My Take on Santa Barbara
 

I had computer problems all day and night so I just started reading/viewing the news about this disturbed 22 year old college kid's killing spree. When I saw the video of the kid, read about the showbiz parents, saw his Facebook photos of the pampered spoiled lifestyle and that the locale was Santa Barbara something rang a bell in me.

About 3 or 4 years ago as I was looking for modeling prospects on Model Mayhem I came across a new profile, she was an extremely cute 19 year old brunette by the name of Courtney if I recall correctly, from either Santa Barbara or Isla Vista. She had a handful of photos in her portfolio, bikini mostly if not all, and had checked off 'Nudes' as a yes, she was an 'A' caliber modeling prospect so I was all over it like a fat kid on a Mars bar. Messaged her about modeling, gave her the usual details and she replied, seemed pretty interested. I wanted to see more photos of her to get a better idea of her potential or lack thereof so asked if she had Facebook albums I could check out. She gave me her Facebook and I went and took a look - there were years of photos, from probably 15 years old on, she was adorable in all the photos past to present. I started reading her message feed, looking at the people who were in her feed, and became intrigued as a voyeur taking a peek inside what looked like this very social world of hers in a community I knew little about. As I went through her photos, I noted to myself 'damn these kids are all good looking', which they were, the boys as attractive as the girls - surfer boys, jocks or carefully groomed emo boys. As I looked at all these photos I thought what a life these kids are living, you're young, good looking, popular and oh by the way we all live by the beach. Teenagers across the world dream of this kind of this kind of upbringing.

There was one boy sending her lots of messages, there was something going on between them, they weren't dating but there were hints in the messages that they had a past. I went and looked at his Facebook where there were lots of older photos of them together, it was obvious they were boyfriend and girlfriend in high school, probably each other's first. In my head I was now starting to write the treatment of a TV series based on what I'd seen. The boy was obviously still in love with her, she seemed very fond of him still, almost like brother and sister, but for the time being it looked as if she had a lot of living and partying to do. In my TV series, they are destined to be together but it will take until the last episode of Season 5 for it to all fall in place.

Anyway, I messaged her again on MM trying to get things moving, after seeing her real life via FB I had decided that while I didn't doubt she'd do nude modeling that she was a real long shot, much too busy, already had a ton of attention and not poor enough. She and all of her friends seemed to be self absorbed attention whores very much aware that they were the cool kids. In retrospect now that I've done some reading about Santa Barbara and Isla Vista, I think she and her crowd are the townies, not rich, not poor. This girl and her friends seemed to be going to the community college not UC Santa Barbara. Whatever school was in the photos the student housing sure didn't look like student housing, it looked like beach side apartment/motel living. Nirvana at 19.

I messaged her again, she got back to me that she was still interested in shooting but I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere, noticing that after a month or so on MM she'd not shot with any local photogs. So I left her alone as far as modeling went but I really was intrigued by her whole scene so went back to her FB. This time everything on her FB revolved around that huge rave called Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas. She was posting photos of her epic road trip to EDC, of course all with the hipster vintage Polaroid effect filter. There were pics taken in the car with her and the friends, mostly male, drinking, smoking weed and I thought other drugs. What I'd noticed the previous couple of times I'd been on her FB was that her parents AND grandparents were posting on her FB as much as her friends were. Grandpa and Grandma were seeing all the comments and photos related to the drugged out debauchery and they're all 'Have a wonderful time sweetie!'. The dad and mom were the same and I had noticed the same thing on other friends of hers pages, parents right in the mix posting all the time - I got the feeling this is how it is in this town, parents aren't really parents, they're 40-50 year old friends with their kids.

The last visit I ever made to her FB was the eye opener. I had been kind of envious of these kids' lives. I began reading, tragedy had struck, her feed and message wall was filled with it. Two of her friends, boys, had been cruising in a Jeep down a residential street where their local high school was located beyond a curve in the road, the Jeep lost control, went through the the high school property and out the back of the school and down an embankment, where it crashed, the gas tank exploded and the two boys died. Alcohol was involved. As I was reading the outpouring of shock and grief from these kids l I picked up on something else, in this group of 18-19 year olds there had been others who died recently, many others. Somebody posted a link to the local newspaper story about the crash. SEVEN kids had died in the past year or so from this girl's social group, presumably one or two high school graduating classes. That is insane. Most of us lose maybe 1 friend by 19, and usually it's a car accident. From what I read the other deaths were drug and alcohol related.

