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1 |
ID:
168859
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Summary/Abstract |
This paper addresses the waves of mass killings recently perpetrated by individuals with a weak or nonexistent ideological motivation, whose acts either appear to contradict their purported political cause or are admittedly driven by a quest for notoriety. Examples range from killers who have been waging jihad against European Jews to unattached mass killers such as the Germanwings pilot to the perpetrators of mass school shootings in America and worldwide. We argue that these phenomena can be understood as instances of the Herostratos syndrome, which has been known for thousands of years as characterizing the behavior of people who seek to survive in the collective memory by excelling in their infamous acts. We provide a model of hybrid killers which accommodates the Herostratic motive alongside a political motive and characterize a well-behaved Nash equilibrium where Herostratic killers are competing with one another with a view to make a name for themselves in infamy. The policy implications point towards reducing the publicity the killers enjoy, thus frustrating their quest for notoriety.
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2 |
ID:
132369
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Publication |
2014.
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Summary/Abstract |
School shootings have traditionally been interpreted as non-political acts. Empirical evidence, however, suggests that not all shootings are necessarily so different from political violence, at least in the shooter's own opinion. The article analyses 28 school rampage shootings in Europe, the U.S., and Canada from 1999-2011 to determine common and prevalent political elements in the shootings. The shootings are divided into three categories: shootings with overtly political communication (four cases), shootings with references to previous school rampage shootings (13 cases), and isolated incidents (11 cases). While it is possible to question whether the shootings were genuinely politically motivated, it is clear that the majority of school shooters link their deed to the agenda and beliefs presented by the Columbine shooters, which has created a sense of tradition, continuity, and imagined community among the shooters and their admirers, not unlike in cases of terrorism and political violence that are referred to as leaderless resistance.
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3 |
ID:
189455
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Summary/Abstract |
The legacy of the 1999 Columbine School shooting has resulted in increased political elements in subsequent shootings and the line between these school shooters and terrorists has blurred. Current research comparing terrorists and school shooters has largely focused on the similarities between the perpetrators using largely qualitative methods. With the behavioural and subsequent economic impacts of terrorism having been previously identified, this paper investigates if these behavioural changes and impacts are present following school shootings. Through the use of a logit regression of historical school shooting data, we find evidence that support our theories that school shootings cause fear and change consumer behaviours.
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