An Epidemic of Bullying

With the recent Virginia Beach murders, I witnessed more of the same-malignant aggression and destructiveness. In order to fully understand the murderer’s psychopathology, an in depth psychological, neurological and social evaluation would be required. Talking with neighbors and employees provided limited information at best.  As a reult, I can only provide limited speculation.  In doing so, I’m highlighting two variables-spontaneous vengeance and the syndrome of a sadomasochism character.

Vengeance or blood motive has been around for a long time. In fact, the Old Testament, has the “An eye for an eye” or the law of retaliation, whereby a punishment resembled the offence committed in kind and degree. Thus, lex talionis might be in play in the case of this fearful individual. Yes, he was fearful.

Historically, Germany’s loss in WW1, coupled with the injustice of the Versailles Peace Treaty were motivations for its revenge. In fact, it was Hitler that employed revenge. He manipulated and lied about the so called mistreatment by Czechoslovakia. Hitler then used that as an excuse and attacked that country. More about the motive of revenge. Revenge has been prevalent over 2,100 years with the belief that Jews were the killers of Christ which is a rationalization for anti-Semitism. These were a couple of illustrations of retaliation. We do not have to look far, to find countless examples of” getting even “found in current personal, political and everyday occurrences or in the major themes found in books, movies or social media.

Perhaps the murders that took place in that city work place, had something to do with the bully’s perception of being treated unfairly, being slighted, being verbally mistreated or ignored over time. That motive might have contributed to his spontaneous murder-suicide assisted final act. He took control. He determined when, and how of the conditions of his death. That controlling behavior is character related.

Being treated “wrongly, “might be part of this individual’s character in which vengeance was a major trait as in sadism or sadomasochism. Sadism can have a sexual or non-sexual component. Within this character trait, can be found the intensity and tendency of the perversion or passion to control others, to dominate others, to painfully hurt or even kill, and to humiliate another person. Other components of this trait is an attraction to power over others, as in symbolic gun ownership and/or in acquiring wealth.

Physical abuse of children, women and other powerless people that can’t defend or are unarmed are prime examples of the behavior of sadistic individuals. More widespread than painful physical abuse is mental cruelty or psychic pain -the wish to humiliate, to insult or to hurt another’s feelings.  A verbal attack or an attack on social media is safer for the sadist rather than risk a physical attack. Mental sadism can easily be disguised as in asking a question, constant chatter, a smile or a confusing remark. It can also be a disapproving gesture like a rolling of the eyes. Parents inflict psychic pain or embarrassment on their children; teachers on their students; employers on employees; coaches with their players; trash talking between players; pet owners with their animals and of course some threatening politicians. These humiliating sadistic acts often occur in front of an audience. Sadistic behavior runs rampant in our society with meanness being prevalent. Yes, we all exhibit some sadistic behavior. Some more and some less. Hitler was on one end of the scale while Mother Theresa was on the other end.

The inadequate cowardly Virginia Beach sadomasochistic inflicted death and destruction on a number of unarmed helpless individuals. Then he committed assisted suicide or self-destruction, as in Thanatos, in a shootout with the police. Another alienated nobody made the news. However, these news cycles are becoming shorter with less outrage. Are we becoming less sensitive to home grown violence and death?