When I was taking this all in I remember thinking to myself - that city/town would be a nightmare place to live and go to school in if you weren't one of the attractive popular kids. Not easy in any town but this place would make it seem all the more hopeless, too many pretty girls with too many pretty boys, too many beaches and too many parties.

http://i.imgur.com/23URTdJ.gif

:1orglaugh

:2 cents::2 cents: this

Isn't this pretty much the case in any major US city? Kids are harsh, but same goes for adults.

Mutt how about you give us schwartzaersss some cliffnotes heeeheheh

Holy shit talk about an unrelated rant.. mutt you weird

Mutt that was a nice read and very insightful. Maybe you are going to be the next Stephenie Meyer and become fabulously rich after your books sell millions and are also made into movies.

Also, I grew up upper middle class but I did date girls who were very wealthy and I can say without a doubt that the rich families I knew growing up were always the most fucked up. This kid could have just started his own production company based off the fact his father is a big director. The hottest females on the planet would have been in his circle and would throw themselves at him. I have been at Hollywood parties that are packed with extremely hot aspiring actresses who are there with fat old short balding men simply because they have connections. This kid who killed everyone was dumb as shit.

Another thing I can say from life experience is that most of these kids in that area won't give two shits about what happened unless someone in their own social group was shot or killed.

Santa Barbara is very class orientated. Always has been. So are a lot of beach communities and lake communities

I read it. But then, I don't have the attention span of a gnat. Nice writeup.

Bring back spankings and stop buying 22yr old kids beamers.

Nice post Mutt, and intriguing.

One thing I do know, intellectual giants do not spring out of areas like this, never.

So I should check out Model Mayhem? Is that the point?

I grew up in Santa Barbara from grade school on. You are pretty on point here. I was not one of the "Cool Kids" I was a geek and that was not cool back then. But I didn't give a shit. I had a hot girlfriend, a beat up motorcycle and lived on the beach. But I saw a lot of what you are talking about. There are more attractive people in Santa Barbara than anywhere else I have ever been. The pressure on those who are easily effected by others and don't fit in have it pretty hard there. :2 cents:

Wow you are one weird mother fucker mutt. The level of creepiness is off the charts in this thread.

muttsmanifesto.com is available.

Mutt = stalker :eek2

I did read it :)
Too much text for a simple point.

Yeah, summed up in the last sentence

I don't get it. If he was being so twisted up by not getting any sex, why didn't he just get an escort? He obviously has the cash to get a good one...

Stupid argument. He was disappointed that females were not interested in him. Hiring an escort would not change that fact.

Nice possible insight Mutt but have to agree with ahoy and InfoGuy.

LOL I exchanged all of 3 messages with the girl about modeling on a modeling site 3 years ago.

You're telling me you don't read people's blogs,twitter, instagram if they're interesting?

According to Jay Allen, my observations about that community are pretty on point and do relate to this Elliot Rodger's situation possibly.

That was a great read Mutt, thanks for taking the time to post it!

The kid who did the killing, he was one of those *good looking* kids, he was just batshit crazy.

After watching his video, I got the feeling he wanted to leave this earth as the *evil genius* with the fake chuckles etc... He was just another dipshit kid who is/was depressed and took things too far.

Interestin' read.

You mentioned about the girl posting all the party debauchery on FB - and yet her family were posting alongside of it as though condoning it all - turning a blind eye to it.

I'm wondering - she may have had the filters set on FB so her family didn't see certain content. Perhaps they were only seeing the sanitized version of her profile?

At any rate...slightly creepy voyeurism aside :winkwink: - you make some interesting observations.

The Santa Barbara Inn has a nice breakfast. Free muffins.

I believe Mutt is a bit of a creep, but he does it in away that he will never appear creepy. :)
It's good to know all angles which is probably why he's a good talent scout, of course I have no idea the extent of all his activities but according to several on here he is very good.

