Killing: The Role Of Mass Killing In The Modern World

A mass killing, unlike a serial killing, is the act of murdering four or more people in a relatively short amount of time, usually by a single perpetrator, although sometimes more. Mass killings seem to be an exponentially growing trend in the modern world, for instance, of the thirty deadliest mass killings in the history of the United States, twenty have been executed in the last two decades [Deadliest mass shootings]. Furthermore, the killers have been almost exclusively male, most are relatively young, and experienced unusual lives. So henceforth, the question arises as to why there is such a sudden increase in young men carrying out these massacres. "The mind is actually tricked into believing an action precedes the event that caused

“Fact: People are so unaware… well, Ignorance is bliss I guess…that would explain my depression.”, “A dark time, infinite sadness, I want to find love”, “society is tightening its grip on me, & soon I & [edited] will snap.”. Abuse and rejection, quite common experiences among mass killers, whether it was committed by family, peers, or love interests. With the creation and wide use of the internet and social media, bullying has transformed, peer abuse has gone from mostly physical to largely being mental. This new dominant norm of bullying has become more difficult to notice yet strikes much deeper from the surface than its physical predecessor. No longer does the pain fade when the school bells ring, instead this pain powerfully follows the victims home, the killers experiencing this are known as “traumatized killers” [Langman]. They are known to be social outcasts, and the more they are rejected by girls or abused by both family and peers, the more their hatred for society is increased, until they eventually lash out. According to Doctor Peter Langman’s studies, approximately 40 percent of school shooters experience some type of bullying[Langman]. But, approximately 54 percent of perpetrators have bullied others. It seems that not all killers are the same, some were more molded by pain afflicted by society, while

For instance, of all the mass killers in the United States between 1900 and 2017, at least 59 percent have had been diagnosed with a mental disorder or displayed serious signs of mental illness[Duwe]. This may relate with the fact that the United States is among the lowest in mental health treatment in the first world, in addition to these findings, mass murderers are 20 times more likely to have a serious mental illness than the general population. one of the more common disorders that is shared among mass killers is known as “paranoid schizophrenia”, this mental illness gives the sufferer a feeling that large groups are out to get them, and are responsible for all of the misery in their life, they tend to be loners that do not trust easy, this leads to a extreme lack of a social life, which can create a dark hatred towards society as a whole. When a relationship between mental illness and mass killers are connected, an opposition voices that this could lead to a vast stigmatizing of all mentally ill people. This may very well be true, but society cannot ignore the connection, and should in fact put a positive spotlight to properly treat and contain these sadly ill