norwegian cretin has written a political manifesto. How about them Blue Jays?
When these people stick their guns in their mouths, they should understand that they are about to become anonymous cretins. For a lot of them, I suspect that would prevent the shootings.
I’m surprised no one is pointing out the fact that this guy’s “revenge” was such a pathetic colossal failure. His rage was against women. Yet, he only managed to kill just TWO females. And he visited the cruelest death upon his Asian roommates who were nerds and had nothing to do with the suffering he had been ranting about. This guy carried out his “revenge” in such a shabby and totally ridiculous manner. The only reason the media is giving it so much attention is just because his parents were connected to Hollywood.
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