Althouse: "Some people just can’t cope with failure. They lack resourcefulness and are psychologically fragile."

February 13, 2013

"Some people just can’t cope with failure. They lack resourcefulness and are psychologically fragile."

"Then their dreams of glory come crashing down and... 'charred human remains.'"

Robert Stacy McCain, seeing the pun in "charred human remains."

36 comments:

Nonapod said...: "Charred Human Remains" is a good name for a blackened death metal band.; 2/13/13, 10:07 AM
Carol said...: I used to get trolls like that when I first started practicing..yeah they had had a good govt job but someone screwed them over! due to professional jealousy!! and goddammit there was a lot of money in it if they won their case!

And when I respectfully declined they said I was afraid to fight City Hall! etc but I had been forewarned about claimants seeking greenhorn lawyers to work on contingency. Thank God.; 2/13/13, 10:18 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Such a tragic loss.

Anyone who could write a 11,400-word "manifesto" could have gotten a job writing material for Matt Damon.; 2/13/13, 10:31 AM
DADvocate said...: Coping with failure is easy. I've done it hundreds of times. Success is for pussies.; 2/13/13, 10:33 AM
William said...: Has any black ever been criticized by another black for having an exaggerated sense of grievance against white society?.....I understand that blacks have their grievances and some of them are justified but shouldn't there be a sense of proportionality to these things.; 2/13/13, 10:39 AM
Sydney said...: There are people like this in medicine, too. They are usually worker's comp cases that got tossed out by the Bureau and they are now looking to claim disability. They, too, can get violent when their disability case turns out not to be so strong.; 2/13/13, 10:46 AM
Rosalyn C. said...: As a total stranger I would hardly describe Chris Dorner as a person who was psychologically fragile or lacking in resourcefulness in dealing with failure. He was resourceful enough to terrorize the entire police force of Southern California. We are all waiting for the autopsy results to confirm if indeed the body found was his. Or is he still on the run? That fear is real.
Clearly this man was trained to be a killer and to use violent methods as the ultimate arbiter of conflict. He's the ultimate nightmare for any police department. What went wrong? Sad story.; 2/13/13, 10:47 AM
ndspinelli said...: Nonapod, How about a battle w/ my band, Dental Records.; 2/13/13, 10:57 AM
Emil Blatz said...: This one ended early, I was thinking Death Hunt. Evidently "Chris" Dorner was no Chuck Bronson.; 2/13/13, 10:59 AM
Unknown said...: Murdering jackbooted thugs killing wannabe murdering jackbooted thugs. Really no one to root for in this one.....; 2/13/13, 11:03 AM
Rusty said...: DADvocate said...
Coping with failure is easy. I've done it hundreds of times. Success is for pussies.

Word.; 2/13/13, 11:08 AM
Cedarford said...: R. Chatt said...
As a total stranger I would hardly describe Chris Dorner as a person who was psychologically fragile or lacking in resourcefulness in dealing with failure. He was resourceful enough to terrorize the entire police force of Southern California
========================
You overemphasize the intelligence and competence of an armed killer, confusing destructive power with resourcefullness.

A lethal tantrum and an elaborate "revenge quest" does not testify to psychological strength and an effective strategy for dealing with personal failure. No more than a postal employee who kills his boss and co-workers after being shitcanned for failing a drug test.

Too often, we fall for the Hollywood narrative of the "master shooter" behind the DC sniper killings to find it is a 17 year old little scumbag that practiced shooting at the range a couple times and his "incredibly difficult shots" can be duplicated by 85% of Marine recruits with an accurate .223 after 2 days instruction. So much for "incredible resourcefullness".

We hear the Hollywood people extoll the "cunning genius" of this or that serial killer only to find they simply did nothing to standout and bring gov't attention on themselves, were of average IQ, and that CSI is not all the TV writers make it out to be.; 2/13/13, 11:13 AM
Cedarford said...: David Jameson said...
Murdering jackbooted thugs killing wannabe murdering jackbooted thugs. Really no one to root for in this one.....
=======================
No doubt you felt the same about the SEAL Team that whacked Binnie, right?
Another case of murdering jackbooted thugs sent by America to kill another murdering jackbooted thug??
Asshole.; 2/13/13, 11:15 AM
Wince said...: Honestly, I don't hear the "pun" there.

I think some people don't like to loose their "one big break", presumably for fear that they don't make their own breaks, and therefore no other one will come around in this lifetime.

It has more salience when the loss is also reputational, deserved or not, because that can make making your own breaks difficult.

To what extent is the prevalence of grievance among ex-government workers the result of an expectation that with the job they were privileged and entitled to life-long career and retirement?; 2/13/13, 11:16 AM
edutcher said...: He should have gotten even the Jessuh Jackson way.

Less wear and tear.; 2/13/13, 11:43 AM
edutcher said...: He should have gotten even the Jessuh Jackson way.

Less wear and tear.; 2/13/13, 11:43 AM
Writ Small said...: Honestly, I don't hear the "pun" there.

"Remains" can be a noun or a verb if that helps.; 2/13/13, 11:50 AM
Amartel said...: Entitled elite people who have been cast out of the collective are relentlessly angry and vengeful.

