The main thesis of this article, that there is no one, overarching reason these kinds of shootings occur, is one that should be repeated as often as necessary, especially in the face of a hyper-sensationalist broadcast media which stresses the easy, soundbite answers over actual discourse in these cases.

For instance, it seems clear that some kind of chemical imbalance in the killer's brain at least contributed to the massacre at Virginia Tech, whereas it seems that some kind of genuinely-felt social pathos mostly drove the shooters at Columbine. Those two infamous examples have both similarities and differences, and the different killers have both similar and different motives, and anyone looking to affix any standard explanation onto both of them is doing the world a huge disservice.

In the specific case of Columbine, what bothered me most about the media coverage was the constant references to the shooters being either loners and/or social outcasts. This was troubling because the terms "loner" and "social outcast" mean two completely different things, yet they were constantly being thrown around in the public discourse like they were interchangeable.

As an avowed loner (or, if you prefer, introvert) myself, I cannot, by definition, be a social outcast, since I choose my own fate - how often I talk to other people, how many friends I have, when I stay at home and read instead of going out, and so on. I cannot, by definition, feel rejected by a society that I voluntarily choose to stay away from most of the time.

By contrast, it's obvious that the Columbine shooters were two kids who really, really wanted to fit in, but were made social outcasts by the typical societal clickiness that makes some people cool and others not. If those two had really been loners, they would not have formed their own little social group (the Trenchcoat Mafia), and they would not have been bothered by their 'outsider' social status.

But in fact, as the article says, they needed to make a public statement to the people they felt rejected by, which is why they chose their public, grandiose display of violence. It seems that they were extremely bothered by being bullied and/or rejected by the 'normal' group, and they wanted everyone to know it.

Contrast that to my own experience in high school as an introvert, where I never really cared that I was not popular. I never have and never will judge myself by what others think of me, or where I fit in in the social order, because that's my personal preference. Not only am I not the life of anyone's party, I'm happier not to be, thank you very much.

Many people in the media and in government are quick to peg these shooters as 'troubled loners,' and whenever they do so, they do a huge disservice to all of the genuine introverts out there who self-identify, proudly and happily, as loners. There is nothing inherently wrong with being alone, and there is nothing inherently wrong with preferring to be so.

In fact, preferring a bit of alone time is perfectly natural and normal, and feeling so secure in your identity that you don't rely on group membership to form the basis of your own self-worth is a strength, not a weakness. And if, in our hyper-conformist society, adults would simply tell the young people in their care this one, simple fact, instead of encouraging the sort of constant, mindless conformity that plagues our social order (especially in schools), I think a lot of this grandiose, attention-seeking school violence could be eliminated.

His own phrase, "It's not logical but it feels right," should have been the title for this exercise in new-agey double-speak.

Instead of aligning our chakras, science should be helping us to align our opinions with the factual truth. If people like Kauffman would focus on that more than they waste time making up new nonsensical buzz words, then the world actually would be a better place where people more easily got along with each other.

Environmental message movie using recycled and reused bits of other, better movie: brilliant metaphor or brilliant stupidity?

How about the Previous Occupant as the next evil president on 24? Art imitating life...?