Why don’t people ever sympathize with mass murders and school shooters?

[Jack9949]

They lost sympathy for society because nobody ever showed it to them.

A lot of the school shooters see it as enacting revenge on a society that treated them unjustly. They were often bullied, harassed and ridiculed throughout their lives. I feel truly sorry for these people.

Updates

+1 y

Their actions don’t change their situation tho. You should still sympathize with the individual. Even if you disagree with the choices they made.

[WhiteSteve]

I mean, you could say the same about people in gangs and whatnot. A lot of those kids get swept up in that life before they hit the age of reason, and they live in impoverished areas and there’s just an understanding that there’s no better option to get by than slinging drugs. Like Biggie Smalls said back in the day “Cuz the streets is a short stop/Either you’re slinging crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot.”, basically like “unless you’re a world class athlete capable of playing professionally, or at least collegiately, there’s no way out.” I’m just saying that if we start sympathizing with mass shooters —which I could make an argument for— we should make sure we keep that same energy for all similar situations of humans just finding themselves in some kind of desperate scenario, because they aren’t just opting for these things over arguably more noble choices, necessarily, or at least you need to strongly consider the environment they’re coming from that would lead them to that.

So yeah, man, I see mass shooters as ultimately sad. You’re coming from probably terrible circumstances to end up in that situation, at very least on an emotional level. I think people, and particularly Americans, have way too much of a schadenfreude complex. “Schadenfreude”, if you’re unfamiliar, is just a German word describing someone taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. I think we get way too happy over that shit, it’s over-enthusiasm for justice. Even on smaller shit, I’m a Patriots fan, obviously they’ve been dominating the NFL longer than you’ve been alive. We’ve won six Super Bowls here... but we managed to lose three. I can just tip my cap to better performances by our opponents, but there seemed to be so many people who were more excited that the Patriots lost and our fan base would be disappointed than they seemed to be that their own team won. Like that’s CRAZY, bro. Or these people who say “have fun rotting in jail, asshole!” when some criminal gets sentenced to prison... that’s nothing to celebrate, you should be sad for this person, look where their life went. I remember how mad people were over the OJ Simpson trial... look, I’m pretty sure they did let a murderer walk, but that’s for the Brown and Goldman families to be mad about. Everyone else, shut the fuck up, I’ll bet my balls OJ never kills anyone again and certainly not you or anyone you care about, so just move on with your life and don’t associate with OJ in the rare case that you should cross paths. It is what it is. Humans have this weird sense of entitlement where we expect to be in complete control of all of the circumstances and outcomes in our lives, and that’s just simply not how it works, so we should recalibrate our expectations. Anyway, point is, as it relates to your question, I think if you’re out shooting up innocent people, there’s more to the story than “that’s just some crazy guy.” There’s definitely a path to that outcome, and it’s filled with pain. Humans are walking around posturing for each other and ourselves all day, everyday. Everyone is damaged, everyone has insecurities and resulting overcompensations. Everybody has a true identity, and the identity they want people to see in them. Show me a guy with a jacked up pickup truck with all kinds of guns and pro-USA bumper stickers and a big, tough dog... I see a guy who’s scared as shit, deep down, somewhere. Humans seem to be very fearful, and very averse to emotional or physical pain. That’s literally all everything comes down to. Then it’s just a matter of how you handle it. Some people embrace living in fear and pain, and we call them soft. Some people put on a tough and aggressive facade to display that they aren’t scared, that they aren’t sad, but deep down, they are. Some...

