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PaperclipPerfector  9d ago (text post)   30284 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024

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We've been trying to figure this out at work and we have a few theories.

Sidebar: social media presence rarely paints an accurate picture of a person for a variety of reasons. This is also a huge part of why social media is so damaging for young people.

None of this is a diagnosis. I know fuck all about actually clinical relevant information for this guy, media sucks and speculation is rampant. Mostly writing this as a thought experiment to see if I can come up with any good questions for you to ask if you get another chance.

In no particular order.

  1. Mostly depression/pain and he decided to make a political statement instead of just toping himself. Sample evidence for: back pain problems? has caused murder before in others. The supposed withdrawal from family. What could you ask your friend: probably not a lot given the timeline. Usual "depressed y/n" questions would work if someone saw him more recently. Caveat: more to depression than just the stereotype most people know. Against: Doesn't really look the type in the photos and such we have now, but that's shitty quality data.

  2. Pure politics/radicalization (I'm including drug/psychedelic induced scrambled brain in here). For: superficially that looks to be what happened, easily fits the data we have now. Drugs. Ask: need someone close enough to him to know how he actually thinks about things (we are all familiar with hiding our power levels), behavioral and thought patterns suggestive of tendency towards radical politics. Looks like you spotted some of those. How'd he feel about Trump, COVID? How evangelic and aggressive was he about those? Did have radical political swings in response to popular stuff? Think about the stuff you see that predicts someone becoming a "woke crazy" type. Same underlying thought patterns and behaviors can cause radicalization in all kinds of different directions, even in the rational and intelligent. May not even be "wrong" see: US founding fathers. If your friend is intelligent, thoughtful, and aware of this stuff you can just ask him if he looks like someone who could easily be radicalized with the right setup. Against: some of the other explanations work better with the limited information we have right now.

  3. Personality disorder. (What is this? Think antisocial personality disorder, narcissism. The latter is hypothetically where most school shooting type events come from, which is a surprise to some). For: makes it easy to decide to kill people. Is normally what causes similar events. Ask: Check out the DSM criteria for ASPD and NPD. The former is easier to ask about "does he like, not fucking care about other people's rights at all?" The latter is going to be hard to elicit from a layman if it's not obvious unfortunately. Many people pick up the vibe on these people though so your friend might go "oh yeah." These are essentially life long so would have been present when your friend interacted with the guy. Against: Doesn't smell right (ASPD especially) and doesn't really match with the online profile so far in my opinion. If he ends up being more incel seeming with more data NPD could end up being a good explanation though.

Probably the most interesting:

  1. Prodrome. (What is this? The guy is catching schizophrenia or something else and is starting to go weird but it is still early). For: Guy is organized, intelligent and had a good plan but it went off the rails in a strange way that doesn't match the rest of the story. Substance use. Manifesto stuff. Some things are off. Withdrawal from family. People with good intellect, education, and resources hold it together, often for some time and then it starts to fall apart but not usually in this rough of a fashion. Ask: Any family history of mental illness, especially serious mental illness (your friend probably doesn't know but this would be huge). Did his behavior change in any way while your friend knew him? Weird beliefs, social withdrawal, "looking like" a different person (seems like the interaction wasn't longitudinal to likely catch this)? Was he weird? some weird people have a predisposition towards mental illness of this kind and develop it (or don't). You'll notice the person is off. Poor social skills. Not as emotive. Strange beliefs. Doesn't seem to move through social situations as well. Oddly confrontational about strange things. Limited functioning in some ways (if they have partners the partners are more like them). Can't emotionally connect with others. I'm sure an expert in first episode psychosis would have a better way of conveying this but there's a vibe most people are able to notice once it has been pointed out to them. I know you said your friend stated the guy is weird but we are looking for a specific weird here. Against: Little old for this to be common (usually starts more like late teens early 20s, but his resources may have impacted course). Doesn't seem overly psychotic right now (but again this is more prodrome than full blown illness)

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