Of Misogyny and Mass Murder

hyperskeptic

New member
I know it's not directly related to the theory or practice of ethical non-monogamy, but some of the more informed and thoughtful commentary on the killings in Santa Barbara, the motives of the killer, and the wider culture of misogyny do seem to be germane.

Themes of consent, equality, sex-positivity and cultural norms are all in play.

For whatever it may be worth, here are some commentaries I've found to be especially insightful:

The Daily Beast offers a piece by Arthur Chu dissecting the sense of sexual entitlement that pervades (male) nerd culture: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...y-entitlement-and-nerds.html?source=upworthy1

Bryan Lambert of the non-blog You Are Dumb offers a stinging retort to the idiotic "not all men" hashtag campaign: http://youaredumb.net/node/2446

Ross Douthat, conservative columnist for New York Times, offers a somewhat different perspectives that really is worth some attention. Could advocates of "sex-positivity" be overemphasizing the importance of sex in comparison to other forms of human relationship? http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/opinion/sunday/douthat-prisoners-of-sex.html?hp&rref=opinion

If you come across any other thoughtful responses along these lines, please post them here.
 
Thanks for this.
 
Near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and using Wikipedia for reference:

Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger, age 22, who was missing more than a few marbles, harbored a huge vendetta against women for not offering him their sex and their love. On May 23 (about a month ago) he stabbed three men to death in his apartment. Then he drove to a sorority house and shot four people outside, killing two female students. Then he drove to a nearby delicatessen and shot to death a male student who was inside. Then he sped through Isla Vista, shooting at pedestrians and wounding several of them, and striking four others with his car. Then he shot himself in the head and died.

And that's the news you missed out on.

In other recent news, John David LaDue, age 17 (of Waseca, Minnesota) planned to kill his family, set a fire, then bomb the local junior/senior high school and shoot students there. He got caught shortly before carrying out his plan.

"I think I'm really mentally ill," he told police. "And no one has noticed. I've been trying to hide it."

Of his family he said, "They did nothing wrong; I just wanted as many victims as possible." He readily admits he came from a good home and says he was never bullied.

I guess the moral (for me) is that you can't expect a mass murderer's actions to make sense.
 
Near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and using Wikipedia for reference:

Elliot Oliver Robertson Rodger, age 22, who was missing more than a few marbles, harbored a huge vendetta against women for not offering him their sex and their love. On May 23 (about a month ago) he stabbed three men to death in his apartment. Then he drove to a sorority house and shot four people outside, killing two female students. Then he drove to a nearby delicatessen and shot to death a male student who was inside. Then he sped through Isla Vista, shooting at pedestrians and wounding several of them, and striking four others with his car. Then he shot himself in the head and died.

And that's the news you missed out on.

The connection with misogyny is the video he left in which he cast his rampage as revenge against the women - that is, all women - who denied him the sex to which he felt entitled.

He may have been mentally ill, but he was not mentally ill in a vacuum: he picked up on and magnified a sense of entitlement that is at the root of "rape culture," double standards and other excrescences of patriarchy.

Combined with other things going on in our culture - emerging accounts of sexual misconduct on college campuses, and the mishandling of such cases by campus administrators, the extreme misogyny of online/gamer culture, and so on - this incident has spurred quite a lot of interesting and potentially promising discussion.
 
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If it leads to women in general being treated better, then something good will have come out of Rodger's rampage.
 
I hope this links works as I'm doing this in my phone.

It's an article by a young man who lost his wife to a violent murderous rapist. He argues they are the monster myth. The totally unlikely chance you may lose someone this way, he asks that the loss of his wife not turn to discussions of monster myths but stay on track as to what is a much more real threat.

Please read it in recognition of him, and Jill

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-18/meagher-the-danger-of-the-monster-myth/5399108
 
I hope this links works as I'm doing this in my phone.

It's an article by a young man who lost his wife to a violent murderous rapist. He argues they are the monster myth. The totally unlikely chance you may lose someone this way, he asks that the loss of his wife not turn to discussions of monster myths but stay on track as to what is a much more real threat.

Please read it in recognition of him, and Jill

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-18/meagher-the-danger-of-the-monster-myth/5399108

That's an amazing article. Thanks for posting it!

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P.S. to our most esteemed moderators: I'm starting to wonder if I should have started this thread on the Fireplace forum, instead. It seems less relevant to media coverage of polyamory and related issues all the time.
 
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