Finally, a gunman with an interesting story

The Pittsburg gunman left a web page. [Original has been removed from the web, but I preserved his writings with their original HTML tags.] He was George Sodini, a 48-year-old computer programmer.

His last girlfriend was around twenty years ago. After twenty years of rejection by women, he finally had the courage to take his revenge by shooting at members of the sex who rejected him and made him feel like a loser.

I also blame computer programming; it’s a soul-deadening job. Interestingly, he wasn’t unemployed, and in fact, he recently received a promotion at work. He had a net worth of $250K, which is not a terribly surprising figure. But unfortunately, Sodini didn’t think it was worth living to face another thirty years of loneliness.

Roissy says that if someone had taught him “game,” this unfortunate outcome would have been averted.

* * *

The photo from his web site:

He’s not the worst looking 48-year-old, except for those lumps on his cheeks.

* * *

Commenters object to my use of the word “courage.”

The dictionary defines courage: “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”

Death is what people fear most, so I give anyone who shoots himself credit for having a certain sort of courage. Furthermore, his diary shows that he was thinking about this for months but kept chickening out. Overcoming one's fear of doing something is a clear example of courage.

Why do people think that only saintly people can have courage? The bad guys can also have courage.

Comments

[Peter A]

Have you read the French writer Houellebecq? I think you'd like him, he writes a lot along these lines - how we've created a sexual free market resulting in sexual winners and losers in a way that didn't exist in traditional European society. Sexual losers in our society bear the double stigma of no sex (bad enough), and then feeling mocked for their low status. At least in the old days you could shunt sexual losers off to the priesthood where they could feel respected. I think Roissy's optimistic about the ability of losers to learn "game" over the long run. It's an arms race - if a bunch of nerds start pulling chicks with game, then the alphas will just come back with better game.

[Robert]

Courage? Killing women who did nothing to you? Courage? The man was acting out and was very murderous but courage? Seems more evil to me. Does anyone think murder is immoral anymore?

[Horse play]

I'm not quite sure "game" helps to get women who have spent more than a couple years in adulthood. Wearing a boa while dropping negs has a short shelf-life. The better solution would have been legal prostitution. He could have achieved the physical release necessary to let off enough steam - it's not a "cure" for loneliness, but it would likely have prevented him getting as bad as he did. And I wouldn't call it courage, to shoot unarmed and innocent women.

[Richard Hoste www.hbdbooks.com]

"Roissy says that if someone had taught him “game,” this unfortunate outcome would have been averted."

That's like saying NAMs would get good grades if they tried harder. Sure, they could improve, but there's a genetic limit.

This guy sounds like he was trying self-improvement his whole life. Whatever it is that attracts women, he never had it and probably never would have no matter what.

[Peter]

One thing that might help avoid future incidents is repealing IMBRA, the federal law which essentially put the mail order bride industry out of business. MOB's come with their own set of troubles, especially the fact that some of them are con artists, but they can be a last-ditch solution for men whose Beta-ness or introversion or physical drawbacks make it impossible for them to find women the normal way.

[bbartlog]

Given that he had a job and was (as you note) not physically repulsive, I think you can assume that his failures in the dating market were a result of the same psychological defects that made him turn homicidal. Whether that's control freakery, paranoia, or just a relentless drive to blame other people for his failures, I don't know. Regardless, I think it's a mistake to cast this story as 'normal guy driven to murder by frustration in the modern sexual marketplace'. Likely more accurate would be 'creepy weirdo rejected by women, doubles down and turns murderous'.

[sabril]

"Likely more accurate would be 'creepy weirdo rejected by women, doubles down and turns murderous'."

I agree. He's sufficiently attractive and successful that if he had a remotely average personality, he would eventually wander into a relationship. The fact is that most AFCs (average frustrated chumps) eventually get into long term relationships.

[Dennis Mangan]

You mention that he had "lumps on his cheeks". That, together with the fact that he worked out in a gym makes me think that he was doing steroids. He's got that 0% body fat look. Maybe this was 'roid rage.

[dev]

Why didn’t anyone sleep with him in 19 years? Perhaps it is because, as women have to do, they picked up the signals that this man was not well, not safe. And yet even then, even when they stay away from the crazies, the crazies sometimes come looking for them, because it’s always women's fault that their lives aren’t what they want it to be.

