The shooting last Thursday at Northern Illinois University has sparked debate over the various causes of mass violence in today’s culture: causes that can include mental health and media coverage, said Douglas Kellner, professor of education.
In his new book, “Guys and Guns Amok: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the Oklahoma City Bombings to the Virginia Tech Massacre,” Kellner explores the complex nature of mass violence and the factors that may foster such behavior.
Kellner argues that deadly episodes are the result of the explosion of violence and its glorification in the media, coupled with an identity and hypermasculinity crisis where men feel the need to prove their masculinity.
After World War II, men were seen as heroes, with the role of a soldier seen as an honorable position. The transition from being a soldier and a hero to a blue-collar worker led some to experience an identity crisis.
“Men are not able to fulfill a lot of the traditional roles,” Kellner said. “This is a real crisis for men.”
While the motives behind school shootings often remain unsolved, one of the contributing factors can also be bullying.
Professor Sandra Graham of the Graduate School of Education and Information studies conducts research on bullying. She said incidents such as the Oxnard shooting, where a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed, occur because there is a lack of acceptance on campuses.
“(There’s a) lack of tolerance for difference. They are not only intolerant. They are actively retaliating against individuals who are different,” Graham said.
While some victims of bullying might be the victims in shootings, it is not uncommon for them to be the perpetrators.
“Sometimes it’s triggered off by bullying or being called gay and they have to prove that they’re men. Students are so alienated that they want to be something,” Kellner said.
As bullying progresses, some victims may become reclusive, while others might become outwardly aggressive and retaliate against their perceived enemies, Graham said.
Cho Seung Hui, the gunman at Virginia Tech who killed 32 people, reportedly left behind a note in his dorm, in which he raged against rich students.
In 2005, Cho was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice who cited Cho as being an imminent threat to himself.
While some psychiatrists have cited mental illness as a possible explanation to the violence seen on campuses, Kellner said it is too simple of an answer.
“A lot of people have mental health problems, usually there’s a multiplicity of causes,” Kellner said.
Dr. Anandhi Narasimhan, a specialist in adult, adolescent and child psychiatry, said the underlying causes of such violent acts are multifactorial and can be hard to pinpoint because of the lack of research in the area.
Still, mental health plays a critical role when high-functioning individuals can unravel within months; a process that worsens when budget cuts are made in mental health facilities, Narasimhan said.
“When you stop doing that, you predispose people to getting sicker,” he said.
The Illinois shooter is reported to have been off his medication and became “erratic” in the weeks prior to the shooting. The coverage of shootings such as this by the media can sometimes worsen the situation by making a sensation of the culprits, said Kellner.
“The media thrives on media spectacles, whether it’s news or the political race. It’s a spectacle. Every time there’s broadcast news, they feed on terror and suffering,” Kellner said.
By focusing on acts of violence, Kellner said the media can glorify these individuals, such as the Columbine shooters, leading others to try and mimic them.
“(The media) should be very circumspect. They shouldn’t glamorize them,” Kellner said.
The media attention alone surrounding gunmen is not reason enough to propel people of sound judgment toward violence. A rational person would not seek murder as a method of attaining fame, Narasimhan said.
But the sensationalizing of mass violence needs to be looked at critically, Narasimhan said.
“A lot of times we hear it episodically, and it is not a longitudinal history,” Narasimhan said. Often the media cannot report a person’s medical history because of privacy issues, leading to only a fragment of the story, she said.
The shootings have prompted many to ask for stricter gun regulations.
One of the biggest problems is that people with impaired judgment are getting access to guns, Narasimhan said.
“It’s one thing if you have impaired judgment. When you have a gun, you’re able to do so much more damage. It puts everything into a whole new level,” Narasimhan said.
To prevent future catastrophes from happening, students need to learn how to think critically and analytically so as not to be swayed by the media.
Graham said that in these cases, the university should ensure that campuses feel safe for students and that they have somewhere to go for help.
“It isn’t just helping the individual. It’s making schools and communities feel like this is our problem and we all have to take ownership for it.”