The problem of evil can become so convulted when we are taking about a massacre (the deadliest of its kind in the United States) commited by a madman.  To what extent is a mentally ill individual responsible for his own actions, and to what extent is he free to make moral decisions? 

Here's how I look at it.  You and I have a choice to make: Do we go ballistic, or do we contain our rage (if, in fact, we possess rage)?  The decision is like a walk down a straight, well-lit hallway, with the unlocked door easily within sight.

For a man afflicted with mental illness, the door leading to a morally upright decision---- the door leading to an escape from his unbridled impulses exists, but, it's locked, and he must travel through a maze, in darkness in order to get there.   The key lies somewhere on the floor, in the dark.  The only way he will find it is if he happens to stumble over it. 

So he is responsible for his actions, but not in the same sense that a reasonably sane person would be.  Does that make him a sympathetic character?  Not even to a shrink like me.  Does it justify his actions?  No.  But you can't possibly punish an insane individual, no matter how hard you try.   He hates himself, and the world that serves as his mirror.  He is already living in a mental and emotional hell, partly of his own creation, through choices he has made (maze-like though they may be), and partly a product of diacritical genetic and environmental factors, etiologically related to his condition. 

So the goal must be to protect society.  If treated, he may not have snapped, at least not in such a devastatingly destructive manner.  But unless a person is actively suicidal or homicidal, or unless a person experiences his mental and emotional condition as ego dystonic (that is incompatible with normalcy), and seeks help, there is not much society can do.  Is rehabilitation possible?  Yes, to a degree, but you don't want to risk releasing such a potential threat to society.  

What about the death penalty?  Well, let's save that for another day. 

In any case, if the person (arguably a monster) proven capable of unleashing such ineffable torment on others, survives the act, society must come down hard on him, whether he is ultimately deemed mad, bad or both------not to punish him, but to protect society from even the most remote possibility of him ever striking again. 

Today in Virginia

Dr BLT

Words and music by Dr BLT © 2007

 

today in Virginia

students gather in fear

today in Virginia

students drown in their tears

today in Virginia

as they gather their dead

and they mourn, Lord, they mourn

for the blood that was shed

today in Virginia

 

has the world gone mad

has the world gone mad

has the world gone mad

today in Virginia

 

today in Virginia

I see bullets and blood

I see families in need

Of some comfort and love

I see loved ones who grieve

‘cause they died far too young

From a mad man standin’

In the back of a gun

Today in Virginia

 

has the world gone mad

has the world gone mad

has the world gone mad

today in Virginia

 

say a prayer for your brother

say a prayer for your sister

say a prayer for the people