The “virgin killer” is now getting his shrines in the media, as journalists distill his spree into digestible, bite-sized chunks and use his heinous actions to ride their own hobbyhorses around their elite media ranches. The second link is particularly shameless — the WaPo’s Ann Hornaday wants more women making movies. The virgin killer presents as good an opportunity as any to push for that.
He is also spawning another gun control movement. Even though he purchased his guns in California, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
Basically, the killer was a rich kid who was frustrated that he wasn’t richer, connected to an industry obsessed by beauty that has its deeply ugly side too. Rather than work to achieve whatever his goals were, he felt entitled to own the world, setbacks led to more frustration, and he lashed out with deadly force. We could talk about the values we’re no longer teaching our kids, that we’re no longer even allowed to teach them. We could talk about mental illness treatment, in the context of a government that prioritizes abortifacient mandates and gutting the Bill of Rights while neglecting healthcare for veterans. But instead, we’ll all become familiar with the killer’s details and we’ll fight about guns again. Even though even the most radical Democrat surely knows by now that they’re not getting our guns, period. Not gonna happen.
In death, the latest killer is getting something he could not get in life with all these media shrines and dissections and a political fight over the damage he did — recognition. We’ll talk more about him than about his victims. The next potential killer out there is paying attention.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member