A large number of commentators suggest that people who commit massacres are mentally ill. There is some evidence to suggest that this is not the case…that it is culture.
But when we try to pin killings like these on mental illness, Mullen says, we’re not quite hitting the right point. The people who go on killing sprees are mad, sure. But that’s not the same thing as diagnosable, objective, physical mental illness. Only about 10% of the people ever arrested for crimes like this had actual mental illnesses. In fact, Mullen thinks these killings have more to do with culture than brain chemistry. His argument is interesting. And it might sound a little similar to the old “angry music made him do it!” trope. But what Mullen is talking about is different than that:
watch the video…very interesting:
