I'm SO sick of armchair profilers here and elsewhere...

My idol Rachel Maddow is pretty well respected at DU, so let me post a video from her Friday show.

Interview with Dave Cullen

Cullen, a Denver-based reporter, has basically devoted his life to the study of Columbine and other such rampages; his highly-regarded 2009 book, titled simply "Columbine," was written over the course of ten long years of investigation. And in this interview, he basically states what I have long suspected:

Outside of the vague descriptor "mentally disturbed," there is NO consistent profile shared by the perpetrators of these massacres.

Already, I've already seen people here make outrageous statements: The shooter is usually from a middle/upper-class family; the shooter is usually white; the shooter is usually a victim of bullying; the shooters parents are usually gun fanatics; etc. The truth is, not one of these facts are even remotely accurate.

The Virginia Tech Killer and the Red Lake killer were Korean and Native American, respectively, and neither were from wealthy families. The Jonesboro shooters were school bullies. The Columbine boys got their guns and ammo from friends, not their parents. Even their mental states were in no way similar: some had racist or revenge motives, some had been diagnosed schizophrenic or psychotic, and some were flat-out sociopaths who just wanted to kill. Of course, some school shooters didn't even attend the schools they shot up; some weren't even young. And at least one, back in 1979, wasn't even male.

I think we head down a dangerous road when we try to think of all of these individuals as having something in common, so we can lug our own biases and suspicions into the matter. When you come right down to it, the only thing that unites them all are three things: a) a highly irrational, homicidal state of mind, b) the opportunity and means to do the unthinkable, and c) the will to actually to do so.

We have the opportunity to do something about a and b before it's too late, but c? That's something we may never figure out how to detect.