re: Some thoughts on the mentally ill, violence and mass shootings.

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Not contribute? They may not be the only factor but not sure how you can say they don't or can't contribute. And in some cases literal structural damage to the brain or illness has been cited as contributing factors.

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Mental illness does not make someone more likely to commit acts of violence. The mentally ill commit violence against others at the same rate as the general population.

Monsters can have mental illness too but the illness doesn't make the monster do what he does. Nor does it trigger him.

The characterologically defective can also get depressed, have mood swings and suffer from psychosis but these things do not set the stage for his violence. His defect of character does that.

It's a mistake to pigeonhole any sort of mass shooter as being mentally ill. To do so makes an inner city gangster mentally ill. An indiscriminate Hamas murderer mentally ill. A terrorist bomber mentally ill.

What all of these types of mass killers have in common is that they're aggrieved or they've fashioned themselves as victims. They've systematically turned the rest of us into objects or obstacles. Nothing more than insects to be squashed. That process takes time. It's a personal journey and it doesn't happen quickly.