In the hours since news broke of the deadly Santa Barbara shootings, authorities and Internet sleuths have slowly started to piece together the f*cked up puzzle that was Elliot Rodger’s life. He was, obviously, a horrible person, but his life seemed like anything but — his Facebook is a flip-book of luxuries, with private Katy Perry concerts and first-class airplane seats. So, who was Elliot Rodger?
An attorney for filmmaker Peter Rodger confirmed Saturday that his 22-year-old son, Elliot Rodger, was involved in the mass shooting. The filmmaker is best known for his work on the first installment of the Hunger Games blockbuster series. (Via)
Deadline adds, “Rodger also is a documentary filmmaker — the cast of his 2009 film Oh My God included Hugh Jackman, director Baz Luhrmann, Bob Geldof, Seal, Ringo Starr, David Copperfield and others talking about God.” Rodger’s YouTube history makes no mention of God, or religion at all, but it does tell the story of an angry, young, ugh, men’s right activist.
The Men’s Rights Movement as they call themselves is a nebulous group of pickup artists and misogynists who’ve found each other on line, and are attempting to create a movement based around their hatred, disdain, and fear of women.
We know for a fact that Rodgers was influenced by this movement, as he is subscribed to multiple “pick up artist” or “mens rights” channels on YouTube. They include: “The Player Supreme Show,” which rails against the feminization of men and talks about how to pick up women [and] “RSDfreetour,” a series of self-help seminars run by RSD Nation, a “pick up artist” site. (Via)
He probably wasn’t much of a Katniss Everdeen fan.