The motivation that drove the two young men in the Colorado incident was not "emotional disturbance" or "mental illness." Their behavior was a result of the educational process to which they were exposed which ignored and denied their intrinsic worth. It was the "good people" who set them up to believe that their self-worth depended upon their performance. The social and education system invited them into a competitive position. It is the "good people" who need to look at what they have created - a society that divides people into groups based upon image and performance. This is a very powerful tool used to isolate those who do not just fit in or do not have the opportunity to succeed. The typical groups are: honor students who get special academic attention, athletes who get special attention, band and drama who get special attention, etc. The average and not so average are ignored with little or no standing in the pecking order.
It is not the social order itself that is the root cause of it all, but the attitude conveyed to the young people that they as an individual do not possess intrinsic worth. The powerful feelings of hurt and inadequately is felt early on in the life of a child. As he grows, the pain becomes more intense because the message is reinforced and the demand for performance becomes greater. Those who are fortunate enough to perform may fit in, but with a great deal of pressure which always keeps them on the edge of failure and rejection.
As time goes on, the underdog compensates for his pain by making himself feel anger. Anger feels better then hurt or inferiority. The social order is predicated upon the issue of power. The underdog learns from society that through power of anger he can make the playing field level. Sad as it is, the playing field is level, at least for a while - everyone is hurting. Unless something is done to change the basic core values about the essence of human beings, it will happen again. The "good people" will set the stage for the drama. The victims - the two young men will get the blame.
Sigmund Freud made a very serious mistake when he cast the definition for human behavior into a medical model. The basic cause and motivation for human behavior is philosophical and educational not medical. There are some exception as in manic-depression, etc. Human beings are not intrinsically good or bad. They are what they believe themselves to be predicted upon what information is stored in their core belief system. As a man thinks, so is he. The moral judgement of human behavior only perpetuates the foundation of making performance the bases for self worth. When the information in the belief system is congruent with the essence of the person then there will be equity of the person with himself and with others.
Fred Fariss maintains the Selfness Home Page:http://www.pilot.infi.net/~count and To All The Children Of The World: http://www.angelfire.com/me/Fariss