A mass shooting in Santa Barbara last night left seven dead, including the man suspected of being the killer. Local authorities say that this chilling video, titled Elliot Rodger’s retribution, “appears to be connected” to the shootings. It is a supremely disturbing real-life villain’s monologue in which a young man, evidently the killer, explains on the day before the massacre why he intends to kill: because women have rejected him.
As the person who sent this video to me this morning noted, it sounds almost like a parody of the misogynistic beliefs and rhetoric that I write about on this blog. His language and his melodramatic tone both echo the writings of many of those young men who consider themselves “incels.” His anger is the same anger we see from the rejected men who lash out with insults and threats on OkCupid when their often crude advances are turned down. He reminds me of every so-called “nice guy” who is inwardly seething with resentment born of sexual entitlement denied. He even, at one point, calls himself a “gentleman.” He also calls himself an “alpha.”
It is clear that his resentment at women was stoked by what I call the “new misogyny” and by steeping himself in at least one online community that reaffirmed his exaggerated, unwarranted sense of victimhood. So far we have evidence that he was a commenter at PUAhate, a site ostensibly designed to critique PUAs but which has degenerated into a haven for misogynistic “incels” and angry trolls. I suspect we will find that he was also a reader of, or a commenter at, some of the other sites I critique on this blog.
For those of you who cannot make it through the video — I found it very hard to watch — here is a transcript of what he said.
Hi, Elliot Rodger here.
Well… this is my last video. It all has to come to this.
Tomorrow is the day of retribution. The day in which I will have my revenge against humanity. Against all of you.
For the last 8 years of my life, ever since I’ve hit puberty, I’ve been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection, and unfulfilled desires. All because girls have never been attracted to me.
Girls gave their affection, and sex, and love, to other men but never to me.
I’m 22 years old and I’m still a virgin. I’ve never even kissed a girl.
I’ve been through college for two and a half years, more than that actually, and I’m still a virgin.
It has been very torturous.
College is the time when everyone experiences those things such as sex, and fun, and pleasure. But in those years I’ve had to rot in loneliness.
It’s not fair. You girls have never been attracted to me.
I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it.
It’s an injustice, a crime, because I don’t know what you don’t see in me. I’m the perfect guy, and yet you throw yourselves at all these obnoxious men, instead of me, the supreme gentlemen.
I will punish all of you for it. (laughs)
On the day of retribution I am going to enter the hottest sorority house of UCSB… and I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up, blonde slut I see inside there.
All those girls that I’ve desired so much, they would’ve all rejected me and looked down upon me as an inferior man if I ever made a sexual advance towards them while they throw themselves at these obnoxious brutes.
I will take great pleasure in slaughtering all of you.
You will finally see that I am in truth the superior one. The true alpha male. (laughs)
Yes, after I’ve annihilated every single girl in the sorority house, I’ll take to the streets of Isla Vista, and slay every single person I see there.
All those popular kids who live such lives of hedonistic pleasure while I’ve had to rot in loneliness for all these years, they’ve all looked down upon me every time I try to go out and join them. They’ve all treated me like a mouse.
Well now, I will be a God compared to you. You will all be animals. You are animals, and I will slaughter you like animals. I will be a God, exacting my retribution, on all those who deserve it.
And you do deserve it, just for the crime of living a better life than me.
All you popular kids. You’ve never accepted me, and now you’ll all pay for it.
And girls, all I’ve ever wanted was to love you, and to be loved by you. I’ve wanted a girlfriend, I’ve wanted sex, I’ve wanted love, affection, adoration, but you think I’m unworthy of it.
That’s a crime that can never be forgiven.
If I can’t have you, girls, I will destroy you. (laughs)
You denied me a happy life, and in turn, I will deny all of you life. (laughs) It’s only fair.
I hate all of you, humanity is a disgusting, wretched, depraved species. If I had it in my power, I would stop at nothing, to reduce every single one of you to mountains of skulls and rivers of blood, and rightfully so.
You deserve to be annihilated. And I’ll give that to you.
You never showed me any mercy, and so I will show you none. (laughs)
You force me to suffer all my life, and now I’ll make you all suffer.
I’ve waited a long time for this.
I’ll give you exactly what you deserve.
I will have more on this as the story develops. My heart goes out to the loved ones of all the victims.
Misogyny kills.
EDITED TO ADD: Elliot Rodger seems to have been a commenter on PUAhate, the anti-PUA message board that is as misogynistic and generally awful as the PUAs it critiques. PUAhate has taken itself offline, so all evidence of this may end up scrubbed. I added a paragraph about this.
I will keep updating as I track down more information on this story. Please post anything you find in the comments as well.
EDIT 2: This will be a NO TROLLS thread. Anything gratuitously argumentative or less than respectful of the victims will be removed.
It’s a beautiful day here, but now I’m sad and angry.
Brain bleach full of hugs.
http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2014/05/23/22-animals-that-really-need-a-hug-right-now/
According to this, the shooter’s family said that he was seeing multiple therapists and they were disturbed enough by the videos he had posted to report them to the police. Nothing about aspergers or spectrum disorders, tho.
I really hope that isn’t true. In any case, my autistic brother is neither a misogynist or dangerous so anyone who tries that while I’m around is getting the full strength of my mama bear anger.
