Although it is obviously true that women have advanced politically and in corporate America over time, I don't agree that women have come that far as stated in the OP. Misogyny seems to be more acceptable than it has been in decades and the laws and bills regarding a woman's right to choose pretty much prove that.

I do agree we're killing each other because we're trying to hold on to something. Anything in many cases. The problem with extremists is they actually believe they're fighting on the side of right. But when people end up dead because of religion or race, that's not the side of right.

For some this happens far more than others. Yet somehow we must believe that guns make us safer, as if all we need to protect us from the gun nuts are more gun nuts.

Hinkley shot Saint Ronnie to impress Jodie Foster. Dan White killed Harvey Milk because he ate too many twinkies. Shaakira Dorsey beat a girl to death for making fun of her farting. Marvin Potter killed two people because they unfriended his daughter on Facebook. David Makoeya was beaten and stabbed to death by his own family for changing the channel on the TV. Amy Fisher shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco to win the prized Joey Buttafuoco. David Scott stabbed a guy to death for not sharing Cheetos. On and on it goes.

So it's unbelievable that William Foster killed 3 people over a parking space?

that the writer is talking about re. the killer. His turf. His area of control. Invaded by people he sees as Other.

All those wanton deaths you list --are talking about the immediate trigger to the crime, not the underlying insane motive or pathology.

The writer also links the forces acting on Craig Hicks to the pathologies of our larger society. Predator/prey mentality, us vs them --it's out there...

Some people are just a train wreck waiting to happen. Trying to blame this on the "pathologies of our larger society" by making all sorts of gross assumptions doesn't really seem to help much. All that really seems obvious is he got angry and had access to a gun. It's the same story that repeats itself on a daily basis.

about this and most things we have no direct knowledge of. Truth is elusive. Nothing is black and white in this world, and it often pays to speculate. Intelligent guessing is a part of all critical thinking and evaluation. This is an opinion piece--by definition speculative.

Actually societal influences do help form this kind of individual's warped perspective. Plenty of evidence for that. But it's not really about blaming the crime on society--of course the individual is ultimately responsible or we'd all be doing this. These actions reflect our society, emanate from our shared values in so many ways, starting with easy access to guns. Would this man have shot three people dead who looked like him?

So are you uncomfortable with seeing this crime as part of a bigger context? Do you want to believe that this society is not that bad? Don't you agree that people are being scared and divided for political advantage in this country?

That's my speculation.

...most people are a complex combination of thinking and emotion. Even this shooter is more than just a robotic trigger happy moron. The way pressure builds in such an individual has a lot to do with societal cues, self image, boundaries, the psychology of it all. I guess you just want to label him a random nutjob and suppress the sense of revulsion that is felt about this brutal murder---I take your attitude to mean "there's nothing we can do about these people..."

Others take a bigger picture view.

In order to be uncomfortable about it, I'd have to first put some thought into it. I don't even think he's a nutjob and don't care to label him at all. He just appears to be another person who got angry and had a gun. I'll leave it to others to change the world. Good luck.

The violence will only get worse.

But in the 10-minute news cycle everyone posts their pet theories as soon as they can get them typed.

Everything he says and does is just a means to an end that reinforces his worldview; from his personal beliefs to his parking space. He views himself as better than everyone else and everyone else is less than human in his eyes. A lot is made of his atheism or anti-theism for example, I think even he chose that to soothe what was going on in his mind, he views the masses as being stupid and religious, therefore he had to be better than them.

I go into more detail about his beliefs being a means to an end here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=181320