Well, yes. This really should not come as a surprise.

They've been told all their lives that they are special and unique snowflakes. They've been lauded for getting up in the morning and going to work. They've been protected from failure, told to blame others. As such, their perspective on the reality of their individual place in the world is completely out of whack.; 2/13/13, 12:17 PM
Oclarki said...: Judging by comments on other stories about this case, there is an under current of comtempt for the police, and the sense that to some degree people were rooting against the LAPD. This does not bode well for the health of our society; 2/13/13, 12:21 PM
KCFleming said...: Resilience is not a common skill among today's youth.

It has been replaced by grievance and entitlement and lashing out for those with high self esteem, or by myriad physical maladies and withdrawal for those with low self esteem.; 2/13/13, 12:34 PM
traditionalguy said...: He was not a Boomer. Boomers learned how to survive social revolutions, wars and drug epidemics and keep on ticking.; 2/13/13, 12:56 PM
sakredkow said...: Has any black ever been criticized by another black for having an exaggerated sense of grievance against white society?.....

I know, I know. Next thing someone libtard smartass is gonna say THIS comment is racist.; 2/13/13, 1:16 PM
Aridog said...: Dorner was psychotic narcissist and batshit crazy. Period. His main complaint originally, around 2008, was with a training officer named Teresa Evans, who is more black than white. His first victims were a black man and an Asian girl. His racial obsession was all about him, just him, only him, and included imagined persecution by blacks, white and in between. Mainly, he didn't get his way and was fired for incompetence...and there you go...

We have people in public office like that, right? No worries.; 2/13/13, 1:24 PM
William said...: I think people who support Donner lack logic or morality. This deficit of logic and morality will ultimately cause them far more problems than any unwarranted traffic stop.; 2/13/13, 1:45 PM
Amartel said...: "Boomers learned how to survive social revolutions, wars and drug epidemics and keep on ticking."

Generational overgeneralization. Some boomers can cope with reality, which includes hardship and failure; others have wrapped themselves in delusional myths, joined cults, wormed their way into being Acting Grand Poobah in charge of Bullshit and Blame.
Etc.
All of which tends to provide a soft cushion against failure. Paid for, directly or indirectly, by other people, of course.; 2/13/13, 1:47 PM
Unknown said...: Cedarford said...

David Jameson said...
Murdering jackbooted thugs killing wannabe murdering jackbooted thugs. Really no one to root for in this one.....
=======================
No doubt you felt the same about the SEAL Team that whacked Binnie, right?
Another case of murdering jackbooted thugs sent by America to kill another murdering jackbooted thug??
Asshole.

Wow. Where did you come up with that? So you equate our soldiers sent overseas to risk their lives to protect us with jackbooted murdering thugs who live to shoot our dogs and terrorize us and act as sole judge, jury and executioner of American citizens in America? You are a sick, sick puppy. And a real asshole.; 2/13/13, 2:13 PM
furious_a said...: there is an under current of comtempt for the police, and the sense that to some degree people were rooting against the LAPD.

Re-reading some not-too-distant LAPD history (Darryl Gates' tenure as chief, CRASH, the abandonment of Koreatown and So. Central to the King rioters, Ramparts), it's not hard to see why.; 2/13/13, 2:28 PM
Methadras said...: I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me! - Stuart Smalley.

Yeah, when one suffers from narcissistic self-esteem like Dorner. You have to wonder how many like him are ready to pop when shit doesn't go their way.; 2/13/13, 2:42 PM
Anonymous said...: And yet Furious beagle still blames his rampage on being a "leftist".; 2/13/13, 2:45 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/13/13, 3:14 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: Cedarford -- Where Dorner differs from other mass murderers who were psychologically fragile is that they surrendered immediately to the police when confronted or committed suicide immediately when they believed the police had arrived on the scene. I didn't follow Dorner's case closely, but apparently he led the police on quite a chase and continued to attack. To me that indicates a level of psychological strength that others (whose names I would rather not repeat) lacked. I'm saying this man is in a different category, there's more to this tragic case.; 2/13/13, 3:16 PM
furious_a said...: (D)Ing(b)a(t): zzzzz....you're so hapless you can't even put words into people's mouths correctly.; 2/13/13, 3:25 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't remotely see Dorner that way.; 2/13/13, 3:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Furious beagle, you missed eating a piece of your own feces>>>>> over there.; 2/13/13, 3:31 PM
Anonymous said...: I saw him more as a John Henry character. One strong man making a stand against the mechanized system - only to die in the end.

I hesitate to say that because of the racial overtones, but I don't remember seeing OJ that way... although I barely remember that. I just saw him as a drug addled wife beater.

The police did not come out looking good. Why did they burn the house down? That should not be allowed. They found his ID already and somehow they found it again, intact, next to the "charred remains"?

Come on, now.; 2/13/13, 3:57 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Dorner's subsequent behavior proves the wisdom of the firing.

What was Dorner's plan? Go to work for the Guadalajaran drug gangs?; 2/13/13, 10:22 PM