If this shooting isn’t bad enough for you all there was a bonus shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. http://gawker.com/three-dead-one-seriously-injured-in-shooting-at-belgia-1581067200
What is going on today? I don’t typically believe in astrology, but is something retrograde or what? Gaah!
The big barrel of hugs is available to anyone, with a side helping of purring kittens, playful puppies, and beautiful fishies as non-hug brain bleach.
I just returned to let you all know, but of course you’re on top of it.
Didn’t it just. I mean, all this time I have been finding it funny when they come off sounding like bad comic super-villains, but now I’m just seriously frightened.
Here for the hugs with returns for those who want them.
Christ, this is horrible. I had to come here where it’s safe to process this.
He was a frequent commenter on bodybuilding.com but they’ve spent the day scrubbing all his posts.
He was called on his serial killer vibe.
http://oi57.tinypic.com/r7w1hi.jpg
http://oi59.tinypic.com/j95zqa.jpg
I noticed that he’s subscribed to around half a dozen PUA youtube channels. The Daily Kos has also written an article linking him to the MRM/ manosphere: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/24/1301671/-Elliot-Roger-Gunman-in-California-Mass-Shooting-was-influenced-by-the-Men-s-Rights-Movement
weirwood: I feel the same, my husband has aspergers. I just figure that mental illnesses/disorders present an easier headline than ‘couldn’t get a date and snapped.’ Requires less thinking for everyone, too – spectrum disorders don’t require taking a hard look at the culture of entitlement that made this kid think women owed him sex by virtue of his y chromosome.
This is utterly horrible. I’m glad there’s a transcript because I doubt I could listen to such a thing.
The attitude from this man is one I can’t understand. Not only was I also a virgin till age 22, but I was also hurt, lonely, and starved for physical affection. (Part of that was admittedly my fault for not attempting to go beyond my fear of sex.) Yet to take those feelings and blame an entire half of the population for them…even those who may never have actually met you or been cruel to you in any way…is simply hateful.
I wouldn’t even kill my abuser, much less random people. The fact that some believe that their rage requires a violent, targeted outlet is strange and disturbing.
Yeah, no, autism does not cause entitlement or violence. And if I hear any bullshit about autism meaning lack of empathy, I will fucking SCREAM.
I’m really annoyed to note that a bunch of news websites mentioning his Youtube video are not doing justice to the whole MRA/woman-hating factor. For example Time 2 hrs ago is leading with ” a video in which a young man promises his “revenge against humanity”” …
Brain bleach: http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2014/01/18/22-funny-animal-photobombs/
Okay, I just did another sweep of the top news stories and there seem to be many now talking about the specifically misogynistic tone of the video, so maybe I got unlucky or my pessimistic confirmation bias just got the better of me.
I couldn’t get past the 1:04 mark. This guy disgusts me…He reminds of that guy who stabbed a 16 year old girl to death for not going to the prom with him. This amount of entitlement and stupid persecution-complex is horrifying. I have an awful feeling that the manosphere is gonna defend this guy…. My condolences go out to all the families of the victims. This kind of stuff has to stop.
Reading this shit, I can’t even… how can a human being think like that? How can somebody think they are entitled to get sex? How can they seriously think a killing-suicide spree will make them an “alpha male”? How can he seriously wonder why women would never date him, calling himself perfect, *shortly before going on a killing spree*?
What a vile, vile waste of human skin. It’s good he’s dead. But not before doing such immense damage…
Oh god. 🙁
*Hugs to anyone who wants one (or several)*
Thank you for the transcript, David.
Fuck you, Sheriff. I hope that’s not an armchair diagnosis based solely on the horrific nature of the killings. MIsogyny alone is enough to spur someone to kill. Marc Lepine did it.
I swear this is the only site on the internet that’s not horrible right now. Thanks for the safe space.
Horrendous. I can’t watch the video.
I noticed the “would have rejected me if I’d made an approach” stuff in the transcript.
He expected women to read his mind, and thought it ok to kill them because they didn’t?
He never attempted to, you know, get to know a few persons of a female persuasion as people? (because “friendzone” perhaps?)
Women not falling into his lap unasked = injustice, crime – whereas murdering them is only justice?
All sorts of wrong there. So many lives cut off for this nonsense.
Where do these ideas come from?
We know they find validation and encouragement in the manosphere, though.
My sympathies to all affected.
The undercat has just come in wet from the rain and asked for a cuddle. I’m going to do that now.
Hugs to everyone who wants them.
I can’t muster any snark, or anything except sorrow. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families.
I just read a tweet he made before this all happened…
“Why are girls sexually attracted to obnoxious, brutish men instead of sophisticated gentlemen such as myself?”
Sure. Sophisticated gentlemen who act whiny and immature when they don’t get the sex they think they’re entitled to, and then murder human beings because women didn’t want to sleep with them. Sounds sophisticated and gentlemanly to me.
Already one of the PUA sites says they are on the side of the angels because they want to teach men the special cheat codes so they won’t be angry and murdery and such.
Because that worked so well for George Sodini.
According to the Daily Kos, Rodger subscribed to a bunch of PUA channels on YouTube, as well as general MRA channels: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/24/1301671/-Elliot-Roger-Gunman-in-California-Mass-Shooting-was-influenced-by-the-Men-s-Rights-Movement#
nerdypants: I am very glad to see that.
So sad 🙁 I hope this helps more people realize what a big pile of crap the men’s rights movement is. It breaks my heart.