He is my Issues Exploration Essay that I wrote during the end of the semester.
Noel Lopez
Professor Nathan Cole
English 1010
29 April, 2015
Issue Exploration Final Draft
Ignoring the Mental Health of a Murderer
Mass killings have alerted all Americans that it can happen at any time at anywhere. Someone that wakes up one morning and decides to kill many innocent people as possible in a short amount of time. For many people, they seem to always blame other certain people for the things that they do, whether if its music, views, or actions, which makes the public think that it might have inspired these mass murderers to go insane and kill. Others blame television, video games, bullies and the possessions of guns that people use for non-sport related activities. But what makes these mass murderers truly want to kill? With the restrictions of gun laws and all the anti-bulling campaigns, are we doing our very best to prevent such an act of terror from happening? Or are we doing something that is far from it? Perhaps we are leaving out the catalyst of all these mass murders. We are also maybe failing to realize what that is. We keep on thinking why would someone want to kill, but what we really should think about is what that someone is thinking himself.
Andreas Lubitz was a 27 year old air pilot. In early 2015, he crashed German-wings Flight 9525 to the ground in the French Alps, killing one hundred fifty people that were on board, including himself. After taking all of those lives, Andreas resulted into a mass murderer.
There are many differences of murderers, but many people believe that they are all the same. We see killers in movies and television shows and they all have one thing in common, they kill people. But there are two completely different types of killers, they are serial kills and mass killers. Serial killers have a completely different mind than what a mass murderer has. A serial killer would try to avoid being caught and would not want face the law, as a mass murderer, however, wants to be known for what they did. But people still believe that a killer is still a killer.
A mass murder killing spree is a random act of violence that we do not see coming that takes place at a one location or a few others that are close to each other. A mass killing spree has a result of 3 or more murders in a very short amount of time in between. Most of the time, they end with the murderer taking his own life or surrendering himself without refusing arrest. A serial killer takes time with their killings. Their act of violence can last for many months or even years and can commit a single murder at a time. A serial killer can also be very hard to notice, as they can secretly have good lives to hide the evil that is inside of them. A mass murderer, most of the time a lone person who has a troubled life. But not all mass murderers are the same. There are many different types of a mass murderer that can land in a certain group. Disciple killers, killers who follow a leader, such as cults or a false idol. Family killers, those who kill their entire family at once. The most infamous family killer was when a pro wrestler by the name of Chris Beniot, killed his entire family, then taking his own life. His autopsy revealed that he had severe brain damage. Pseudo commando killers, ones who are weapon specialist and who carefully plan their killing spree, this type of mass killing is based on revenge. Disgruntle Employees are ones who take revenge on their co-workers and former bosses. There is the school shooter group, a killing spree that is taken place mostly in high schools, such as the shooters of Columbine High School, and the most recently Sandy Elementary shooting. And terrorism is also an act of mass murder, such as the Boston Marathon bombings and 9/11.
Andreas Lubitz never followed any leader, never murdered his family, he wasn’t a weapons specialist, didn’t shoot at a school, and he didn’t have any problems with other pilots. His decision to take the plane down wasn’t an act of terrorism, since he had no ties to any terrorist group or different religious views. So none of these categories would best describe him, but he still ended up killing many innocent people.
Andreas’s ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child at the time, said to her that he wanted to be remembered for something, according to his ex, he told her that he “wanted to change the world”. When a normal person would say something like that, it usually means that they would want to make the world a better place in a good way. But in the mind of Andreas Lubitz, he wasn’t thinking anything that would help the world. He was struggling with debilitating depression, doctors said his mental health was far worse than depression and was having serious mental issues.
Andreas wanted to be remembered, but for what? The most common motivators for multiple murderers, including serial killers are power and revenge. Power is something that some murderers think they have, they want to be dominate in front of everyone else, and they would kill people just to get attention. For most mass murderers, they always seek revenge, it could be on certain people or the world itself. Revenge is getting back at the ones who the murderers think did them wrong, like Elliot Rodger. His drive-by killing spree took the lives of six people including himself. He wanted to punish women for rejected him and punish other men who had better lives than him, even though he had a wealthy life. Unlike most mass murderers, he had warned everyone about his plan to the public that he was going to kill people who did him wrong when he released a YouTube video days before his mass killing spree, saying “my life is unfair” in his video.
