sad, but not senseless
It's strange how I've never been to DeKalb, but NIU's presence as a MAC school and active forensics community member makes Thursday's shooting particularly meaningful. If it had been at, say, Eastern or Western Illinois, I'd be less affected. (If it had been at SIU, perhaps moreso, given the number of friends I have there.)
Yet unlike the Virginia Tech shooting, this one, to me, seems less "senseless," insofar as responding to "how will we ever know what leads a person to do this" goes. Yes, it appears he planned it far ahead of time. That doesn't compute. He shot up a geology class -- despite his having been a sociology major. That doesn't make much sense either.
He was a smart kid, a grad student, and a mental illness sufferer. And he cracked.
That part, at least to me, makes sense. And privately, I've found I'm not the only one who, upon hearing the shooter was a grad student, gained a bit of understanding about what might have happened.
Obviously neither I nor any of my colleagues will ever commit something like this terrible incident, I'm simply trying to say that the experience can be very overwhelming, and for someone suffering from mental health issues, it can be overwhelming to the point of madness. I'm fortunate to have nearly unlimited mental health resources, but few Americans are afforded this.
I have this to say about health care, and psychiatry. First, while universal health care will almost assuredly improve our nation's productivity, given the millions of workers who currently do not engage in preventative care/checkups, it will (more importantly in my opinion) open the door for those who feel trapped by the chains of mental illness -- with locks held in place by poverty or the high price of mental health care -- to seek help.
Secondly, it provides me even more reason to pay attention to the ongoing efforts of "Anonymous" and their attempts to bring public attention to the Church of Scientology. I have no opinion on the cosmology, metaphysics, or belief system of Scientology. Yet when I watch Scientology leader David Miscavige speak of "destroying" psychiatry, with the same use of language and imagery our President uses to describe terrorism, I cannot help but immediately be turned against the organization.
It's now understood the NIU killer had been brought to this point by turning away from his medication. If Scientology had its way, we all would.
