Profile of the Santa Barbara Murderer.

Today is the USA’s Memorial Day.

Probably most normal people get a feeling of the day in some way. Some kind of memory of a lost one in some way. That is a great starting point to understanding the mind of a person who could do the act.

Have you ever walked into a room and smelled something that triggered a memory? Of course you have. Sometimes we catch the memory clearly in our mind, other times it is just a “Deja Vue” and still other times it nags at us that we cannot remember exactly what we are “reminded” of at that scent.

“Reminded” of, is a powerful concept. It suggests “re” minding, not “new” minding or past minding. Our minds hold our entire past and that past is what motivates us to live today.

Remember versus current traumatic snap.

So the answer to the question of “should someone have seen the future with this kid” is a positive yes. Could they have prevented it is a positive yes. Something was going on in this kids mind that should have been seen by those close. No not to what extreme it would take but rather that he was ready to snap. (what we only care into the future if we can see him as a murderer – how about just snapping and killing himself)

He did not snap out of normalcy. What the heck was the past that he was “re-minded” of and what was happening today, and what would be a trigger to set him off. Bull---- if parents should not have known. He grew up with his mom and dad. Do they really not know what traumatized him so? That is not believable. Had they done all that they could to move him beyond and make the remembrance manageable? Obviously not.

What were they thinking? Do you think that they thought they could move on so a boy can move on also? What happened and what was the trigger? Who else knew and did nothing.

Clarity for our purpose.

Who cares what the boy was capable of in the end. Before the murders he was clearly capable of suicide. And he was clearly very troubled. No not enough to lock up, maybe, but enough to concern ourselves with as friends and parents and grandparents. Then a shrink is called in and what the problem is is determined and precautions taken and knives and guns removed from the picture. We are not talking blame here for what happened or are we?

We are talking blame for being close to this kid and noticing something off and not doing a damned thing. Yes you superior than elders 20 somethings that talk smack about how fu---- up the world is but live in an uncaring lack of solution when problems spit in your face. Let us wait for the one peer to step forward and say, “yes he was strange so I spent a day with him to see if I could help”. And "I care enough to get off facebook long enough to really be there for a 'close friend'".

The author is in the over 55 category. And our generation did form bonds with each other. And outcasts were “incasts” and included. And chicks and dudes did not let crazy pass for “like that is okay man”. And nobody was out that was not feared and watched, and most were in. It might be hard to understand for many. We tried to include. But if you were so bad that you could not be included then you were either tougher than everyone else or beat up and stopped. We were all freaks and we got that. From jocks to hippies we knew who belonged and if you did not belong everyone would know it. Hey if you were beat up at home we knew it. If your daddy was a drunk, we knew it.

I know a man who was a boy.

When he was just 13 a little friend of his and his dog got beat up for lunch money. The big 13 year old felt like hell. The next day the boy, now man, went to school and became a serial fighter. He got in five fights in one 8 hour day, returned home with a broken nose in two places, bruised ribs, two cracked fingers and two bad black eyes along with a concussion, loss of blood and more scrapes than a forty year old truck. He had just lost it. Folks did not wonder what happened. They knew damned good and well that each of those fights was with one of the ones who beat up that dog and other boy.

Which brings us to the idea of a traumatic episode being a cause.

Every body in town knew about our above serial fighter. That he loved to fight. And everybody knew not to pick on his friends. Nobody was surprised he snapped on the others. If folks knew this boy in Santa Barbara and now say they are surprised they are either real stupid or liars.

Asperger’s Syndrome

People the fact that he had Asperger’s syndrome means that he got counseling for it and therapists were aware of it. Asperger’s is clearly a disease that looks and acts like an anti-social disorder. Most ignorant people would think this to be a cause of the tragedy. Wrong! Being diagnosed with such a disorder is like a Godsend. You get to learn skills and have someone to speak with about issues and you get medications that help and you move on. Usually no matter what the cause, someone in therapy is better off than a normal person outside of therapy. (the caveat would be that if they are so sick they cannot function and medications do not help – well then everyone would know that and not allow weapons)

There is a man named Andi Chan making some hoi polloi out of the situation and claims to be a friend. HE KNEW HE HAD WEAPONS. This guy should be sued, for not doing anything. This guy Chan is to blame. Does that sound harsh? Not nearly as harsh as what Chan did to those victims. Harsh to come down on family at this time? Damn right it is harsh.

Taking responsibility for others? No that is not being advocated here. Taking responsibility for what we know to be the facts, yes that is being advocated and lack thereof is being condemned. Andi Chan says he was a close friend and he did nothing except call the murderer lonely. (I am sorry I do not have any close friends that are lonely – they have me)

Wait a second, a guy with Asperger’s syndrome had 4 hundred rounds of ammunition but was such a good social manipulator that no one knew? That would be the exact opposite of Asperger’s syndrome.

Let us conclude

This is not a case of “oh my God”. This is a case of Oh my people you are to blame. He was 22 and somebody paid his way. And somebody enabled his medical insurance, and somebody call the cops on him and the cops saw him somewhat regularly. And two therapists forgot the Tarasoff notions, and were just plain lousy people and should be professionally held to blame.

This article was written by Eric Dierker. I reserve all rights to this article and desire no duplication without attribution. On the other hand feel free to share the content just let folks know where it came from. Copying it and claiming it as your own would be stupid and subject you to my legal harassment of you. Besides if someone asked you what it meant you would not know so yes it is copyright protected as original work by me.

To read more by this fascinating author visit www.thedierkerblog.com, Eric Dierker on Facebook and Pinterest and my sweet blog resipsaloquitor on google blogs