From these motivators, Andreas Luibitz would be mostly motivated for power. He said he wanted to be remembered for something, and he accomplished that by taking all of those lives, but why? Someone who just wants complete power isn’t enough, they would have to do something horrific to receive the power that they want. For Andreas Lubitz, what he thought in his very own mind was the right thing to do, he woke up one day and became a mass murderer. He didn’t fit into any of the mass murder categories, he wanted some kind of power, but he thought of it in a good way. What was going on in his mind?
I mention that Andreas was going through serious mental issues, an illness that doctors said that it was worse than depression. What medication was he given? Since he was depressed, it would be possible that he was given anti-depressant, but one of his prescriptions was lorazepam, one that is common for most people for depression. Many people take this medication without hurting anyone, but what about people with a serious mental problem, like Andreas? We believe that these medications made help and maybe cure people with depression, but we ignore what horrible effects these drugs can have. According to the Food and Drug Administration, it says about lorazepam, “In patients with depression, a possibility for suicide should be borne in mind”. These days, someone who is suffering from depression, they are prescribed medication to help them overcome the problem, but because of the medication they are prescribed too, it would cause someone to kill themselves or kill others.
One of the Columbine High School shooters, Eric Harris was one troubled teenager. He was rejected by Marine Corps recruiters just days before the Columbine High School massacre, the reason was because he was under a doctor's care and had been prescribed an anti-depressant medication. Eric was prescribed Luvox, an anti-depressant commonly used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though it was supposed to help and treat him, he and along with his friend Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people at their high school before killing themselves in April of 1999. Before, Eric was depressed, he was being bullied and wanted to take his revenge on all of the students at Columbine. Andreas Lubitz was also suffering from depression, and he wanted more for his life. These things build up his depression and was given medication to help him, he then took down a plane and killed one hundred fifty people, including himself. He didn’t use a gun like most mass murderers, he didn’t want revenge, and he didn’t kill anyone that he cared about, everything that was wrong with him was in his mind and the medication he was prescribed.
People are blaming other people that what they are doing is bad and may cause someone to go crazy and want to kill, but what they don’t know is what is inside the mind of a killer. We rely on medication to help a troubled mind, meant to help depression and anxiety, but it is the effects of the medication that makes it worse. People all over America are complaining about gun restrictions and bulling. They seem too have forgotten about the dangers of drugs, even if they are prescribed by a doctor. A gun cannot physically kill someone, but a person can physically kill another person. We are not doing our best to prevent another mass killing spree, we are in fact allowing them to happen. Holding a gun can be dangerous, but someone with an unhealthy mind can be far worse.
Work Cited
- David K li and Leonard Greene “Killer co-pilot’s ex-fiancee told him she’s pregnant” New York Post, March 29, 2015
- Jennifer Smith “Killer pilot Andreas Lubitz researched suicide under chilling username 'Skydevil' - as it's revealed EU warned German authorities about 'inadequate' safety checks” Daily Mail.com April 5, 2015
- Unknown publisher “Columbine shooter was prescribed anti-depressant” CNNinteractive.com April 29, 1999
- Unknown publisher “Ativan (lorazepam) - Food and Drug Administration” Food and Drug Administration Unknown date publish, Link: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/017794s034s035lbl.pdf
- Michael Martinez “Mass killing all too familiar in scenic college town of Isla Vista” CNN U.S. News May 27, 2014
- Chris Geo “FULL VIDEO - Elliot Rodger's Retribution Video (not original video)” Youtube.com May, 2014, Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-gQ3aAdhIo
Thomas A. Petee, Department of Sociology, Auburn University “DIFFERENTIATING FORMS OF MASS MURDER” Link: http://www.auburn.edu/~peteeta/massmurder1.htm
Noel Lopez
Professor Nathan Cole
English 1010
29 April, 2015
Issue Exploration Final Draft
Ignoring the Mental Health of a Murderer
Mass killings have alerted all Americans that it can happen at any time at anywhere. Someone that wakes up one morning and decides to kill many innocent people as possible in a short amount of time. For many people, they seem to always blame other certain people for the things that they do, whether if its music, views, or actions, which makes the public think that it might have inspired these mass murderers to go insane and kill. Others blame television, video games, bullies and the possessions of guns that people use for non-sport related activities. But what makes these mass murderers truly want to kill? With the restrictions of gun laws and all the anti-bulling campaigns, are we doing our very best to prevent such an act of terror from happening? Or are we doing something that is far from it? Perhaps we are leaving out the catalyst of all these mass murders. We are also maybe failing to realize what that is. We keep on thinking why would someone want to kill, but what we really should think about is what that someone is thinking himself.
