A Reasonable Approach For The Next Virgina Tech

Better to concentrate on the victims and heroes

Manifesto of madness
April 19.

I am a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and have been involved in discussions with CBC about what is appropriate to broadcast in the aftermath of a shooting, such as the ones that occurred at Dawson College last year and at Virginia Tech on Monday.

Killers engaged in this kind of crime are arrogant, resentful, obsessive and manipulative. They believe that everyone except them is to blame for their problems, and that other individuals, society and nature itself should pay for that offence.

Their obsessive fantasies centre on revenge and notoriety. This is particularly the case with the latest killer. He knew that his desire for posthumous publicity would be fulfilled if he killed enough innocent people.

Any attention paid to his personal situation, his words, his desires, his problems by the media merely serve to validate the essential logic of his thinking, and to radically increase the probability of the next killing. Thus, the approach taken by the Star is increasing the probability of the next killing.

A curious person might ask how the desire for notoriety after death could motivate a killing. First, it is evident that such motivation was in place because the killer would not otherwise have sent a publicity package. Second, people of all types derive enjoyment and motivation from fantasies of a desired future. Better dead and famous than merely dead.

News media outlets that offer free publicity to such individuals are acting as their tools. In my opinion, the responsibility of news outlets to deliver relevant information does not outweigh the moral obligation of individuals to protect themselves against manipulation by and complicity with those motivated to commit unspeakable atrocities.

Stop publicizing the killers. Treat them as you do public suicides. Concentrate instead on the victims and the heroes.

Jordan B. Peterson, Toronto