I am afraid to admit this because usually I get yelled at or called a conservative, but I agree. It's much like a spoiled child mentality. I don't think that's why the guy chose Seattle though. Isn't he from Everett?

See the Slog post directly below this one. A whole Amphitheatre full of victims waiting to snap.

There is never a good excuse for gunning people down... but yes. There is a lot of truth to that statement.

Seattle is an apologist burg that absolves people of responsibility for their feelings and actions and encourages the acceptance of a victim mentality, while discouraging people from being assertive about their lives. I see it in my everyday life around here. It's a BIG problem, and no, people are NOT like this everywhere else.

I knew something wasn't right when my first boss at my first Seattle-area job chastised me for being 'too assertive'.

And as the first comment inferred, there's a certain response and type of response that's to be expected for saying what was said. Unfortunately, it's only indicative of the attitudes and approaches that the author pointed out.

So go ahead and point fingers and blame, blame, blame away your problems. Most of you are only looking for excuses not to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your actions.

Yes. And this totally explains Tim McVeigh. What a crock of shit.

Sure, sure. Blame the deranged nut coddlers...

Interesting, when I read this I immediately thought of the whining American right wing:

- legitimizes and condones the outrages of the self-described oppressed peoples. - Israel; the white anglo saxon male.

- It rewards them with reduced responsibility for their actions. - Bush, his rich kid posse, his corporate gold diggers.

- It encourages them to experience themselves not as equal citizens but as violated victims. - The Minutemen; white anglo saxon males..

Conservative is too honorable a label for the right wing extremists of today. Barry Goldwater would chase these these titty babies out of power with a stick..

Seattle isn't even that violent of a city. I don't think the crime has anything to do with an atmosphere of tolerance- to suggest so is silly. I do, however, think that that a lot of the people who think that are sniveling pussies that never lived in a city with real crime. There are cities that are lot less tolerant and a lot more violent than this one. But I guess if you're used to living in a wealthy city that coddles the upper middle class, things probably seem really out of control

i'm sick and tired of the right calling the left on this "victimology" nonsense. the truth is this: without "victimoloty," you don't have christianity. christianity is founded on victim (slave) morality.

This guy's loony rant is largely predicated on a citation from a Times article attributed to "officials" that Haq won't be prosecuted for a hate crime.

Every other instance I can find in every news story says police and FBI have called it a hate crime.

I'm really not interested in reading another slew of posts debating the merits of hate crimes legislation, but I am confused on this point. If true, I would think this would merit much more than a single attribution in one Times article. What "officials" have made this determination so quickly, in opposition to every other citation?

As wierd as that statement is. I feel like it might have some truth to it. Seattle is a haven for all of us counter culture freaks. Some of us are just more messed up then others

I blame our passive political process. Let's discuss this for 40 years, vote on it 4 times, and then change our minds and do nothing.

That will work.

None of this would have happened, had we only built a Monorail?

There is very limited access to mental health care in this country unless you have a lot of money/insurance. And then you add the ease of obtaining guns and bang you have a system that can produce a mass shooter at any time any where. Seattle has just been unlucky.
And the reason we are awash in guns and people who need mental health treatment is because of the motherfucking conservatives.

This is the most retarded thread of comments I have ever read. By blaming this fucked up freak's actions on the culture of Seattle the author and you idiots who agree with him are doing exactly what you are criticizing - reducing his responsibility for his actions and describing him as a victim of Seattle's culture.

You assholes are also playing the victim when you whine about Seattle and act like you are the only normal ones. Shut the fuck up and get over yourself.

Yes, Please somebody - explain to me just how Seattle "legitimizes and condones the outrages of the self-described oppressed peoples", OR "rewards them with reduced responsibility for their actions." OR " encourages them to experience themselves not as equal citizens but as violated victims."

How does Seattle do this, or is this yet another example of some conservative doofus pulling some idea out of his ass, and a bunch of idiots who are incapable of having an original thought agreeing with him?

Please enlighten me. And I mean concrete examples please - not some dumbass story about how "some guy" got "something". I want statistics and references, please.

Not the best theory. I see these type of victimized people on television all of the time.

the statement is exagerrated and generalizes too much BUT there is more than a little truth to its essence. I'm young,live in Belltown, and nothing about me or the way I live could pigeonhole me as a neocon, which is the inevitable tag given by some faux activists/progressives to those of us who won't follow their dogma when it falls off the reality truck.

Jean, Television - like MEGAchristianity - thrives on victims. Victims attract audiences. Victims allow the viewers to feel superior to the somebody. If you think Seattle TV has the corner on this, you need to visit the "heartland" - they LOVE victims on the evening news there.

Helen, I'm not disagreeing with you, but I still don't see how Seattle enables groups of victims. Our historically oppressed people - Native Americans and the Asians - have hardly been given a "free ride". The Native American girls who populated the brothels that kept the city going in the early years were hardly coddled, and the Asians - whom we have both deported and interred on occassion - have earned everything they've gotten in this town, after having everything taken away from them.

Liberals, Progressives, and Just Plain Folks in Seattle have recognized this, and acknowledged their role in it, but that's hardly enabling anyone.

It's OK to realize you were wrong and say you're sorry.

"When you encourage people to feel like victims you cannot be surprised that they act out as victims."

Um, he acted out like the abuser, not the victim, jackass. Plus, he was from Eastern Washington, where conservatives roam freely and openly, totally out of the closet. And yes, Seattle is laid back and not 'assertive', but it's not the laid back people who go around gunning people, it's the 'assertive' ones.

I let the thread sit for a day. What resulted did not surprise me at all. Painfully predictable, predictably ignorant, and ignorantly defensive.

Oh my Gomez - we are passing judgement, aren't we? Especially after that stirring first post of yours which cited ONE instance of a boss who was probably just trying to tell you in a nice way to stop being an asshole.

The Jewish people have been victims of oppression. We must never forget the Holocaust. Only the Jewish people can claim to have been truly oppressed. Christians are the ones who always oppress others, Christians have never suffered oppression themselves.