REAL Elliot Rodger Journalism - 'Manifesto' Analyzed and Discussed Beautifully

I have some friends that run a podcast called 'I Doubt It with Dollemore' and they recently posted an episode discussing the 141 page memoir that Elliot Rodger wrote before he committed the atrocities that he did. I will post the link at the bottom. Please note that the language in the podcast is NSFW.

A few big points made in the podcast:

1) Elliot Rodger was not simply a misogynist. He was a textbook narcissist and did not just hate women, he hated anybody that was happier than he.
2) Media speculation regarding potentially suppressed homosexuality has no basis.

As mentioned above, those are but a few of the points they cover. The podcast is about an hour and 20 minutes, but definitely worth a listen. The media continues to sensationalize this story, trying to milk as much drama out of it as they can.

The fact of the matter is this: Elliot Rodger was broken. He was unstable from an early age, and instead of talking about how 'rape culture' caused all of this, we need to be talking about how we can identify and treat this type of harmful narcissism when it surfaces. (I am not saying the discussion of 'rape culture' is invalid. It certainly is not. I am merely stating that in this particular case, the media is focusing on the wrong issue.)

Peace to you all, I'd love to hear opinions on the podcast.

I Doubt It With Dollemore - Elliot Rodger

i'm listening to it now. will get back to you if they say anything that strikes me as interesting to discuss.

hrm, good points. i dunno if his wealth really had any bearing on it though. being wealthy doesn't exclude a person from also having mental disorders. to be honest, i hadn't read his 140 page writings, so i was surprised to hear he was making other comments, such as the racism and so on. it almost seems fabricated it's so far out in left field.

a reply to: Vilhelm

Saving a spot. I'll watch it now.

a reply to: undo

I think his being born into a wealthy family played a large part in his initial world view. He says in the document how he was a 'world traveler' as a young child and was upset when he had to do work around the house because his family had a nanny. He was well off from the beginning, and I imagine that was one of the first things that influenced his self-entitled, narcissistic view of the world. I don't know about fabricated, but it is almost undoubtedly embellished, considering his inflated sense of self-importance. I definitely recommend reading the memoir, it is eye-opening.

Cheers,

Vil

a reply to: Vilhelm

I can't listen to it here, but creative writing was one of my focuses in school. Did they note the anti gun subtext written into the manifesto?

As for the heterosexual/homosexual argument. I think progressive thinkers are hesitant to judge someone based on their mannerisms because it isnt p.c., but I think he was in fact homosexual and confused/ashamed of his sexuality and because of this he plays up the whole misogynistic/angry virgin thing. A narcissist with no empathy for others that is so focused on his virginity would've been more aggressive towards getting sex and also he wouldnt have such total hatred and disgust for girls, rather he would've been very endeared to them. He never seems to discuss actual disses from girls or rejection and never sounds attracted to the girls he hates.. the exact opposite of his experience with males.

Let me explain more clearly. He more likely hated women who were with men he was attracted to. More evidence is actually seen in the murders. His first three murders were personal and violent and similar to sexual attacks made by loved ones or those killing out of lust. He killed three male roommates in a manner that suggests he may have felt more towards them and that is why he hit them with hammers and cut their throats while the rest of attacks were impersonal. He killed more men than women.

If you do a solid analysis of his writings you will see both themes. I can further explain the anti gun theme if necessary. The homosexuality should be fairly obvious his only good times and nostalgia is for moments with male companions and he only gets jealous of another male who he thinks begins to disregard him after theyve had great talks and blah blah. The misogyny is just a cover.

Ironic that it started this all women hash tag fad when his anger was really spawned from inward and focused mainly at men. People are reading this thing like he's a reliable narrator.

youtu.be...

When i heard his father on the devil box last night i wanted to smash it guns are bad crap !

Ban Black B.M.W s look how many they kill
ban hammers and knifes

way too scripted

a reply to: douglas5

I dont think his family has spoken about him? Unless ive missed it. Are you sure it wasnt the victims father who came out and blamed guns?

a reply to: Vilhelm

what i mean is, if he was mentally ill, it wouldn't necessarily be his wealth that would cause him to behave as he did. poor people who are mentally ill, will use their own rationale for their decisions as well, some of which may stem from their poverty but not be the actual reason they are mentally ill. people just don't know enough about mental illness and tend to blame those who suffer with it, for having it in the first place.

a reply to: GogoVicMorrow

yes he was on the box last night with guns are bad crap

a reply to: Vilhelm

Listening. They ramble too much before getting to any meat. Kind of shocking that Ted Kacyznski is the podcaster's hero. Whereas Kaczynsi's manifesto was pretty interesting and he did raise some solid points, one should never forget that he killed people and viewed those who were not targets but still injured by his bombs were similar to casualties of war. Kaczysnski was insane, period. Agreed that Rodger's writing is a biography or memoir--it is NOT a manifesto as it's being called.

One of their points that is contradictory in the podcast is when they bring up Rodgers' stepmother and his complaint about being made to do work around the house because they had a nanny for that. They remark on the fact that he doesn't feel like he needs to do chores and hated his stepmother to the point of wanting to kill her for forcing him to do work around the house. Yet, they blame the parents for spoiling Rodgers. However, telling a kid to do work around the house isn't spoiling a kid and clearly his stepmother, presumably with the support of his father, demanded that. How is that spoiling? This is actually a subject that I have direct experience with that is outside of the norm.

Another point about that--in a way, his resentment for having to do chores is actually rather normal for a teen--especially when there is hired help in the home. I know this from experience as my children and I lived with my father in his 3 story mansion for a bit where we had maids coming into the home every week. Both of my children felt that, because we had maids, they did not need to pick up their rooms or up after themselves wherever they had been playing inside the home. It took about a month and a half plus an order to the maids not to do my children's rooms or bathrooms. That got the point across but it was a constant struggle. What I'm saying is that, when you have that kind of scenario, kids tend to presume things in order to avoid doing any form of work. Now that we're living in our own home without maid service, my kids are quick to assist around the house with the minimum of grumbling. The difference? The lack of household hired help. However, it took about a year for them to understand their actual position in the world due to the fact that we lived in a mansion for a year and a half with maid service. That's not abnormal for a child growing up in a wealthier environment where a family has both money and power. How families deal with it varies but really, if Rodgers was just flat out spoiled by his parents, then would his stepmother even have demanded he do chores at all?

What makes that specific thing with Rodgers abnormal is his hatred towards his stepmother for it to the point of wanting her dead. That is the whacked out portion. Whereas his disdain and self conflation are slightly typical for kids in that setting, he was that to the nth degree combined with a homicidal tendencies. That's narcissism and quite frankly, his parents could've been making him clean the toilets and he would've still been the same way. It's not necessarily what they did with him that created his sense of self import--it was the environment, itself. As in the case of my children, any kid being stuck in that environment is going to go through that. Both of my kids are very well-adjusted, charitable, kind and empathetic according to every staff member at their schools but would they have turned out the same way if they had spent the last 6 years still in my dad's mansion with maids? I kind of think not no matter what we said or did.

My parents were actually very cautious in raising my sister and I to avoid this conflation. It's one of the rare things that I'll say that they did a good job in. I still sometimes get shocked by how much they duped us, lol, but any time we questioned something, we were told that we were "decidedly middle class". Middle class teens wear Dior to school, don't ya know? lol