Creepin' is good, and can be flattering if done right...

Mutt found PrivateSchoolJewel at a Starbucks! You can't argue with success like that!

No, that was my business partner. But the story is true.

I always say, "I'm not stalking you.. I'm researching you."

:1orglaugh

I wish Private School Jewel would school me on my privates.

Seems like there has been a run of autistic mass murders lately

Interesting read with a sad conclusion. Life is very unpredictable.

Looks like this kids are out of control... and even with support of family for shit they do, crazy

Good write up. Kinda makes me want to visit that area heh

There is an entire website dedicated to people with the same issues as him. Its called thedirty.com.

www.puahate.com is a forum he posted on, it's been down for 2 days.

I loved reading this, an extremely perspicacious, considered article, that deserves a greater audience. It is disturbing to regularly read about these unhinged kids – the conclusion always seems to be the same – but a shame that with all the clues Mutt has highlighted, that they never get tacked and that it is just a wait for the next one to happen.

Mutt: Life is hard for people who aren't the cool kids anywhere. Dude was a spoiled, entitled, misogynistic ego maniac. His story isn't a sob story, what he did was. It's hardly the area, the toxic culture that caused this shit is everywhere.


It clearly wasn't about sex. Buying sex wouldn't have done it. Don't forget, he only wanted the pretty blonde girls, and talked hella possessively about them and women in general. In his mind he deserved to own one of them just because he existed. People like that don't want to have to pay for things they think they are just entitled to because they exist.

It was about entitlement, insane ego and misogyny.

I don't think this was unpredictable at all. Seems like a logical (albeit extreme) progression that happens over and over again. Dude is spoiled and culture tells him he deserves xyz thing he doesn't, feels owed when he doesnt get it, punishes whatever minority he deems responsible. Happens time and time and time again. Re dudes killing chicks because they got rightfully rejected this site has a a bunch of more publicized examples, which is just a tiny sliver of this shit. http://whenwomenrefuse.tumblr.com/

I don't think it was autistic... Just a spoiled brat egomaniac with a hardcore misogynist core. Funny how rich kids get labeled 'autistic' and 'troubled' or 'eccentric' and poor folks who think/are/do the same shit are labeled 'sociopaths' and 'dangerous'. Interesting how money can buy a more... pretty diagnosis.

Read his manifesto/autobiography 'My Twisted World - The Story of Elliot Rodger' http://s3.documentcloud.org/document...-manifesto.pdf

If it was a novel written by some new young author it would be a controversial NY Times best seller. That it's not fiction and completed just hours before he carries out his crazed act of retribution against the world that condemned him to a life of suffering in his mind makes reading it a surreal experience.

There is almost no worse place that this unhinged boy, and I use the word 'boy', because this kid was extremely immature for 22 years of age, could place himself in than Santa Barbara/Isla Vista. It literally drove him mad, as his mental state and loneliness worsened 'life coaches' were hired to help him learn social skills. These life coaches were young dudes, only a few years older than him, essentially paid friends. The last of these coaches urged him to get out of Santa Barbara, agreeing with the kid that the town was filled with the obnoxious jocks and the pretty blonde girls who gave them sex and that's just how it is. The kid was now defiant, Santa Barbara he had resolved to be his last stand, either the popular kids show him respect, a pretty blonde must give him the sex and love, or he would annihilate them all. Even in his last days, knowing he's going to die during this massacre, he still holds out some hope, that a pretty blonde will acknowledge him and sleep with him and he will never have to carry out his day of retribution.

The 'manifesto' is a chronological autobiography, from birth to the day before he dies, it's 110,000 words which is a pretty standard length for a novel. Up until halfway through the book I had a lot of empathy for him, after that he steadily descends into an unstoppable madness. Near the end there's a night he described on Isla Vista's main party drag that rekindled some empathy for him. The night ends with him getting the shit kicked out of him by a huge throng of these 'obnoxious brutes' as he calls them, breaking his leg in the process.