Of course this man hated those women. Because, in the end, it is easier to hate and blame women than to hate and blame yourself.

[Subcomandante Dave]

"I also blame computer programming; it’s a soul-deadening job."

Let me guess, you're being ambiguously facetious again, it's just so hard to tell when dealing with the sophisticated sense of humor of a New Yawker. My life savings for whoever brings me irony's head on a platter.

Anyhoo, nice to see you share Susan Sontag's view that courage is a, quote, "morally neutral virtue". Just kidding, it's gross. Morality is the better part of intelligent commentary, I say.

[Peter]

"You mention that he had "lumps on his cheeks". That, together with the fact that he worked out in a gym makes me think that he was doing steroids. He's got that 0% body fat look. Maybe this was 'roid rage."

He described himself in the online diary as 5'10" and 150#s. That doesn't sound like a juicer.

[Peter]

Sodini's site is down, no surprise, fortunately I copied the whole thing to Subchat:

http://www.subchat.com/otchat/read.asp?Id=482252

[Shawn]

You'd think if a man were that anxious to get his rocks off he'd spend $200 for a half-hour of fun with an escort.

[Horse play]

Slightly off-topic, but I wanted to express my recognition of the courage of the woman who drove drunk and stoned down the wrong-way of the Taconic parkway last week, killing herself and 4 of the 5 children that were in the car with her (along with 3 adults in the car she hit). Most people would be too scared to willingly impair their driving ability, especially when traveling with children. Her courage should not be disregarded.

[Turambar]

"he finally had the courage to take his revenge by shooting at members of the sex who rejected him and made him feel like a loser. "

Uh wow. You are trying to bait Spungeon into commenting.

I wonder if we will get a comment from the woman he dated in May. He must have been sending out some sort of weird vibe these women were unable to overlook. But he just got promoted at work so he must not be identifiable to everyone as a squirely nut case.

BTW- since is web site is dead, here is a link a site that cached the info:
http://raincoaster.com/2009/08/05/george-sodinis-blog-the-plan/

Very sad reading the thoughts of a lonely guy who looks at the world as a cup 95% empty.

[sestamibi]

dev said:

"Why didn’t anyone sleep with him in 19 years? Perhaps it is because, as women have to do, they picked up the signals that this man was not well, not safe."

You have learned nothing either here or from roissy, no? They SEEK OUT the bad boys!

[Trumwill]

//You have learned nothing either here or from roissy, no? They SEEK OUT the bad boys!//

Even to the extent that is true (a point I do not concede except for a subset of women), it applies to bad boys with bravado... not bad boys with creepy vibes. Some girls may date the outlaw biker, but few will date the guy that keeps keeps a collection of ferret heads in the freezer. This guy is more ferret head and less outlaw biker.

[Lugo]

Maybe you can give him "credit" for offing himself as a sort of courage, but you also said that he had the "courage" to shoot unarmed women, which is no sort of courage at all. If the damn loser wanted to blow his brains out, he should have done it and left other people (none of whom had harmed him) alone.

[JohnM]

I'd blame the father for this. It's the father's role to teach sons that girls have a viceral reaction to creepiness. That all the weightlifting in the world isn't going to help if you have that creepy aura.
It's not even that difficult to get rid of. Some basic therapy to get rid of the anger and resolve creepy behavior. for many guys this is what learning "game" is all about.
Notice in his rambling about his father not teaching him anything. But it's so basic, it's written in stone. Most guys don't dig fat chicks. Most girls don't dig creepy guys. And it's a hell of a lot easier for guys to become less creepy than it is for girls to become less fat.

[Sid]

Sorry, but the whole "courage can be used for evil acts" sound too Susan Sontag to me. In English, the word "courage" connotes boldness and perseverance to do the right thing in the face of normally paralyzing fear. "Audacity" sounds better, though audacity often connotes a general recklessness. I don't think we have a good word to describe the kind of psychotic breakdown which leads a normally timid, nervous person into going postal, but courage shouldn't fill the gap. It perverts the connotations associated with the word courage, leaving a sterilized version which means "a morally-neutral virtue" as Sontag put it, which more or less sounds like "a triangle with no sides, a shade of red without color."