[WhiteSteve]

... people want to hide from it, some people want to fight against it, but that’s what I see at the core of most people. If you love America, you’re scared of living in “not America”, more than anything. If you have animosity towards a particular demographic, you’re on some level scared of them. But it’s “soft” to be scared, so many wrongly spin it into offensive aggression. How about a guy like Elliot Rodger? He was scared and sad about rejection, and being alone, likely. He was clearly very tweaked, it’s not normal to say “if I can’t have these blonde California sorority chicks who are out of my league, no one can have them!” I’m not sure what goes wrong in their wiring to lash out in that kind of monstrous way, but how they arrived at this point of unfathomable desperation, I can find sympathy in that. It in no way justifies the resulting actions, but I think people are very lazy thinkers. “If you voted for Trump you’re a racist”, “If you support BLM you’re a communist”... nobody wants to look at people on a case by case basis, that takes too much time, lmao. So the canned, lazy response to a mass shooter is “that guy was sick in the head, fuck him.” It may be true, but it’s good to always pause and remember everyone has a personal story, everybody walked their own unique path the become the person they are, for better or worse. That’s not to say no one is culpable for their resulting actions, but I’d definitely agree that people just close the book on these people with little to no critical thought.

[Jack9949]

Exactly. People need to understand what led to the killings.

[Jack9949]

Its not like people just shrug their shoulders and start shooting.

[Jack9949]

But seriously. I really appreciate your take on this. I think its important that society understand what leads to these situations. Prevention is key.

[WhiteSteve]

Thanks man👊😎

[Not_Average]

Yeah, life is hard. Tough shit. Most don't kill innocent people as a result of life being hard. I possess zero empathy for anyone who points a gun at someone and ends a life for no other reason than their inability to handle their own life. These people are evil. The world is a better place without them. They don't deserve empathy. They deserve to be in the ground 6 ft deep if they commit such heinous acts towards humanity.

[Jack9949]

You don’t possess empathy for those that lived lives of struggle?

[Jack9949]

We expect people to just “behave” in society when in fact they might’ve been positioned worse than our own selves. Easy for you to say “it’s easy to not murder people”

[Not_Average]

I do posses empathy for those who struggle, but I don't find them worthy of anything if they mindlessly kill a multitude of innocent young people. It is easy not to murder people. You'd have to be highly irrational and experiencing psychosis to have to actively restrain yourself from mass murder.

[Cherokeehp]

Because they killed lots of people. This isn’t really a difficult concept to comprehend. Just because some individuals treat a person badly, that does not give them the right to go out and murder a bunch of people who probably have never even interacted with them. Do you have any brain cells at all?

[Jack9949]

Your not understanding the motives that led to the killing.

[Jack9949]

We expect people in society to just “behave” when in fact they might’ve been positioned worse than our own selves. If you were in their situation, you probably would’ve shot people up yourself

[Cherokeehp]

Apparently I’m just not that sympathetic.

[Jack9949]

Their actions don’t change their situation tho. You should still sympathize with the individual. Even if you disagree with the choices they made.

[Cherokeehp]

But I don’t have to. And I don’t want to.

[Jack9949]

Well by your logic why should I care when an unarmed black man gets murdered by police?

[Cherokeehp]

Because they were unarmed and didn’t murder mass amounts of people. Were you in the special ed classes growing up?

[Jack9949]

My point is everybody deserves sympathy. Humans don’t always make the right choices when forced into tough situations. Even though most unarmed black people resisted arrest and gave the cop reasonable suspicion to shoot them, that doesn’t mean they deserved to die in that moment.

[Cherokeehp]

Resisting arrest is in no way comparable to mass murder.

[Jack9949]

@Cherokeehp But in some cases the Cop had reasonable suspicion to fear for their life. Such as instances where guys on drugs point nerf guns at them. That doesn’t mean the guy “deserved to die” because he fooled a cop. We should still sympathize even though the guy acted unwisely and made an obvious mistake.

[G3tAClue]

Even though I wish I could agree with you, I also think in most cases there is the issue of mental disorders involved in these situations. Most rational people would not choose to murder people even if life wasn’t going very well for them.

[Jack9949]

People are born with mental disorders. Often unknowingly. You can't find fault in these people.

