I am heartbroken over what happened on Friday! I work in an elementary school. I will to work tomorrow forever changed. It just always seemed as if no one would be evil enough to hurt children that young! AND I really hope that autism doesn't get a bad rap after this. Most autistic people/ children are very gentle souls. I know this, because I have had the pleasure to raise one and work with several over the years.

I was an education major and a psychology minor, which means I am no more qualified than anyone else to make a diagnosis of the young man who killed these children. I am however, interested in the case and willing to speculate, so take it for what it's worth. It is my opinion and observation that most of these mass murderers are people who have few friends and live primarily within themselves and their fantasies. I think they have little interaction with other people, thus the familiar "he kept to himself and was really quiet" response by those with whom they into contact, in so many of these cases. By living within their own world and their own fantasies, and perhaps within fantasy worlds provided by diversions such as movies or video games, they don't really understand typical human emotions and interaction. Right, wrong, love, hate, empathy - all things we learn from parents, teachers, religious leaders, peers, through socialization, they miss out on. If their minds are obsessed with dark and deadly fantasies, there seems to be no social check on that through the process we might describe as conscience. It seems that they can rationalize what they do because they have no ability to feel empathy for other people and no moral compass. How do we tell who the next killer may be? I don't think there is any way to tell, because we can't break into that dark place in their brain where these fantasies materialize. Most of us can't understand these things quite simply because we have no frame of reference to understand them - the dark recesses of their minds are impenetrable.

To speculate further, we can't possibly know what is going on in another person mind especially if they are withdrawn and not able to communicate. Possibly, the only good that can come from this tradgedy in that respect if someone feels or think someone is on the brink of violence and has access to a mass destructive arnsenal. They can be reported to the police and so that person will get hospitalized and helped. Help can only be obtained with the patients willingness to explore these dark corners of their mind while being in a safe place. A safe place for themselves and the general public.

In a perfect world, this might happen before a tradgedy strikes preventing undue loss of lives.

To an illogical mind, illogical thoughts, seem logical.

We are on a slippery slope in regard to a person rights as oppossed to the good of the general public. Who's to say?

We should not stigmatize the mentally ill, nor should we criminalize them. We need easy access to professional help for families that are facing these very difficult issues. This cannot happen in a climate where states are cutting funding for mental health services.

:agree:

We have individuals that come to greatness from the best of environments and also from the worst. We have criminals that come from the best situations we have to offer. It is not a question of Evil or Mentally ill. It is how the brain develops within the parameters of what is considered normal behavior. The habitual criminal starts at an early age and develops into a professional criminal. The criminal activity is that persons outlet. The person that commits mass murder keeps it bottled up until the explosion. Yes, it is more complicated than that, but with more education and research into the human mind so many of these events could be stopped.
We can operate on every organ in the body, but are still light years away from curing simple malfunctions of the brain.

Well said. Our brain is ....well, US.