Roid rage is a myth anyway. Steroids might make you more of an asshole, but they don't render you psychotic.

[El Rayo X]

Thanks for preserving this diary on your blog. I disagree with your courage assessment--I see it more as quiet desperation run amok. I'm putting my money on a tumor, a la Charles Whitman.

[Travis McGee]

Wow, courage? You seriously lost me there. Under your definition :“mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." What he did was the opposite of courage. Where was the strength to "withstand danger"? Where was the strength to persevere against difficulty?

He walked into a room of completely unsuspecting, unarmed females. That is so far from "courage" it isn't even in the same time zone.

Plus he said himself he couldn't stand up to his brother because he was too big. Seriously? He let his brother dominate him his entire life because of a size difference?

And you call that "courage"?

He was a scared, sad, pathetic little animal. Taking one's life doesn't prove courage. It's a way out. People don't fear death, they fear the pain and the unknown. He took care of both those by choosing his own way out and making sure it was painless.

He was a coward.

[Valori]

well he is getting what he wants for his words to live on I have no pity for this man life is what you make of it life is a gift some are fighting to live while others like him took the lives of innocent people all because he felt rejected if he ever looked at what he wrote and anyone read it they would be scared to date him he was an unstable man with allot of issues I'm surprised anyone who came across his blog didn't notify authorities just by reading it there were way to many red flags and yet nothing was done sad

[Stopped Clock]

I agree with Travis McGee.

[Anonymous]

What really scares me about all this is the parallels this has with my own life. Mind you, I'm much younger and I don't feel any anger like he did, nor do I have any racist inclinations like he expressed. And I can never, not in a million years, see myself acting out violently or developing such hatred and resentment as this troubled man did.

But I'd be a fool not to recognize some parallels. I'm also a computer programmer nerd with zero success with women. I've always been called the "nice guy" but never garnered any romantic attention. I hate to say this, but in some ways I can almost feel his frustration and hopelessness. Seeing people post "he should just get a hooker, lol" just shows the level of stigma and negative attitude there is toward those of us who don't have "game", as he put it.

Of course, there are plenty of differences as well. He seems to have a very pessimistic outlook on life, not to mention an underlying hatred of women in general; neither of which has ever applied to me. Still, it does send a shiver through my spine to read some of the things he's saying.

There's a chance this guy may not have been "creepy", at least earlier on in his life, and it's not fair to suggest that you have to be creepy in order to have such little success with the opposite sex.

I don't have a solution to this problem that many men seem to face, but maybe if they weren't mocked and maligned with so much stigma they might be more inclined to come out of the shadows and connect with others who have the same issue. Maybe that wouldn't have changed the outcome here, we'll never know. But what we do know is that the one theme common among these lone gunmen is a feeling of lonliness, isolation, and rejection. If he'd known that he wasn't alone, that there are many, many other people in our society (and not just men) who suffer the same lack of confidence and charisma, perhaps he never would've gone down this path. Again, we'll never know.

But if we can make one good thing come out of this tragedy, perhaps it can serve to expose the fact that a significant percentage of men and women in this country-- people who are not necessarily ugly or creepy or whatever else-- don't have any success with the opposite sex. If there exists that recognition, rather than the perception that "everyone but me is hooking up", then people will perhaps no longer feel ashamed to talk about it (as evidenced by the fact that I'm posting this under "Anonymous" lol).

This shooting may have happened anyway, as this individual seems to have harbored a great deal of anger and hatred towards women and minorities. But just as the Columbine tragedy exposed the problem with bullying in schools, perhaps this too can serve as a lesson to help us avert such a horrible tragedy in the future. Your thoughts?

[A]

"He had a net worth of $250K, which is not a terribly surprising figure."

Not surprising indeed. If he were "successful" with women, he'd be $250,000 in debt by now.

[Teshub]

To me this sounds like a psyop in the vein of the CIA's MKULTRA. Simply from the fact that this sort of "death log" was written. And that he could have easily went to Asia and gotten laid like nobody's business, finding both romance or just straight up banging.

[PRCalDude]

I don't have a solution to this problem that many men seem to face, but maybe if they weren't mocked and maligned with so much stigma they might be more inclined to come out of the shadows and connect with others who have the same issue. Maybe that wouldn't have changed the outcome here, we'll never know. But what we do know is that the one theme common among these lone gunmen is a feeling of lonliness, isolation, and rejection.

