Frightening Implications

IN SOCIOLOGY, there is something called "riot theory", according to which, the more people who have already joined a riot, the easier it becomes for more people to join. The first person to riot is the truly devoted rioter, the highly motivated kick starter, and each additional person is more likely to join with less incentive or motivation. It rather parallels marriage theory, in which the more marriages one has, the easier it is to divorce, and the easier it is to remarry. Or the serial killer, for whom each additional homicide is easier to commit, with less uncertainty. It becomes ho hum. Been there, done that. Join the crowd. Disturbingly, this basic human behavioral tendency is being proposed as an explanation for the rapid increase in the number of mass murders in America over the past few years. A somewhat more sophisticated version of the copy cat theory. Evidently, some or most of the killers, all of whom are angry, troubled, loner, alienated young men, admire previous killers; the kids at Columbine High who created mayhem back in 1999 are, it appears, something like cult heroes among the mass murderer community. The internet can lend cohesion to any community, no matter how twisted, It has a ring of truth to it, this riot theory applied to mass murders, if you think about it. Its terribly frightening, because as a theory, it would seem to predict a never ending increase in the frequency of these awful events. At least, an increase in the frequency of mass murder for as long as there are sick people who admire the monsters, and no way to head them off before they act. For our own sake, let's hope the theory has some fatal, unseen flaw.