Andreas Lubitz was a 27 year old air pilot. In early 2015, he crashed German-wings Flight 9525 to the ground in the French Alps, killing one hundred fifty people that were on board, including himself. After taking all of those lives, Andreas resulted into a mass murderer.
There are many differences of murderers, but many people believe that they are all the same. We see killers in movies and television shows and they all have one thing in common, they kill people. But there are two completely different types of killers, they are serial kills and mass killers. Serial killers have a completely different mind than what a mass murderer has. A serial killer would try to avoid being caught and would not want face the law, as a mass murderer, however, wants to be known for what they did. But people still believe that a killer is still a killer.
A mass murder killing spree is a random act of violence that we do not see coming that takes place at a one location or a few others that are close to each other. A mass killing spree has a result of 3 or more murders in a very short amount of time in between. Most of the time, they end with the murderer taking his own life or surrendering himself without refusing arrest. A serial killer takes time with their killings. Their act of violence can last for many months or even years and can commit a single murder at a time. A serial killer can also be very hard to notice, as they can secretly have good lives to hide the evil that is inside of them. A mass murderer, most of the time a lone person who has a troubled life. But not all mass murderers are the same. There are many different types of a mass murderer that can land in a certain group. Disciple killers, killers who follow a leader, such as cults or a false idol. Family killers, those who kill their entire family at once. The most infamous family killer was when a pro wrestler by the name of Chris Beniot, killed his entire family, then taking his own life. His autopsy revealed that he had severe brain damage. Pseudo commando killers, ones who are weapon specialist and who carefully plan their killing spree, this type of mass killing is based on revenge. Disgruntle Employees are ones who take revenge on their co-workers and former bosses. There is the school shooter group, a killing spree that is taken place mostly in high schools, such as the shooters of Columbine High School, and the most recently Sandy Elementary shooting. And terrorism is also an act of mass murder, such as the Boston Marathon bombings and 9/11.
Andreas Lubitz never followed any leader, never murdered his family, he wasn’t a weapons specialist, didn’t shoot at a school, and he didn’t have any problems with other pilots. His decision to take the plane down wasn’t an act of terrorism, since he had no ties to any terrorist group or different religious views. So none of these categories would best describe him, but he still ended up killing many innocent people.
Andreas’s ex-girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child at the time, said to her that he wanted to be remembered for something, according to his ex, he told her that he “wanted to change the world”. When a normal person would say something like that, it usually means that they would want to make the world a better place in a good way. But in the mind of Andreas Lubitz, he wasn’t thinking anything that would help the world. He was struggling with debilitating depression, doctors said his mental health was far worse than depression and was having serious mental issues.
Andreas wanted to be remembered, but for what? The most common motivators for multiple murderers, including serial killers are power and revenge. Power is something that some murderers think they have, they want to be dominate in front of everyone else, and they would kill people just to get attention. For most mass murderers, they always seek revenge, it could be on certain people or the world itself. Revenge is getting back at the ones who the murderers think did them wrong, like Elliot Rodger. His drive-by killing spree took the lives of six people including himself. He wanted to punish women for rejected him and punish other men who had better lives than him, even though he had a wealthy life. Unlike most mass murderers, he had warned everyone about his plan to the public that he was going to kill people who did him wrong when he released a YouTube video days before his mass killing spree, saying “my life is unfair” in his video.