Women have very low standards. More than likely, people have already tried to help you out of your shell to no avail. I have personally tried to help several guys learn how to act more normally (read: less creepy) and have failed. More than likely, you have extremely low self-confidence and don't know how to read body-language. Over time, if unchecked, this may lead to creepiness.

Stop hanging out with other programmers, engineers, etc. Find a place to hang out with other guys who act "normal" and get chix (this does not mean that you should start hanging out with dudes at the gym who pluck their eyebrows and are constantly saying 'Dat bitch crazy' into their cell phones). Engage in more activities that require physical courage.

[jjcomet]

"Courage?" Shit, man you can't possibly understand the meaning of that term if you use it like that. Pathetic, just pathetic.

[jjcomet]

Well, censor me if you wish, but it's still beyond pathetic of you to characterize what that loser did as "courage." You clearly don't know what the word means...

[jjcomet]

"Women have very low standards."

Somehow you don't strike me as the ideal candidate for successfully counseling others on how to deal with women..

[nothing]

"Finally, a gunman with an interesting story"

I nearly had a heartattack due to laughing so hard at the title of this blog post. Lee Harvey Oswald has a pretty damn interesting story so did that Cho kid at Virginia Tech.

[LTN1489]

I completely reject the typical female explanation that Sodini couldn't get sex because he was "creepy" or "misogynistic", just as I don't buy anything else women say, since their sexual choices often contradict what they say they want.

For example, "creepy", "misogynistic" serial killers (who often rape and kill women) usually have groupies - hot women lining up to screw them without expecting anything in return. The main difference between the typical loner omega male and an infamous serial killer is that the infamous serial killer has achieved ALPHA STATUS (infamy) and THAT more than anything is what women are after, because women objectify men for social status.

Ironically, if Sodini had lived, he would now have groupies/women lining up for him (due to becoming an infamous mass murderer).

A combination of game, mental health treatment and social support would've probably helped this guy. But men are not viewed as deserving of help or compassion in our misandrist feminist society. Violence like this will likely continue until society begins to address the problems of men, especially vulnerable men.

[Dave]

That red bracelet means he was into Kabbalah. Creepy.

BTW guys, Squeaky Fromme's now available.

[america]

People's brains seize up over the most insignificant shit. There's nothing wrong with the use of the word "courage" given what we know about about Sodini leading up to the attack. His diary shows that he was a quivering bitch, not a machine, so it's reasonable to assume that he was scared out of his mind.

Do you all write for Disney?

[Lilin]

"After twenty years of rejection by women, he finally had the courage to take his revenge by shooting at members of the sex who rejected him and made him feel like a loser."

When did I enter a world in which sneaking into a public area and shooting unarmed people was an act of 'courage'?

When did I enter a world in which killing and injuring people who never harmed you in any way could be considered 'revenge'?

No one made him 'feel like a loser'. He *was* a loser. He was a relentlessly self-pitying whiner who punctuated his bleating whimpers about how women didn't like him with childish bursts of rage at the 3 million women who apparently rejected him by not showing up at his door and offering sex.

Then, when he realized that there was nothing about him that would get him a second glance, he didn't decide to change anything about himself, he decided to pick up a gun.

The fact that you frame this a courageous act of 'revenge' against aggression from women is disgusting and terrifying. It says more about you than it does about him.

No woman committed any offense against that man. He decided to shoot them because they didn't pay enough attention to him to suit his ego. Sadly, this is a common story. The only thing that makes this different from the many men who beat and kill their wives or their girlfriends is this man didn't know the names of the women he shot.

I don't know what part of your mind makes shooting unarmed, unsuspecting women a courageous act of revenge for not getting enough dates, but you need to root it out and squash it. Seek help. Seriously.

[Travis McGee]

I'm certainly don't write for Disney. And I am usually very open minded when talking about things such as this. I'm not offended by anyone's use of the word "courage," I just cannot see the justification for it.

I would almost see your point if he had become a rapist. I would still disagree, but at least it would fit with your statement that he finally stood up to women who rejected him. Obviously, they rejected him sexually, at least in his mind, therefore if he really wanted to stand up to them he would take what he wanted (sex) by force.

