Americans are hypocrites. They act all shocked and sad when they hear of serial killers, school shootings, Jihad terrorist acts, and other violence. Then they return with glee to violent video games and slasher films.

But it's vicarious violence, these games and movies.

 Vicarious means: using, in your imagination, others as surrogates. You watch other people or you pretend to be someone else. You put yourself, consciously or unconsciously, in the place of the villain and/or the victim. 

As vengeful sadist, you thrill in watching others suffer. As guilt-ridden masochist, you delight in getting the punishment you feel you deserve. You do it through others or via an alter ego.

You may switch from inflicter of pain to recipient of punishment, back and forth, or you may settle on being one or the other. One thing's for sure. If there was a technology that you had to hook up to, as you watched slasher films or played video games, that would make you actually feel the pain you inflict on others, or watch others inflict, you would not engage in vicarious violence.

Since violent video games and slasher films do not have mandatory "pain feedback" apparatus, forcing you to experience the violence you vicariously enjoy, you think you get away with it.

You don't. You attract violence to yourself as you vicariously engage in it. You unleash karmic forces against your safety and life.

You focus your mind on what you enjoy. If you love nature, you probably watch Animal Planet and National Geographic. If you love sleazy sex, you watch porn. If you love bullies and power, you love The Godfather. 

 You cannot love one thing and spend time with its opposite. Pacifists hate war movies. War mongers hate stories about how peace is stronger than combat.

Tell me what you love to see, and I'll tell you where your heart is secretly stationed.  It's not really "secret" to anyone but you. You refuse to admit how dark and sick your soul really is.

I'll use myself, briefly, as an example. I can't bear to watch the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. I refused to watch The Passion by Mel Gibson. I click the remote as I surf channels on the TV, always skipping scenes of murder, violence, war. I simply have zero tolerance for bloodshed and cruelty.

You say, "I play violent video games and watch horror films, but I have never killed anyone." Yet. You forgot to add the word "yet" to your factual statement.

How do you know, for absolute certainty, that nothing could make you snap? Have you ever been so angry, you felt like hurting or killing someone?

You don't commit murder because you haven't been provoked enough. Yet. You are afraid of the law. Still. You have some conscience that prohibits acting out your hate. Now.

Yet. Still. Now. But all this could change.

If you fill your mind with violence, it can become the basis for future actions, the seeds awaiting the right conditions and temperature. You have no assurance that you will never kill or seriously harm someone. You must live in that uncertainty. 

When there is a killing spree, media and authorities spread misinformation and unaccountability reigns. They speak of doing studies, conducting research, seeking insight and solutions. It's all deceptive and insincere.

Leaders fear disrespect, distrust, dissent based on their inept handling of what causes and could prevent violence and bloodshed off the battlefield. They rush to justify what has been done and what they are allegedly  trying to do.

"Don't rush to judgment" and "it's too early to tell if there were warning signs" and "we have to wonder why anyone would do such a thing, what were the motivations?"

They know why. They won't admit what's wrong in society and leadership. They saw the warning signs. They refused to deal with them. Pass the buck. Cover your ass. Restore order. Deflect criticism.

What causes sociopathic, misanthropic, human-hating violence?

Brutalization. Desensitization. Glorification of cruelty and power. Justification of torture and dehumanization of opponents. Racial and ethnic antagonism. 

Children "love" playful dinosaurs, cuddly bears, silly cartoon monsters. The danger posed by real life equivalents is minimized by society and entertainment producers.

As children advance in age, their lovable monsters grow in fiendishness. From bears and apes to zombies and vampires. Some kids love them so much, they grow up to be monsters: bullies, abusive boyfriends, oppressive bosses, arrogant unethical CEOs, rapists, serial killers.

Reject the culture of aggression, revenge, and Hurting As Solution.

Remove yourself from the environment and conditioning of violence. Learn how to calm yourself. Read books by peace loving authors like Gandhi, Tolstoy, Proust, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Imitate peace lovers like Jesus and Buddha.

Be the change you want to see in this world.