THE SPREEBAGGERS

In recent decades we have seen a number of spree killings. Most recently a taxi driver in England, Derrick Bird, 52, shot his twin brother and his family lawyer and then drove to three towns and killed people he encountered and himself; in all, 12 are dead and quite a few wounded.

Well-known spree killers in the U.S. have included the two kids who shot up Columbine High and the student who perpetrated the Virginia Tech massacre but also older males.

What gets into people who do these things? Hard to say. But they have decided that life isn't worth living, and they want to get back at strangers they could have no real grievance with. The shootings end with their suicides or with them being gunned down by someone else.

In 1984 a middle-aged survivalist named James Huberty shot 41 people in a McDonald's in San Diego, of whom 22 died, including himself. He believed, among other things, that government regulation and meddling were destroying our economic future.

Huberty had told his wife, "Society had its chance." Think about that phrase. He thought it was up to him to judge and punish society, not the reverse. How is that for self-centered and anti-social? And does it put you in mind of anyone?

Yes, I mean the teabaggers. The teabaggers are a collective spree phenomenon, and they resemble spree killers in several notable respects:

>They behave in highly intrusive ways.

>They have their own version of reality, which is at odds with how everyone else thinks.

>They have no use for reasonable people or reasonable measures or reasonable attitudes.

>They are destructive, wanting only to tear down.

>They think everything has gone to hell.

>They hate the government and have no respect for authority or office-holders.

>They opportunistically bend the truth to suit their own desire for drama, as in the birther movement.

>They take the rules to apply to everyone else and not to themselves, as when they break up town hall meetings.

>They think others should be blamed for their discontents and failings.

>They are full of unaccountable rage.

Just as spree killers predictably die at the end of their bloody deeds, look for the "tea party movement" to wreck itself, after continuing its negativity spree for a while.