The Mind of A Killer: Elliot Rodger

[TheLolGuy]

Anyone who has a curiosity for psychology, I'm sure you'll find this interesting- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2638049/7-dead-drive-shooting-near-UC-Santa-Barbara.html (Let me know if the link works for you, sometimes links don't work when I post on my iPad)

 

 

It links to a Daily Mail article which contains a video made by a serial killer only a few hours before he embarks on an homicidal and suicidal spree. His rationalisations for his plan, aside from being extremely disturbing, I think can supply us some insight into the nature and origins of murderous rage.

 

Particularly disturbing is that strangely forced laugh, which sounds like an imitation of a stereotypical villain. He complains in his video that he was rejected by girls, condemned to isolation, but wants to show by using violence that he is the "alpha male". When he talks about his rejection, I noticed in his body language that he was slightly uncomfortable and restless. Perhaps that intermittent laugh is an attempt to cover up his vulnerability, as if to say, 'but I don't really care because I'm laughing about it'? That would be the typically "alpha male" thing to do.

 

From my amateur knowledge and in my experience watching the video, I received a very strong sense of his narcissism, especially when he claims what an superior and perfect gentleman he is, when he is condemning girls for not having sex with him, and that it should be a crime to reject him, punishable by death. I have seen in many cases narcissism used as a defence mechanism for the isolated. This must be another example of it.

 

Those were some of my thoughts but I'm sure there is more to be gleaned from the video. Don't know much about the boys history other than what he relates and bits from the article. Son of a successful TV producer, very financially wealthy.

 

What was your experience watching the video?

 

Here's an article just published with more detail on the killer's history - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2638427/He-disturbed-boy-British-grandmother-Santa-Barbara-mass-killer-boy-grew-Hollywood-royalty-posted-chilling-blogs-vowing-revenge-against-women-rejected-him.html

 

Unsurprisingly the killer had been expressing disturbing thoughts for some time. Parents divorced and both of them are successful on the Hollywood scene; and to be successful in Hollywood I would imagine requires a great deal of time and effort, which means less time spent with their child. Neglect was an ingredient in the making of this killer.

 

Quote from the killer's father: "I put my family through a lot of difficulties making this film because I was away a long time."

[Lians]

I only watched the video and his manner of speaking, choice of words and facial expressions seem rather feminine to me. Did he record it while being in a maternal alter ego state? He talks about getting hurt by women all his life and projects that experience on the entire species--a normalization, no doubt. I wonder what his relationship with his mum was like...

Elliot Rodger - Balcony Vlog, reminiscing about childhood:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=df4_1400928983

Elliot Rodger - Why do girls hate me so much?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dae_1400928489

 

I want to take a girl out on a date and prove to her that I'm worthy. I want to feel that sense of being worthy of a girl's love and affection.

 

All right, I had a closer look at the articles and other videos this psycho posted online. It seems he followed in the footsteps of his father and turned his life into a film in which he's the scriptwriter, actor and director--none of these roles having anything to do with reality. Now his parents and extended family are washing their hands of him, and the media is having a field day trying to pin the responsibility on groups of people they don't like. Opportunity for this deranged society to wake up--missed, yet again.

[Lians]

The Guardian leapt at this opportunity to peddle its vagenda: Elliot Rodger's California shooting spree: further proof that misogyny kills

 

Adding to the typical feminist nonsense, Ms Valenti conveniently quoted Elliot out of context (he also hated men) and lied about his connection to the MRM (PUAHate isn't an MRM site).

[TheLolGuy]

Thanks Lians. I also felt in his videos that it was some kind of act and not a very convincing one either. But that might be all that a narcissist has left for a personality. I'm sure Sam Vaknin has spoken about this too - https://m.youtube.com/user/samvaknin Vaknin is a diagnosed narcissist with strong psychopathic traits and uses his youtube channel to explain what his experience of it is. Everything a narcissist does is designed to attract attention, attention is the indispensable resource a narcissist must acquire to survive. In one video he describes that without attention he can have devastating panic attacks which can lead to suicidal thoughts.

 

It is typical of the media and society in general to politicise these tragedies - 'Its the men!' 'Its the guns!' 'Its the video games!' Anything except the parents. I'm sure in Stef's video on this he will correctly assign the moral responsibilities both to the killer himself and to the people who created that killer. That is the most important message we have to get out there.

[Quadrewple]

From my amateur knowledge and in my experience watching the video, I received a very strong sense of his narcissism, especially when he claims what an superior and perfect gentleman he is, when he is condemning girls for not having sex with him, and that it should be a crime to reject him, punishable by death. I have seen in many cases narcissism used as a defence mechanism for the isolated. This must be another example of it.Those were some of my thoughts but I'm sure there is more to be gleaned from the video. Don't know much about the boys history other than what he relates and bits from the article. Son of a successful TV producer, very financially wealthy.What was your experience watching the video?

 

The video quite disturbed me, partially because I could sympathize with his rage and isolation from everyone else, and also because my childhood experiences of severe neglect combined with abuse were very similar to his in severity.  It brings thoughts that I am very lucky to not have ended up like him and that there were most likely certain positive experiences, however short-lived which enabled me to not turn out a sociopath or clinical narcissist.  I too carried hateful thoughts and murderous thoughts towards both parents, especially towards my father, who was more neglectful, and which I only recently told my therapist about.

 

I think the video provides a great example of how an alienated child who experiences no validation or curiousity about their inner lives will continue to build up a secret life of rage which can only contain itself for so long without exploding onto innocent people.  It's truly sad that the people who deserve to bear the brunt of the explosive anger rarely do, and even if they do, it would end up in the destruction of the rageful child (imprisonment and/or permanent guilty conscience).  The child has so much pain that they normalize their parents' cruelty by projecting their parents' qualities onto the world, and so they usually end up killing or otherwise harming innocent people.