General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCan we please stop using his name? (the Sandy Hook shooter)
(the Sandy Hook shooter) Kept Spreadsheet Of Murderers For Years Before Newtown Shooting: Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/18/adam-lanza-spreadsheet_n_2901377.html
New details have emerged in the investigation of the deadly Newtown shooting that suggest the killer fed his obsession with violence by keeping meticulous records about mass murderers for years.
The New York Daily News reports investigators discovered, "a chilling spreadsheet 7 feet long and 4 feet wide that required a special printer, a document that contained Lanzas obsessive, extensive research in nine-point font about mass murders of the past, and even attempted murders."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems obvious that he fed off of the past mis-deeds of others. Maybe if we stop using his name so often it will limit the possibility of encouraging the next lunatic from trying to break his record.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,699 posts)What a monster.
virgogal
(10,178 posts)even Pol Pot?
Unfortunately they are or were in the news.
Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)We still talk about Oswald and Sirhan and Booth. We still name Berkowitz and McVeigh and Harris and Klebold. At some point, we either have to say, "No one can ever mention the name of any of these killers" or we say, "Enough time has passed, and now we will put a name to evil."
I don't think it's possible to have any crime of such magnitude remain anonymous for very long. I hate that we make the killers famous. But how else will it work?
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)Or we can name them like we do hurricanes only with weird names. Like Mass Murderer Pig Poop killed X amount of people. I am pretty sure not even a mass murderer wants to be known as Pig Poop, but maybe they will like that, it's really hard to tell with the crazy.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Mass murderers have to be remembered. Not forgotten.
Surprised that his Mom didn't know about a 7 foot long spreadsheet. As the article points out, someone bent on being a mass murderer can also be a thorough researcher. Once the name is in his sick mind, in his pantheon of famous killers, it doesn't matter how many times he or others after him hear the name. Pointless for any sort of control. These are obsessive minds--you can't hide things from them.
You run the risk of making it very easy for the deeds of mass killers to be erased from the public's mind. We all agree that the media overdoes it, but you can't regulate that without losing access to information.
LAGC
(5,330 posts)You're right though: the main reason these assholes do this is for the infamy.
If the media wasn't constantly glorifying them, if they didn't know they'd get all this exclusive air-time and their names being talked about for weeks, they wouldn't do it.
But they do. And they are. And there is another in the making right now, no doubt...