I completely agree that it is not mental illness in a clinical sense, but one must imagine a profound emotional state accompanies mass murders. Your resentment notion is supported by the research I referenced.
"The communities experiencing growth in economic and social inequality also have the sparsest resources for mitigating these effects."
I'm a little confused what you mean by "income inequality". At one point you say basically that it doesn't necessarily mean poverty, but discrepancy. So, if I'm understanding you, it seems like districts that are 100% poor would be less subject to mass shooting episodes than districts that have both rich and poor, no?
If that's the case, though, then those districts don't have the sparsest resources. They still have plenty of well off families and a decent tax base (including, presumably, businesses) from which to draw resources. So what this says to me is that richer districts don't want to use their resources to address the needs of those less fortunate, which is a large part of what's driving the resentment, which in turn is making them more vulnerable to shootings. So they could reduce their chances of shooting episodes, they just don't care enough to do it.
The study I quoted indicates that the critical variable is growth in income inequality, not poverty itself. I vigorously agree that it is more about unwillingness to allocate resources, thereby driving resentment. The authors conclude that public policy could/would indeed reduce the chances of shooting episodes.
While I agree that there must be a connection to poverty, and with so many shootings happening at schools, perhaps some resentment that school does not lead to the "bright future" they were promised (?), I disagree with the statement that this problem is caused by the mentally ill. I have read up on this, and it seems it is not true. I have known and worked with the mentally ill, and the vast majority are non-violent. Here is an article that links to research: https://www.michiganpsychologicalassociation.org/index.php?option=com_dailyplanetblog&view=entry&year=2021&month=02&day=28&id=72:are-all-mass-shooters-mentally-ill-
I completely agree that it is not mental illness in a clinical sense, but one must imagine a profound emotional state accompanies mass murders. Your resentment notion is supported by the research I referenced.
Thank you. Yes, definitely some sort of trauma or deep emotions would have to be behind an act like that, it seems.
"The communities experiencing growth in economic and social inequality also have the sparsest resources for mitigating these effects."
I'm a little confused what you mean by "income inequality". At one point you say basically that it doesn't necessarily mean poverty, but discrepancy. So, if I'm understanding you, it seems like districts that are 100% poor would be less subject to mass shooting episodes than districts that have both rich and poor, no?
If that's the case, though, then those districts don't have the sparsest resources. They still have plenty of well off families and a decent tax base (including, presumably, businesses) from which to draw resources. So what this says to me is that richer districts don't want to use their resources to address the needs of those less fortunate, which is a large part of what's driving the resentment, which in turn is making them more vulnerable to shootings. So they could reduce their chances of shooting episodes, they just don't care enough to do it.
Let me know if I'm misunderstanding you.
The study I quoted indicates that the critical variable is growth in income inequality, not poverty itself. I vigorously agree that it is more about unwillingness to allocate resources, thereby driving resentment. The authors conclude that public policy could/would indeed reduce the chances of shooting episodes.