Charleston Shooter: Racist or Mentally Ill?

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The racist prick should spend the rest of his days in a maximum-security prison.

to label root mentally ill does a grave disservice to those of us who actually have mental illness and would never dream of hurting someone.

Well, anybody that can commit an act so evil like that is sick in the head but Roof from what I've read and seen of him seemed like he knew the implications of what he was doing and was responsible for his own actions.

Racist definitely, but if he happens to be insane as well, he's still a bastard.
I'm getting the sense that labeling Roof as mentally ill first is willful ignorance of the fact that domestic terrorists exist. Apparently, it's easier to accept that a mentally ill person is a ticking time bomb rather than one who buys into the idea of a race war. If that particular response has taught me anything, having some form of mental illness is more heinous than being a virulent racist. How sickening.

I guess I have to read into it more but the kid strikes me as similar to Elliot Roger, their racism/misogyny comes off as a defence mechanism to compensate for their perceived shortcomings but I imagine is true for anyone that blames another group for all their problems. I don't think you can read into his beliefs as indicative of anything except his own mindstate.

A father that would flat out tell you that mental illness does not exist, that mental illness is nothing more than an excuse to be a lazy, simpering c!nt and a worthless p!ssy. I've heard it often enough from my relatives that I don't even bother talking to them anymore.

If this manifesto is really his, then I would argue he's not mentally ill.

It's the most coherent manifesto that I've read, to date.

What I'm wondering, is who took all these photos of this guy on all these trips that he recently made?

Roger Elliot was truly crazy, without any doubt in my mind, whatsoever. He was so outside the box of "normal" that it was almost beyond belief, and proof that psychotherapy, if done incorrectly just feeds the condition he had.

Sorry, he's a white supremacist b***ard racist, who is still living in 1961 mentally when blacks were segregated. He wanted to kill black people, and he got his wish...killing 9 at bible study. He is not mentally ill or there would not be a gun as a birthday present.
And look at him!! ! Staring at the floor, no emotion whatsoever. He knows he killed 9 people and has nothing to say.
Kill this guy with 9 shots - one for each of the victims he killed - and don't waste taxpayers' money on this sicko.
There is a special place in hell for these types of supremacist racists.

Yes, but, absent a violation of any law, being racist or believing in racism is still protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution for the United States of America.

In my amateur opinion his writings do not show signs of a thought disorder as in schizophrenia (maybe the only thing that could truly raise doubts of criminal intent).

The racism is obvious and impossible to ignore. The only defense for him might be that he was brainwashed by internet hate speech. But this isn't a very strong defense.

Racist

There is no way I want to him to have any level of an "out" by calling him mentally ill.


Like SecretSavant, I'd like to know who took those pictures of him.

I think we shouldn't discount the possibility that he had help from within the White Power community. The guy was a 9th grade dropout, even NBC has said that the manifesto is written surprisingly well for this guy's level of education. I'm reminded of the 1999 synagogue arsons in California-the two that were arrested were brothers, and openly admitted that they had help, but refused to snitch, and the older brother killed himself before trial. I think it's possible, even likely, that he had friends on White Power web forums who helped him for their own reasons. Then they hung him out to dry. That sort of thing is common in American extremism, both right and left-the top people goad the bottom flunkies into doing something stupid, then let the flunkies twist in the wind while the real instigators vanish.

After reading this guy's manifesto, I've changed my mind. I'm normally not a violent person, but after reading his drivel, give me a shotgun, so I can stick it up his ass and pull the trigger. It would save the citizens of South Carolina money from holding a trial, and warehousing this thug in a penal institution for the rest of his unnatural life.

He got caught up in the whole racial narrative of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman shooting, our media tried to make it into literally such a black and white issue and misrepresented both Martin and Zimmerman so perhaps this racial sensationalism actually does have real world effects other than cable tv ratings. Perhaps it isn't a good idea for the president to come on TV and take sides in such a racially charged case, maybe he shouldn't of called Martin his son, this contributes to even more polarization and division.

Based on the evidence Roof was a regular teenager who started dabbling in crystal Meth. My guess is the addiction did three things. Firstly it made him unable to function and he dropped out of school . Secondly his addiction made him withdraw from family and limit his social contact (his sister referred to him as introverted but this wasn't true as he had friends). Finally the addiction increased his anxiety and paranoia. This was self-evident from his blogs and internet rambling.

While people have been quick to label him an extreme racist the crystal meth likely induced a low level of negative attitude toward black folk into a full blown (and distorted) paranoia about black people. Despite him donning Nazi swastikas and right wing symbols I think this was a delusional fantasy he was living in. If you read his blogs he never uses the n-word and despite his deliberate attempt to inflame hate his language is remarkably not as hostile as you would expect from somebody supposedly engrossed with right wing movements. Finally and most bizarrely his best friend is black?. His last words indicated he was suicidal but chose not to kill himself.

My view is Roof is no more racist than the average middle class white American teenager but his drug use exacerbated mild negative cognition into full blown paranoia. It's both a warning about what drug use can do but also a warning to middle class America that the veneer of civility about attitudes toward other human beings can be easily driven to something very unpleasant if personal circumstances change.

Words from Roof's best friend
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/2 ... -Loves-Him