I also blame the increase mass shootings. On The decline of religion in America. When people think that there’s no hope and everything is meaningless then I mentally disturbed mind can rationalize committing acts like this. Faith in a higher belief could give someone like this hope that even though they are in a shitty position right now that there is something better in the afterlife
America is one of the most religious western nations, and also has the most mass shootings per capita.
I'm not blaming guns. Guns rule and plenty of western nations have gun ownership without a constant stream of retards getting memed into spraying bullets into a supermarket.
I attribute it way more to American late-crony-capitalism and cultural liberalism shaking out in a way that everyone just feels alienated and isolated and miserable and hopeless basically 24/7. Average people are forced into soul crushing wage slavery at jobs that contribute nothing of real value and for bosses that have it codified into law that they can fire you for any reason or even no reason, forced to long hours and low wages to barely even be able to afford basic essentials, yet conditioned to be rabid consoomers while being unable to afford any of the products they've been programmed to predicate their self-worth on. TV is trash. Movies suck. Music is shallow and awful. The 24 hour news cycle revolves around which hyper-rich celebrities are fucking this week or how the current proxy war we're funding is going. Gas is 5 dollars a gallon, store shelves constantly verge on empty and even if they weren't, a pound of ground beef costs even more than a gallon of gas. We're probably headed for more lockdowns and COVID restrictions in the next few months. Everything fucking sucks to a very foundational level and there's no hope of it getting any better because the party that sees communists everywhere tells them to suck it up and get a third job if they want to get their impacted wisdom tooth cut out while focusing on gaywad culture war issues that are deeply important to senior citizens living in 3-4 swing states, but that don't improve most people's material condition one bit; and the other party that sees Nazis everywhere performatively empathizes but does jack shit of fuck all about it while simultaneously sending billions and billions of dollars overseas to fund other countries social welfare programs and also focusing on gaywad culture war issues that are important to xe/xir pee oh cee troons in the same 3-4 swing states, but that also don't improve most people's material condition bit either.
Average people have no time or money to spend on having friends or a family or a social life or hobbies, and when they go online, pretty much their last hope for any sort of authentic human interaction, they're constantly screeched at by 6'3 "women" for things they can't help (their race, their gender, their orientation) or exposed to a steady barrage of outrage porn that programs them to hate each other and themselves. They can't even fuck without having to worry that their partner will retroactively withdraw consent 4 months later and get their entire social circle to try and ruin their ability to even afford the food and shelter they can only barely afford as is and lord fucking help them if they said anything remotely edgy 19 years ago on their LiveJournal when they were 11.
Humans are not ants and we did not evolve to be unthinking, unfeeling drones who will sacrifice ourselves for the good of the hive. Everyone wants to feel accomplishment and pride and like they are good for something and both have value and worth and do things of value and worth, and our trash culture stomps the accomplishment and pride and worth out of them at every turn until their last option is finding pride and self-worth in shit beyond their control - race, sex, etc. #RadicalCentrism, probably, but this goes for both left and right. Making your gender your entire personality is the other side of the coin of making your race your entire personality; both largely stem from people having all other avenues of self-worth cut off and denied them.
So, while I would never condone autists doing shit like shooting up a grocery store, I also understand the mindset that leads to it: everything fucking sucks all the time forever and it probably feels like the only way to either A) possibly change things (or at least contribute to eventual change ) and/or B) at least have their legacy be something other than bug man consoomer drone is to do something stupid and drastic like this. This dude was convinced that the only worth he had was in being a member of his race, and then that his race -- his only source of pride, self-worth and self-esteem - was under attack and in danger of being erased. Whether he is right or wrong in that assessment doesn't really matter. That shouldn't be the only thing he, or anyone, has available to feel pride in and derive self-wroth from and yet for many, including him, it is.