[Dchrls78104]

In the Bible, Jesus Christ sympathised with the adulterous woman who was about to be stoned to death by the Jewish leaders. At the same time, he did not approve of her lifestyle.
JESUS: Has no one condemned you?
ADULTEROUS WOMAN: No, sir.
JESUS: I don't condemn you either. Go now, and leave your life of sin.
So while he did not bully or seek to humiliate her for her life choices, he did not say, or make it seem, that they were good ones.
Interestingly, many of the shooters you speak of, you could not approach or reason with them. They would deny that they needed or wanted your sympathy, but instead might shoot you, too, on sight. While one can empathise with someone who commits murders through bad circumstances, one must be careful not to seem to legitimise their crimes (it would be foolish to do so anyway, if you or your family or friends were among their victims!).

[sszatkow]

As someone who was bullied, I sympathize with them. Schools don’t deal harshly enough with that. Bullying is a cancer. One mean kid will change the ideas of what it means to be cool for the others. Their behavior spreads. Schools give too many passes. they should expel cruel children, even at an early age. Send them somewhere for rotten kids. Their qualities are shameful. They should feel ashamed. Smart kids, short kids, they shouldn’t feel ashamed.

For someone to draw a gun, though, they also have to lose empathy. That takes something extra. I don’t understand that.

[BlckGrl]

I dont like you however I see where you ate coming from. What nikolas Cruz did was horrible however multiple kids admitted there bullied him. School shooters tend to be outcast and feel resentment for their peers

[Jack9949]

Exactly. If Nikolas Cruz was never bullied he would’ve never shot people up

[BlckGrl]

I agree maybe therapy may have helped as well

[Jack9949]

He was on years of therapy. Therapy is just like a temporary bandaid.

[Massageman]

It's a bummer that that they weren't treated well.
But there were steps they could have taken to get help, and many more avenues OF that help then when I was growing up.
That said, while I might have sympathy for the individual, I will never have sympathy for their actions.

[Jack9949]

Exactly. There needs to be more resources and support for these people.

[007kingifrit]

i have a master's in counter terrorism and study school shooters pretty extensively. Their motivation actually stems from what we call "the media contagion effect" their desire is to be heard and get attention and they do this by using the media reports from the shooting. its not about revenge, its about attention.

[Jack9949]

And they want that attention because they’ve been ignored their entire lives.

[007kingifrit]

no they very frequently are not ignored, they often (almost always) come from single mother homes where their mothers gave them way too much attention

[Hawner]

We all can agree that whatever he'll they went through is bad. That is however not an excuse to lash at others by taking the lives of innocent and guilty alike. The moment they do, they deserve no compassion anymore.

[Jack9949]

They still deserve compassion because they didn’t know any better

[Hawner]

Psychopaths don't know better, they don't understand the difference between right and wrong nor can empathize with the suffering of others. This mass shooters are NOT psychopaths, so they do know the difference and still choose to do evil. They do NOT deserve any compassion.

[Jack9949]

What makes you think mass shooters aren’t phsychopaths?

[Hawner]

"A lot of the school shooters see it as enacting revenge on a society that treated them unjustly. They were often bullied, harassed and ridiculed throughout their lives."

Those are your words. As I said, psychopaths can't empathize, which is caused by not having emotions themselves. They mimic them, know what they should be feeling at certain moments, but don't feel them themselves.
If they are taking revenge because they were bullied, they feel rage, frustration, sadness... Which a psychopath wouldn't.

[SuccessfulHornDog]

Maybe some people do sympathize with how these guys were treated but who in their right mind is going to speak up in their defense? I am not aware of any mass shooter who was a victim that only attacked those who tortured them. They shot many innocent people who did nothing.

[RemoErdosain]

Like that other user who always posts two quotes here says: "Simple"

[Jack9949]

Understanding their situation is key to preventing it in the future

[RemoErdosain]

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[1truekhaleesi]

I was also treated unjustly. I considered suicide at 13 because of it. I never projected my pain onto others.

[Jack9949]

But you surely understand where they are coming from?