Obviously that would be equally as wrong as killing them, but my only point is it would make your definition actually plausible.

I could also see your point if he had confronted his brother and shot him. That would have been standing up to danger. The gun would then serve only the purpose of leveling the playing field as his brother was apparently bigger and stronger than he was. Still wrong, but getting much closer to showing courage.

But instead he did something that has nothing to do with standing up to anyone, or showing courage, or anything else. He simply broke his toy when he couldn't figure out how to make it work.

That's not courage. That's giving up and throwing a tantrum.

[Nick]

It's HS's familiarity with the dictionary and the English language that leads him to believe that overcoming one's fears and confronting the root of all terror (death) requires courage. The idea that courage is necessarily positive is a contemporary invention. Modern people have to frame every positive act as one of strength and every negative act as one of weakness, as if there were any basis for that theory.

And Lilin, HS never suggested that Sodini's revenge was rational or justified, merely that Sodini viewed it that way. When analyzing someone's motives, it makes sense to consider what *they* were thinking. His acknowleding this says nothing about HS apart from the fact that he can objectively analyze a situation rather than queasily moralizing.

Sodini was a loser who imagined himself oppressed by the world. After 30 years he finally decided to take action and avenge himself. So he did, even though human's naturally fear death, even though modern humans would find murder unthinkable. That takes courage, especially for a naturally meek, isolating individual like him. The fact that it is also malicious, horrific and evil doesn't change the fact that it takes courage.

[Wingman]

Nick,

There is more nuance to natural language than can be captured in a dictionary. It's not a strange coincidence that most people are taken aback by the use of the word "courage" in this context. It's because most people view the world through a moral lens, and the positive attribute of courage loses an essential part of its meaning when describing the state of the actor without regard for the act. You may be playing by dictionary rules in describing a normally timid and nervous rapist as courageous, but please don't act surprised if most people consider you messed up and creepy for doing so.

[Lilin]

That's a sad attempt at evasion, Nick.

"And Lilin, HS never suggested that Sodini's revenge was rational or justified, merely that Sodini viewed it that way."

Please quote the part of the post where Sigma says anything like that. Sigma gives us Sodini's name, his age, and his location. Then he gives us the quote about how he didn't have a girlfriend for 20 years until he "had the courage to take his revenge by shooting at the members of the sex who rejected him".

What's the next sentence in the post. Go on. Read it.

"I also blame blame computer programming:"

"Also blame."

"ALSO BLAME."

So you're right, Nick. Sigma doesn't 'suggest' that this was a courageous act against evil women. He flat-out says it.

And please don't trot out the sad excuse that Sigma gives us, that he meant Soldini was courageous because he 'faced death.'

Just so you don't deny it, or squirm around what he said one more time. I'll quote it again.

". . . he had the courage TO TAKE HIS REVENGE."

Not to 'face death'. Not to 'shoot himself'. To "take his revenge".

How? By going to an enclosed space. Shutting off the lights so people coudln't see him. And shooting unarmed women. Brave, indeed.

I hope we are done with our little dance about what Sigma actually meant when he said 'he had the courage to take his revenge on the sex who . . . made him feel like a loser,' just before he went on to talk about who he 'also blames' the job Sodini had.

Sigma said exactly what he meant. And what he meant was shameful.

[Asher]

If we lived in a sane society, we'd be putting down young males exhibiting anti-scoial behaviors like rabid dogs at an early age. Then individuals like Soldini might have a shot at an early age of not accumulating the sort of creepy awkwardness that repels women. No, the only thing society today seems to care about is the pot-smoking, rutting sow who spreads her legs for anything with a brash swagger and has 4 kids by 3 different cocks by the time she's eighteen.

Plenty of men in Soldini's situation do not do what he did, however, this case is a manifestation of misplaced priorities that result from an ethos based primarily, or even solely, on pity for the most wretched.

[bk]

If you feel the way this guy felt, please read the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Seriously, it will help you interact with other people and literally will change the way you look at other people and the way they look at you overnight.

[realitycheck]

"And that he could have easily went to Asia and gotten laid like nobody's business, finding both romance or just straight up banging."

In your dreams yes but it doesn't work that way.

The "Asian girls" line of thinking is a dumb product of your white nationalism and can't ever get laid hopelessness. You imagine a dream land where chicks want you. And you think being white makes you powerful.

