Contempt
Yesterday a hospital worker killed his wife, his five kids and himself , allegedly because he and his wife had both been fired from their jobs. That’s not the all of it, trust me. When the going gets tough, some run and hide — and some get out the pistol. The weak ones, I mean. Being jobless and destitute is ghastly, of course, but it’s also an opportunity to man up and become stronger. Tom Joad didn’t shoot himself. What about the underlying spirit of that “what’s it to ya?” diner scene in John Ford‘s film version? Kill yourself if you can’t take it, but you don’t kill your kids.
Jeff, I can’t see any mention anywhere that you’ve seen Laurent Cantet’s Time Out. You really ought to; it probably has more gravitas now than before.
(That is an on-topic comment.)
Oh man, I thought this was going to be about that excellent Godard film…
as much as i hate to judge before the facts are in, it appears that the shooter might have been insane.
It infuriates me when shit like this happens. A similar “familiacide” happened in Orange County last year and the undertones of an honor killing made me want to retch. It smacks of the narcissism of the story of Job in the Old Testament: God strikes down the children of our Hero to punish him – as if they weren’t individuals with lives and souls of their own, but merely his possessions. The same bullshit goes for these twats that go on shooting rampages (generally starting with family emembers before moving on to unsuspecting citizens) and then finishing things off by shooting themselves in the head. JUST CUT TO THE FUCKING CHASE AND KILLYOURSELF ALREADY!
I don’t care that he killed himself, but he killed those children. What an asshole. Let them live, and go kill yourself!!!!
Freakin’ Coward and a selfish prick on top of it.
Wow. You guys don’t like the guy who killed his family? That’s… I mean… WHY NOT? I don’t get it. What’d he do wrong?
“…it appears that the shooter might have been insane.”
To quote the Colonel, “Oh, you think so Doctor?”
Classic Wells: Can’r relate to anyone who isn’t rich and in the movie biz. Love how this is a chance to “man up,” coming fro ma guy who divorced his wife and couldn’t “man up” to keep his marriage togather. Genus, sir.
Sorry, but the horrific tragedy of the situation makes any comparison to a film (especially that one) seem utterly trivial.
If only there was a ban on hand guns…
“Can’r relate to anyone who isn’t rich and in the movie biz. Love how this is a chance to “man up,” coming fro ma guy who divorced his wife and couldn’t “man up” to keep his marriage togather. Genus, sir.”
Seriously? Are you really this stupid?
When you have five fucking kids, it makes a lot harder to get by and see light at the end of the tunnel when you have an unemployment situation like this.
But I doubt they were thinking clearly when they had them in the first place.
Jonah: Yes, he/she is.
The news stated last night that they both got fired and were under investigation for fraud, so there were charges coming down probably. Still, leave the kids alone! In his letter to the local news station, he says something like “who will take care of our kids?” Answer to that is- anyone else but you, you loser! Such a tragic needless thing to happen.
Anyone who kills his/her entire family is not a loser. They are INSANE.
Obviously this person had extreme mental issues that were never dealt with.
If he cared about his family at all, he would’ve killed himself elsewhere and let them survive.
I think you can be both a loser and insane, but I’ll go with insane, Renfield. Regardless, it is just plain sad.
Jeff,
Please ban MindlessOb, please.
Your readers usually have great output (you should pay Milkman) no matter they agree or disagree with you but reading Mindless and DZ physically hurts. After realizing what they just typed is for real one wishes to die. It is that bad.
CanCan – sorry, but Mindless is NOWHERE near as bad as DZ’s post hijackings. I disagree with many of his posts, but some are dead on.
I don’t care that he killed himself, but he killed those children. What an asshole. Let them live, and go kill yourself!!!!
There is an actual classification for this type of crime -
The Family Annihilator. Basically, they undergo the usual travails that makes people unhinged (job loss, criminal investigation, botched affair, whatever). They decide that life isn’t worth living for themselves. But he (and it’s usually a ‘he’) also comes to the conclusion that life in general is such a crushing disappointment that he’s saving his kids from the horrors of life. Better to painlessly kill his kids now (and let them go to heaven, if said faith applies) then let them discover how lousy life is.
Not to lessen the tragedy, but this is a specific condition, and this case feels like a textbook example of it.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/266087/the_family_annihilator_fathers_who.html
Mental illness is the culprit in most cases. And when I speak of mental illness, I speak of the psychology definition and not the legal definition.