From these motivators, Andreas Luibitz would be mostly motivated for power. He said he wanted to be remembered for something, and he accomplished that by taking all of those lives, but why? Someone who just wants complete power isn’t enough, they would have to do something horrific to receive the power that they want. For Andreas Lubitz, what he thought in his very own mind was the right thing to do, he woke up one day and became a mass murderer. He didn’t fit into any of the mass murder categories, he wanted some kind of power, but he thought of it in a good way. What was going on in his mind?
I mention that Andreas was going through serious mental issues, an illness that doctors said that it was worse than depression. What medication was he given? Since he was depressed, it would be possible that he was given anti-depressant, but one of his prescriptions was lorazepam, one that is common for most people for depression. Many people take this medication without hurting anyone, but what about people with a serious mental problem, like Andreas? We believe that these medications made help and maybe cure people with depression, but we ignore what horrible effects these drugs can have. According to the Food and Drug Administration, it says about lorazepam, “In patients with depression, a possibility for suicide should be borne in mind”. These days, someone who is suffering from depression, they are prescribed medication to help them overcome the problem, but because of the medication they are prescribed too, it would cause someone to kill themselves or kill others.
One of the Columbine High School shooters, Eric Harris was one troubled teenager. He was rejected by Marine Corps recruiters just days before the Columbine High School massacre, the reason was because he was under a doctor's care and had been prescribed an anti-depressant medication. Eric was prescribed Luvox, an anti-depressant commonly used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though it was supposed to help and treat him, he and along with his friend Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people at their high school before killing themselves in April of 1999. Before, Eric was depressed, he was being bullied and wanted to take his revenge on all of the students at Columbine. Andreas Lubitz was also suffering from depression, and he wanted more for his life. These things build up his depression and was given medication to help him, he then took down a plane and killed one hundred fifty people, including himself. He didn’t use a gun like most mass murderers, he didn’t want revenge, and he didn’t kill anyone that he cared about, everything that was wrong with him was in his mind and the medication he was prescribed.
People are blaming other people that what they are doing is bad and may cause someone to go crazy and want to kill, but what they don’t know is what is inside the mind of a killer. We rely on medication to help a troubled mind, meant to help depression and anxiety, but it is the effects of the medication that makes it worse. People all over America are complaining about gun restrictions and bulling. They seem too have forgotten about the dangers of drugs, even if they are prescribed by a doctor. A gun cannot physically kill someone, but a person can physically kill another person. We are not doing our best to prevent another mass killing spree, we are in fact allowing them to happen. Holding a gun can be dangerous, but someone with an unhealthy mind can be far worse.
Work Cited
- David K li and Leonard Greene “Killer co-pilot’s ex-fiancee told him she’s pregnant” New York Post, March 29, 2015
- Jennifer Smith “Killer pilot Andreas Lubitz researched suicide under chilling username 'Skydevil' - as it's revealed EU warned German authorities about 'inadequate' safety checks” Daily Mail.com April 5, 2015
- Unknown publisher “Columbine shooter was prescribed anti-depressant” CNNinteractive.com April 29, 1999
- Unknown publisher “Ativan (lorazepam) - Food and Drug Administration” Food and Drug Administration Unknown date publish, Link: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/017794s034s035lbl.pdf
- Michael Martinez “Mass killing all too familiar in scenic college town of Isla Vista” CNN U.S. News May 27, 2014
- Chris Geo “FULL VIDEO - Elliot Rodger's Retribution Video (not original video)” Youtube.com May, 2014, Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-gQ3aAdhIo
Thomas A. Petee, Department of Sociology, Auburn University “DIFFERENTIATING FORMS OF MASS MURDER” Link: http://www.auburn.edu/~peteeta/massmurder1.htm