I see normal looking white guys with normal looking Asian girls. I see uglier white guys with uglier Asian girls.

[Anonomega]

After pondering on Omega rage and pain, I realise it would do the Sodinis of the world good to...to paraphrase Sinead O Connor.... Fight The Real Enemy
Gammas, Omegas, lend me your ear:
Your misogyny is, at worst, understandable, of this I will not argue. but stay your hand at those with the XX chomosone and heed..... Yes women ought stop having such high standards, settle more for lower males, appreciate nice guys, give them chance etc....since this is what men have to do. But consider. We can be pretty damn content with a "5", heck even a "4.5". But what if there were many "10"'s not only making themselves available, but AGRESSIVELY SEDUCING us? Would we bother with those 5's? Is it reasonable to expect us to? So in this alternate reality, if a 5 is deprived the joys of sex, romance, marriage, and motherhood...who should she really blame? The men, or a bunch of bitchy, slutty 10's who already have plenty of men, but still run around rubbing up against every halfway attractive man...simply because they CAN?
Do the "math".
Fight the Real Enemy: the ALPHAS
All alphas have to do is pick one or two of the hottest ass they can get and fucking MAKE DO with it...and it will trickle down to some come hither stares in Sodinis direction. But with each just-because-I-can extra lay, they brutally SNATCHED away Sodinis one chance at meager sexual contentment.
And many alphas know this! Look at roissy's blog!They know this and they're laughing their sick fucking asses off about it!! 'Tricks Are for Kids Motherfucker!'
May I remind you these are the guys who TORMENTED YOU IN SCHOOL?! REMEMBER THAT, OMEGAS?! And when we learn how the mating game is really played we realise they destroyed us far more than we thought they were when we were young. By beating us down, crushing our self-esteem, they were wringing out of us something PRECIOUS... our confidence...something ESSENTIAL to securing a mate, though we did not realise it at the time! Wake up and smell the locker insides and toilet water!
Alpha's, higher Betas....the Real Enemy, have always been our oppressors...their cruelty fueled by nothing other then their vile despising of the weak. Yet so many Gamma-Omegas wanna lash out at the cunts. Why? The reasons are obvious. when your beaten down and SCARED...SO TERRIFIED... of your oppressors, it is expected to direct your bitterness and hurt at softer, easier targets. I walked the path of misogyny too, and I'm not suggesting going back to women-are-angels bullshit. Its just that upon simple thinking, reflection, analysis whatever, I realise that misogyny is the easier path, yet it is ultimately the more cowardly.
To any future, budding, wanna-be, halfway, or neo George Sodinis out there: i don't, ahem, support the sort of bloodshed he was about or anything...but I'm JUST SAYING.... IF YOU HAVE TO SHOOT SOMEBODY, IF YOU HAVE TO KIDNAP AND TORTURE SOMEBODY..think on my words and ask yourself: WHO DESERVES IT MORE?! Ahem...of course in the name of decency and morality and all that good shit...I would have to advocate less psycotic means. Vengeance on alphas will be a lot harder and scarier than cunt-hatred....you may have to disciplne yourself...make yourself combat ready...and ulimately become that which you hate...heck I cant practice what i preach! but if you put down the "Stupid Sluts Take It Up The Ass Like they Deserve" porn and pick up the barbell, it will be potentially more rewarding, for yourself and (I think) society. And Alphas will learn the one downside rule of the alpha life:
Watch Your Fucking Back.

[George Murphy]

I have not heard anything about what he did, other than what is written here, but I do not think that courage is an inapropriate word to describe George Sodini.
The fact that he accomplished as much as he did while living such a painfully lonely life is bravery.
However, he very much should not have killed innocent people. Perhaps, he should have rid the planet of a bunch of evil creeps like the KKK or Neo Nazis.
Maybe in the next life.

[George Murphy]

Someone above says that you cannot go to Asia and get laid if you are not an Alpha male, but that is a lie. I have lived in Thailand for 20 years and the prettiest women are interested in me even though I have grown quite fat and ugly. Men have it much better here than women.
I wanted to die from loneliness every day when I lived in the US, even though I had plenty of friends, but no lovers. The shoe is on the other foot for men in most of Asia.