California rampage hits nerve, sparks reflection
The troubled man who killed six people and then himself in a rampage near a California university last week has sparked a flurry of online discussion on a wide array of topics: violence against women, gun control, mental health, even news coverage itself.
Some are typical of the reaction seen after previous mass shootings. But Elliot Rodger’s views expressed online in several ways — including a self-made “retribution” video for all to see — have struck a new nerve, different than some previous manifestos from notorious killers. The volume of material is sparking new reflections and adding a new complexity to pondering difficult questions raised after every mass killing: Why did this happen and how can we keep it from happening again?
“His actions have fostered a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that we are seeing played out on social networks,” said Dr. Ramani Durvasula, a psychology professor at California State University, Los Angeles who discussed the killings for an hour with college seniors in an abnormal psychology class on Tuesday. “So people are trying to understand it any way they can — and this time have more data that they can post and comment about.”
Rodger, 22, injured 13 others in the shooting and stabbing attacks Friday night in the small community of Isla Vista, adjacent to campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. As news of the killings trickled out, discussion exploded online once people learned Rodger was suspected. People started sharing his video blogs and other posts.
One hashtag focusing on misogyny generated 1.6 million tweets in less than four days, with about 10 percent of the tweets directly naming Rodger, according to social media analytics website Topsy. Many of the tweets focused on the idea that Rodger’s hostility toward women is something many women experience in varied ways from men, even if those men don’t kill people.
California state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, said on the Senate floor Tuesday that lawmakers should stop glorifying violence, address gun access and teach young people more about compassion and empathy.
