Making Sense of Murder: AlterNet Readers Discuss NIU Shooting

The shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University has prompted the customary barrage of speculation about the gunman's motives and the larger forces that made the shooting possible. All of the usual explanations are being trotted out: easy access to guns, gun-free zones, faulty medication, and violence in the media. 

In "Northern Ill. University: Was the Killer Crazy, or the Campus Hopeless?" Mark Ames proposes an alternative way to make sense of the tragedy. Ames argues that school and workplace violence is rooted in the economic and social problems faced by most Americans. Seemingly senseless rampages like Kazmierczak's are symptomatic of the hopelessness and dissatisfaction pervading small towns like DeKalb and schools like Northern Illinois University. 

Ames' article has sparked a vigorous debate among AlterNet commenters. Many readers accuse Ames of making unfair assumptions about "second-tier" universities and glibly knocking life in "middle America." Other readers point to a culture of entitlement that sets up most Americans for disappointment. Still others bring up issues that Ames fails to address, such as a lack of adequate care for the mentally ill.