School shootings have become contagious like suicide (it’s a form of suicide after all). These vengeful shooters are motivated by the national (even global) shock, outrage, and sorrow. Today’s media environment (including social media) creates this sense that unless we go extreme, we are nobody, and that it’s better to be hated than ignored, because only exceptional contents go viral and receive any attention, which means our impressions of the world consist only of exceptional events and people, which in turn makes us feel like we are the only unexceptional people.
