We’ve all suffered losses, you idiot “expert.” That doesn’t turn us into alcoholics who commit mass murder.
“Individuals who commit acts of mass violence often have suffered some kind of loss and aren’t able to bounce back from it.” *
So said* Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals Service behavioral threat assessment consultant Barry Spodak, commenting on the James E. Holmes mass shooting. Some myths make my hair stand on end; this, one of the most ignorant statements ever made by someone who should know better (what?! He consults for the Secret Service and U.S. Marshals Service?!) is one of those. I suspect everyone reading this article has suffered a severe loss (likely several) during their lives. Were you able to “bounce back” without committing violence? Of course you were. If you didn’t or know someone who didn’t, why? My research indicates the odds are at least 90% that the emotional state was completely screwed up by substance addiction, either directly or indirectly; close addicts can really mess with the minds and emotions of close codependents. The statement might be accurate if Spodak had said, “Addicts who commit acts of mass violence often have suffered some kind of loss from which they were unable to bounce back,” except no such loss has been reported in the life of Holmes or, for that matter, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer or Timothy McVeigh. Let’s try again: “Addicts are capable of anything, including mass murder. Other than a need to wield power over others, no motive is required.”
* Apparently a journalist paraphrased what Spodak said. His actual words were: “Individuals who carry out acts like this of mass violence tend to perceive themselves to have suffered significant losses or failures and the people around them have generally been worried about their ability to deal with it.”