[1truekhaleesi]

No. Absolutely not. It must be your own decision to stop the cycle of abuse.

[Jack9949]

You don’t control other people. But you can learn to choose who to believe

[1truekhaleesi]

Who to believe? What does that have to do with anything?

[Jack9949]

I used to believe what bullies said. But then I realized they were full of shit

[1truekhaleesi]

Then why do you want people to sympathetize with mass murderers? You're not getting any sympathy from me.

[Jack9949]

Because nobody ever offered them any help

[Jack9949]

We expect people to just “behave” in society when in fact they might’ve been positioned worse than our own selves

[1truekhaleesi]

I'm done talking to you. You have several screws loose if you think murderers deserve sympathy. What the fuck

[honeybunSs]

I understand what your saying but they could've done something more humane like get therapy. Instead, they killed a bunch of people who were most likely innocent.

[Jack9949]

A lot of them do get therapy

[honeybunSs]

Then he should've did boxing or something.

[Agape93]

They lose the right to sympathy when they murder several people.

[Jack9949]

But your not understanding of the motives that led to their situation

[Agape93]

1. I don’t care. Nothing gives them the right to massacre people.
2. I understand what it’s like to be bullied, harassed, sexually assaulted etc. It is NOT and excuse to hurt other people that have done zip to you.

[Jack9949]

But in their minds all of society is against them. Because nobody was ever with them.

[Agape93]

So what? That doesn’t give them the right to do shit to other people.
Sympathy is for when they’re still sane and law abiding. Second they start raping or killing, they lost the right to sympathy.

[Agape93]

Legit to me, your argument sounds a lot like
“Well yeah he raped people, but think of how lonely he was!”

[Jack9949]

Their actions don’t change their situation tho. You should still sympathize with the individual. Even if you disagree with the choices they made.

[Jack9949]

It was wrong I do not condone it, but I understand their situation. And that’s key to prevention in the future

[Agape93]

The key to preventing a massacre, is to not show sympathy and pity to the one who did it. That will show others in that same situation “hey if I do this, others will finally pay attention to me”.

Save your sympathy to those who deserve it. Showing it to killers is a massive slap in the face to the survivors and the loved ones of those they killed.

[Jack9949]

The key to preventing a massacre is knowing what type of situations can cause it. So you can prevent it

[Agape93]

Knowing the situations is one thing. It’s another to disrespect survivors and the loved ones of the dead, by showing your sympathy to a mass murderer.

[Akachan]

Being bullied is a bitch and god do i know that but if you kill a buch of kids because "they were being mean to you" you don't get sympathy

[Posterboy56]

Uh... because they don't deserve it. Do you sympathize with Osama bin Laden or Hitler or Timothy McVeigh too, or something?

"A lot... see it" ... right. They're wrong. They're insane. Is this a joke?

[joeldalton]

I don’t sympathize with them at all. I don’t give a fuck how they think they have been treated, you shoot and kill innocent people, you’re a fucking asshole who should rot in Hell.

[Jack9949]

What if they weren’t completely innocent in the sense that they were a perceived oppressor?

[joeldalton]

They aren’t oppressors. Period.

[Jack9949]

But that’s what people think in their heads. Because nobody ever gave them any reason to think otherwise.

[Jack9949]

If you were in their situation you likely would’ve responded in the same way.

[joeldalton]

There's millions of people who are trod upon in this life who don't see the solution as shooting innocent classmates and teachers. And fuck you if this is something you think is rational.

[Jack9949]

I don’t think its rational but I sympathize with the pain they are experiencing, because I’ve felt it myself. The only difference between me and them is how we responded to our situations.

[memer2020]

ehh i'm a sadist so i don't sympathize with the exception of sexual assault victims

but seriously some mass shooters go ballistic just for not getting laid

[IlluminatiExposed]

When you committed murder you lost the sympathy vote.

[GreenGold1992]

seriously? you must be as whacked as they are

[Gripper1970]

Because the have no regards for human life.