I've been watching the experts commenting on Santa Barbara tragedy. Yes, the killer is sick, obsessed, weird, hates women and men he's own age who engage with them, and so on, and decided to take out his revenge. Who would disagree? The killer made his motives clear in both his video and "manifesto." But an important question that is not addressed, beyond the need for more rational gun regulation, is: How might killers, like Rodgers, be identified BEFORE they act? I've proposed a method to do that. It is not based on what suspects tell investigators because wrong-doers lie -- like Rodgers did to the Santa Barbara police. And with tragic consequences they believed him. A better method is to determine what suspects are DOING before these attacks. What is happening in their lives that can be assessed apart from unreliable self-reported information?
If you are interested, I've suggested a method to do that in Chapter 12 of DEFINING DANGER: AMERICAN ASSASSINS AND THE NEW DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
"To understand violence, it is essential to understand not only the personality of the perpetrator, but also the the context in which the behavior occurs. In the rush to analyze personalities, context is sometimes ignored. By context, I mean the array of cultural, political, economic, and social forces that mold and channel behavior over time, as well as the immediate situational factors that often precipitate the actions in question. Without taking into account the context of behavior, it is virtually impossible to understand the motives behind it. For the same reason, an understanding of context provides the best clues yet known concerning the potential dangerousness of suspects who come to the attention of [authorities]."
If you are interested, I've suggested a method to do that in Chapter 12 of DEFINING DANGER: AMERICAN ASSASSINS AND THE NEW DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
"To understand violence, it is essential to understand not only the personality of the perpetrator, but also the the context in which the behavior occurs. In the rush to analyze personalities, context is sometimes ignored. By context, I mean the array of cultural, political, economic, and social forces that mold and channel behavior over time, as well as the immediate situational factors that often precipitate the actions in question. Without taking into account the context of behavior, it is virtually impossible to understand the motives behind it. For the same reason, an understanding of context provides the best clues yet known concerning the potential dangerousness of suspects who come to the attention of [authorities]."
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