Elliot Rodger Manifesto Gives Warning Signs For The Future

Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old gunman who went on a killing spree that took seven lives and impacted many others, left behind a manifesto that provides a series of warning signs for the future.

He also made a video that was just plain stupid. It shows a guy who was upset over not being able to get any, and my point in the video-blog is that he needed help:

Obviously…

The basic problem is that we have too many young, white men in their 20s who are loners and feel that society, in some way, is not for them. Elliot Rodger is the latest in what’s becoming a long list of people who fit this type. We have to accept that we’re doing something wrong – not just folks like him.

I think what that something is, first, is that we don’t have sufficient social programs for teenagers to overcome the isolation that this new media society provides. We’re constantly sent messages that someone else has a better life, and its far too easy for anyone to escape to games and other forms of entertainment that are solitary.

And, second, what’s worse, parents are leaving their kids to be raised by this system. Elliot Rodger said that his father was away from him most of the time – and during the years when a dad regularly talks to his son about the bird and the bees. There’s no evidence of father and son ever having that talk in Elliot Rodger’s 141-page document.

If you think about it, common forms of group entertainment, from bowling alleys to movie theaters, are closing because of this individualized form of media – and that, combined with over-worked parents who don’t have time for their kids, is ripping us apart in the way of producing young men like Elliot Rodger.

We have to have a national, school and college-based series of programs that promote group entertainment. They must be so powerful as to replace the desire to be alone.

Finally, we have to make it harder to get guns. Our society is turning the wrong way with efforts to make guns easier to get, not harder. This madness is just going to produce more problems like the one I’m blogging about.

Elliot Rodger Was Sick, But Largely Ignored As A Threat

Elliot Rodger had people around him who knew he was sick, but only some friends did try to do something about it – but then only to a certain extent. Others just laughed at him. The bottom line is no one bothered to make sure Elliot Rodger didn’t have the means to carry out the ideas he expressed. If someone bothered to check, he would have been stopped.

We can’t fear to get nosy.

Here’s his manifesto:

Manifesto of Elliot Rodger

Stay tuned.