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-- American Psycho: an Analysis by the UK Times

American Psycho: an Analysis by the UK Times

After the dust has settled and you want to read insightful commentary, without any trite sensationalism; or when you want to hear some new thoughts which haven't been repeated over and over a thousand times, where do you go? Certainly not the American media. Oh no - you can forget about all the major US news outlets; instead, let's head straight over the pond and read some European and UK press.

This analysis of the VT shootings is from the UK Times.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne...icle1686784.ece

Don't worry - you won't find the usual European gun-bashing here - there's plenty of other insights about American life which are very interesting and noteworthy, but somehow haven't been brought up by anyone.

For example, I really liked their commentary about American campus life:

quote:

Paglia, who has taught in American universities for 35 years, describes America�s residential campuses as vast �islands of green and slack conformity where a strange benevolent and tyrannical paternalism has taken over. It�s like a resort atmosphere�.

This is something I've always felt to be true, just haven't been able to articulate. The irony here is that, despite their reputation as "diverse" and "liberal" places, US colleges are surprisingly cliquey and homogeneous, which I can attest to first-hand.

Or, another facet of American life: Boys grow up with the cultural impression that girls are relationship-oriented and conservative, but in real life they discover female promiscuity:

quote:

�Young women now seem to want to behave like men and have sex without commitment. The signals they are giving are very confusing, and rage and humiliation build up in boys who are spurned again and again.�

This dichotomy wouldn't be as great if the culture wasn't as Puritan toward girls, for instance. If boys grew up with the (correct) knowledge that both boys and girls are equally sexual and promiscuous, there would be no "shocking discoveries" and a complete re-evaluation of values. When reality collides with culturally taught bullshit, some people have a very hard time accepting it.

In short, enjoy the article.

Yes, that is unusually good for something coming out of the news media.

There's a couple of things I'd like to comment on from the article.

quote:

Then there were the college girls who reported him to the police for stalking and got him carted off to mental hospital after he sent them shy love messages full of yearning.

That's probably the most accurate description I've seen regarding the circumstances of Cho's prior mental health "treatment."

There is no doubt that his mental health was less than ideal, but there should be great doubt that the treatment he recieved was of any benefit. Indeed, it's not unreasonable to suspect that it may have even reinforced his feelings of powerlessness and alienation.

There is a profound self-righteousness within the "mental health" industry, but the unpleasant truth is that we're mainly playing with forces we don't understand adequately and certainly can't control. We ought to seriously consider the possibility than in some cases we may be doing more harm than good.

quote:

Paglia believes the school Cho attended would have been no better equipped to deal with frustrated young males. �There is nothing happening educationally in these boring prisons that are fondly called suburban high schools. They are saturated with a false humanitarianism, which is especially damaging for boys. �Young men have enormous energy. There was a time when they could run away, hop on a freighter, go to a factory and earn money, do something with their hands. Now there is this snobbery of the upper-middle-class professional. Everyone has to be a lawyer or paper pusher.�

This is mostly correct, particularly the comment about "false humanitariansim." The problem here is a compound one. First, there is the false idea that if we make enough rules and policies, we can create a "perfect order" where everyone gets along (or at least presents the appearance of getting along...) and no one behaves violently or does anything deemed unacceptable by the powers that be. Second, many of our cultural notions of what is right or proper are in direct conflict with our biological instincts and urges. And lastly, when someone's conditioning fails, and the conflict between our cultural values and biological reality can't be ignored, we falsely call it a dysfunction of the biology (when it is really a dysfunction of culture).

The interaction of these three errors leads to an insidious trap from which there is very little escape for the individual. Even those who are more easily conditioned, and actually believe all the bullshit that we feed our children, are worse for that transformation and, thereby, victims. Case in point:

quote:

In a twist to the debate on masculinity, some commentators have complained that the terrified Virginia Tech students were no Rambos when it came to defending themselves. John Derbyshire, a right-wing British writer based in America, wondered, �Why didn�t anyone rush the guy? Yes, I know it is easy to say these things, but didn�t the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything?� � a reference to the passengers fighting back in the 9/11 hijacked plane. The columnist Mark Steyn took up the theme with an essay on the �culture of passivity� that is overtaking America. In his view, students are becoming so infantilised that they have lost their capacity to take responsibility.

The gripe that these people have is a legitimate one. Not only that, but in our society it takes a degree of courage for them to even publicly voice that opinion. To criticize the victims of such a "tragedy" (forgive me, but I really abhor how that word has been perverted to basically mean "anything we think is really sad") is very much not politically correct, even though that criticism is extremely valid.

My point is that it is not just the men who fail to be conditioned in our "feminised" society who are harmed, but also those who are successfully conditioned. Students reported hearing gunshots and screams in other rooms. They certainly had an opportunity to make a plan to disarm this guy, or to set a trap or ambush. Our killer here is not a trained professional, it's very doubtful that he'd immediately check his blind spot upon entering a room. It's quite possible that he would even panic if presented with some form of opposition and fail to defend himself as effectively as he could have.

The point is, no one even tried. We read about the "fight or flight" instinct, but all I ever seem to hear about when it comes to situations like this is flight. Where are the people who's instinct is to fight? Do they exist? Because apparently they're extremely rare, and I think that's a symptom of how decadent our society has become. I have to believe that it's a consequence of how our society villifies all forms of violence. We even tell our children not to fight back if they're being bullied, but rather to attempt to run away and get help from some authorities.

I have even heard students being referred to as "courageous" for playing dead. What a joke. Congratulations on saving your own ass, but what about the fact that the guy is now moving on to the next classroom to kill lots more people? I fail to see any courage there at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter Where are the people who's instinct is to fight? Do they exist? Because apparently they're extremely rare, and I think that's a symptom of how decadent our society has become.

there's a big flaw in your argument

"Our" (American) society is a lot quicker to fight, with guns in most homes, than many other societies.

Don't forget also that the most "trigger-happy" hotheads fighting in Iraq are American soldiers, while their British counterparts follow much stricter rules of engagement.

To say that Americans are weak about defense (be it self- or national) is to ignore all the available evidence.

Wouldn't you say that the mentality of "somebody else will protect me, like the government or police" is more indicative of Socialist countries? which is a picture many Americans are trying to paint?!

I've been biting my tongue and really not sure if I should even comment, but wtf:


I had read reports that many victims had willing lined up against the wall and I still can't understand why? WTF is wrong with men this days? Just what did they think was going to happen?

Its got to be generational as everybody at my wifes job -all over 45, most ex mil. and from both sides(right/left) agreed that they acted like cattled... That is the fist time that all of these people have ever agreed on anything, the only thing in common is they're older generation.

So much for land of the brave....

There comes a time when you need to DEFEND YOURSELF/FAMILY and not just act like cattle.


So fire away and yes I have had a gun fired at me before so don't bother making that comment.

quote:

Originally posted by Dale Gribble I've been biting my tongue and really not sure if I should even comment, but wtf: I had read reports that many victims had willing lined up against the wall and I still can't understand why?

Where did you get these reports from? would be curious to see a link

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