So many things to consider as factors in how he got to be what he became. One thing that really jumped out at me is that at the age of 18 he describes getting together with a friend he hadn't seen in a long time as a 'playdate'. WTF?

I feel for his parents, as I read his life story according to him, I kept thinking what could have been done to help him, they tried many many things, and I came to the conclusion that literally nothing could help him. A lost cause.

He was far more broken than the typical unpopular bullied kid. Lots of things contributed to the monster he became. Whether to have any pity for him is up to each individual and how they view the world.

There are lots of spoiled, entitled, misogynistic ego maniacs, they don't become what Elliot Rodger became.

I came across an article that said very similar things, that basically santa barbara was a place filled with misogyny where wealthy men had trophy women, girls generally didn't have jobs and were objects to be seen by the pool, on the arm of a man,etc. they were not people but more like prizes to be won.

I've made it to him being 16 and I am not enjoying reading his story. When you hear that Rodger had seen therapists off and on since he was nine years old and they decided he possessed "an underlying sadness", that is not my conclusion with his first sixteen years. I can't believe how he has gone through his life so far, at 16, extracting hatred out of every little thing that didn't go his way and totally unappreciative of the privileged upbringing he has had. His parent's answer to everything so far is to buy him yet another computer game, toys, the fastest computer, a skateboard, or present him with more playmates to agitate and feed his obvious anger to human life.

Agree. I read an article yesterday that said he was never formerly diagnosed with Aspergers, that the family only *suspected* he was somewhere on the spectrum.

Article here

Kid was fucked up from the start, did you notice how many times he says he cried? Every other day of his life he's breaking down in tears, often in front of relatives or friends. That ain't normal.

Nothing about the kid was normal, he seems like an alien. What 22 year old guy describes their dinner meal as 'exquisite' and refers to big jocks as 'brutes'?

Divorce of his parents sure didn't help though, it's incredible how many different homes and schools he moved in and out of. He was bought a lot of things but for an upper middle class kid it didn't seem that he was given any more than other kids. The trips abroad, often flying first class, the parties at rich friends of the family etc - that's where he got this elitist expectations from. I think his family was less affluent than those around him - some of the places he lived with his mother were very ordinary.

Yawn Yawn

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh ...

What an entitled little cocksucker this guy was. I don't think the girls weren't attracted to him, I think the problem was that he spoke to them and they were like "this guy is a little shit"

I found losing my virginity much easier once I stopped devoting the entirety of my time to writing a hundred page autobiographical manifesto on why the world deserved everything that was coming to it because I was still a virgin.



If you want to get to know a woman you are attracted to follow these simple steps:

-Speak to her like she is an intelligent human being
-Show her respect
-Ask her to have dinner with you
-Repeat as necessary

It's not that fucking difficult.

That rarely worked for me. I began getting way hotter and more frequent sex after:

I discovered that speaking to her like she is your little sister works best. Tease her, make fun of her like a jerk older brother would do.

Show her friends and rivals respect. Make her think you barely notice her.

Never take her to dinner, just make plans for 10 pm and after and you don't have to worry about it. Woman dump on guys who take them to dinner.

Repeat often with several women to hone your skills.

l can understand the tantrums and crying he did prior to being a teenager, my neighbour's kid does that daily, turns it on and off like a tap and she is nine. Being moved from school to school was definitely not helping his development. And his worry that he was smaller than others in height as he was getting older, into his teens, understandable, but that is all I can credit him for. It stood out when he wrote he DIDN'T fly first-class one time, how he took it for granted his family always did; that is something not many in Santa Barbara will be able to boast, surely? For him to extract outright distaste from the most minor situation then never forget it, and to set his goals to be something he could never be, he was always destined to become this fucked-up person. He was obsessed by the word 'first' – his whole story is littered with examples, and who can remember every single birthday they had from the age of three? I'm struggling to remember my last one, in February. I was expecting him to be a recluse, never having had friends, the awkward kid no one sat next to, but that has not happened. He was mostly liked or put up with, sociable, and had lots of genuine buddies... so far.

The rest of his story I am expecting to be ever so dark. I'm not enjoying being in the head of a lunatic, I'm leaving that until tomorrow.