Every time there is a school shooting, most of us struggle to understand what could drive the shooter to act in such a horrific manner. Our teenagers seem especially vulnerable, and now, the FBI has identified a new type of criminal behavior that is dangerous and disturbed: the Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE). Speaking to the recent tragedy in Minnesota, Robert Westman was a prime example:
The shooter in Minnesota fit the profile of this new threat of Nihilistic Violent Extremists to a T. These are people who are already suicidal. They have grievances and problems with everybody—neo-Nazism, antisemitism, really all of the most hateful ideologies you can think of. They believe in a worldview that doesn’t make sense to a rational mind. These are people who have dropped out of regular society, and they are really attached to the internet—so much so that they basically live out most of their life online. They idolize other killers and mass shooters and seek to emulate their tactics. You can tell they are really sick, mentally disturbed people.
Another aspect of this problem is that online groups are encouraging such beliefs:
The phenomenon is mostly known as describing a loose network of mostly young online predators known as “The Com” – well-known groups under its banner include CVLT, 764, and No Lives Matter. Within this community, members gain notoriety through extortion, blackmail, abuse and extreme violence. Recently, two high-profile members were arrested and charged with operating an international child exploitation enterprise. The affidavit contains allegations relating to grooming, psychological torture and physical violence against minors, evidence of which was traded online and collected as symbols of status. To an outsider, such behavior seemed to have little to no substantial meaning or purpose.
As we try to make sense of these groups and mass shootings, we need to acknowledge that social violence is not new to the United States. Think of the Vietnam War protests, the Weathermen, and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Although we might assume that these groups have vanished, they have instead morphed into new types of organizations, pushing the same violence they always have:
‘The kind of person that we’re seeing today,’ Martin Gurri, the author of The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millenium, told me, ‘is not promoting a cause.’
He added that they were propelled by a general, wide-ranging fury.
‘The sources of meaning that made you feel satisfied with your life are drying up,’ Gurri said. ‘Religion is drying up, community is drying up, family is disintegrating.’
[snip]
People like this—people who hunger to sow destruction and death—form a decentralized network of lone wolves spread across screens and feeds and chat rooms across America. Right now, the FBI us handling 250 764-related cases in all 55 of its field offices.
‘It’s not exactly isolated loners,’ conservative political analyst Yuval Levin told me when I asked him recently about the kind of violence that has recently become the norm in this country. (Levin’s books include The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism.) ‘It’s little online communities. It feels like you’re in reality. It feels like you’re dealing with something that everybody knows. But, in fact, you’re just getting bombarded with a narrow sliver of the world.’
Our teenagers are asking difficult questions, and the people they might turn to often don’t have answers that satisfy their anger, isolation, and desperation. In the case of Westman, where were the adults to tell him that he wasn’t a girl? That mutilating his body would not fix the mental anguish he felt?
Teens then find a sense of belonging in communities online, which focus on luring them in and exploiting their pain:
[T]here is growing concern about the implications of nihilism’s rise among teenagers. Critics argue that it carries the potential to bring peril to society, erode tranquility, and lead to the creation of these so-called ‘monsters.’ Albert Camus pointed out in his work ‘The Rebel’ that an indifference to life, often associated with nihilism, can lead to a callous acceptance of murder. In a world devoid of meaning, everything becomes possible, and nothing holds importance. The distinction between right and wrong blurs into insignificance.
[snip]
One of the most alarming consequences of this philosophical shift is the increasing prevalence of mental health issues among teenagers. With the belief that life lacks inherent meaning, some adolescents may spiral into hopelessness, a mindset closely linked to depression and suicidal tendencies.
How can we intervene with these young people before they descend into nihilism? What are the signs we should look for? Can we possibly provide a refuge where they will feel welcomed and understood?
What is disturbing is knowing that teenagers often go through periods of alienation, believing they are misunderstood. How can we provide resources, in person or online, that provide them with a refuge, a resource, a support system that offers them alternatives to death and destruction? It appears that resources of the past—parents, teachers, coaches and counselors either don’t recognize the signs or are uncertain about how to respond.
But those of us of relatively sound mind have an obligation to society, especially our children, to demonstrate the need for facts and truth in our own lives:
It’s important that a majority of citizens worldwide hold this truth to be self-evident: That these pesky, inconvenient things called facts do persist, that empirical evidence is still important, and that, to some extent, truth exists.
It is up to everyone to choose to nurture, sustain, and exercise their capacity to gather information and critically evaluate claims. This is what civically minded and engaged, critical thinking citizens do instead of reflexively nodding their heads (un)knowingly to a false claim, shrugging their shoulders, and saying, ‘Sounds good to me.’
It’s a duty and obligation to stay sharp and fully capable of engaging and gauging everything we hear, read, send, and forward on to others, and continue to ask, ‘Is that really the case?’ and say, ‘Okay, show me your sources for that,’ and ‘No, it’s not ‘just my opinion,’ and here’s why.’ It’s what responsible, well-informed adults do.
Image from Grok.