> And of course, we had the Newtown shooter who didn't leave behind any notes, manifestos, or in fact any evidence that he wanted to be infamous (even if posthumously).
He left plenty of evidence that pretty much guaranteed he'd be infamous. Nothing will do that like several dozen dead bodies. Notes and manifestos are optional.
These assholes may have many different drives but the one thing they seem to have in common is that they pick their targets to guarantee that they will become notorious. Stomping on an ant hill will kill many more but won't put you on CNN.
Apropos CNN, the one thing the media could do with cases like these is to restrain themselves in the way they cover these incidents. I'm pretty sure there is a large element of copy-cat behaviour in here that could potentially be reduced by the amount of media coverage given.
Let me try again: if he had stomped on an anthill to vent his anger you wouldn't have heard about it.
The media decide who gets to be (in)famous and by behaving in a certain way you can get your 15 minutes. Behaving in this particular way pretty much guarantees that. The link between gore and media coverage is firmly established by now so even if in the first few cases you could have said 'that's circular reasoning' after several such cycles you can no longer tell cause from effect.
Hence copycat crimes and other stupidities.
All it took for dumb, angry children to be set on this path was the attention given to the Columbine shooters. Quite a few of these idiots - if not all of them - think those guys were heroes and perceive the media attention given to them (movies, incessant press coverage) as positive.
They want that for themselves to compensate for some perceived inferiority or other shortcoming and so they go the same route.
I think today it is safe to assume that a hunger for fame is at least a component in these shootings.
I can easily imagine that "hunger for fame" is a component in these shootings, but that's not the same thing as "I have evidence to support" or even "is likely."
> He left plenty of evidence that pretty much guaranteed he'd be infamous.
You seem to be confusing cause and effect.
He more likely chose his target because his mother worked there. Even if every shooter is choosing randomly we will only talk about the "media seeking" ones the news covers.
He shot a few more people than just his mother. He could have done that at home. All of these shooters have chosen a target they had some relation to, either they went to the school or they had some other prior history with it.
Still, the decision to attack the school, it's students and not simply one individual is why we are hearing about these.
He left plenty of evidence that pretty much guaranteed he'd be infamous. Nothing will do that like several dozen dead bodies. Notes and manifestos are optional.
These assholes may have many different drives but the one thing they seem to have in common is that they pick their targets to guarantee that they will become notorious. Stomping on an ant hill will kill many more but won't put you on CNN.
Apropos CNN, the one thing the media could do with cases like these is to restrain themselves in the way they cover these incidents. I'm pretty sure there is a large element of copy-cat behaviour in here that could potentially be reduced by the amount of media coverage given.