“...I see very little discussion about what might be spreading that mental illness, and it is spreading.”

I have a few ideas about this subject. First of all, it seems to me that the news media is making our social divisions appear much worse than they really are, or need to be. And the news media and entertainment industry, along with some politicians, are very busy stirring up and creating strife and division. Keeping the public fearful, angry and aggrieved gives them money and power. All of those inflammatory on-line articles and slanted news stories are by design.

When it comes to violent unfeeling young males who kill people for no reason, there are a couple of additional influences that might be at play. One is the proliferation of violent, murderous computer games. I would imagine that playing such games for hours on end could not but blunt the normal feelings of human empathy. If you have killed thousands of virtual characters and seen them bloody and mangled I would think it’d be an easy step to transfer the game into real life.

Another factor that IMO needs study is the effects of psychotropic drugs. The use of those drugs is widespread around the world, but we are the only country that routinely administers those drugs to children. The practice is widespread and hard to gauge because there are over-the-counter versions available to anyone. Could it be that in some cases children’s normal development is impaired by those drugs, leaving them with deep anger and hatred.

Imagine that it’s the fifties and you are in high school. The girl you loved since first grade, the one you always planned to marry, has taken up with an older guy. You go into a deep depression which lingers for months. Your parents question you but you evade. After months of pain it occurs to you that, the girl is more mature and is ready to start a career and family while you have no firm plans and are not ready. Your only plan for now is to attend college, and she would be a hindrance to you. In your heart you wish them well—after all, she is a magnificent person.

Imagine that if instead you had been given drugs. The pain would be eased but you might not truly resolve the problem, and you’d have been denied the coping experience. When you saw the girl you might feel a surge of anger. By feeding untrue thoughts into your subconscious mind you might develop into a rabid psychopath.

7452 people die in the country every day. We are all going to die, but in general I am optimistic and not afraid.

IMHO the answer is, stop creating a disenfranchised population, get big corporate out of our government and go after elected officials that are not working for the majority of Americans.
In the late 1890'a early 1900's we had an income inequality similar to what we have today. America was pretty violent but with way fewer and not very effective guns. They had horses, children and their wives to beat up on.
We had a great depression, the dust bowl environmental disaster, public works projects and WWII to turn the economy around. Corporations and the weathy paid real taxes.
Regulations were put in place to assure the sort of depression we went thru would not happen again.
And we all know what happened once raygun was president and big corporate starting REALLY gaining a foothold in government.
The haves are in control and the other 99% of have nots are getting angry. Sadly a large percentage of the have nots are poorly educated (not even going to go there as it almost seems part of the 1%'s plan). They are easy to rile up and lead around.
We had it all (for the MOST part, yes inequality and racism needed to be addressed and still does) but let it slip away.

We have many Americans who prefer ignorance. They take pride in it and don't see the necessity in an educated society. This is scarier than the guns.

Very interesting perspective. I just read an article this morning saying that the current administration is bringing out the hate and anger each of us have buried somewhere inside ourselves and giving us the permission to bare it without reflecting on what it is all about and as long as we behave in this manner the violence isn't going to stop. Rather than examining this shadow side of ourselves we move along with some kind of bravado and then wham! we let loose. We have lost discerment somewhere along the line, or perhaps that isn't important anymore in a society who puts a few at the top in a position of leadership and knowledge and become sheep following the misguided shepherd. No one wants to question the emperor's lack of clothing. It is easier to spout rhetoric than to remain silent and delve into our internal thoughts. What do we really think and what do we really care about or doesn't that matter any longer.

A lot to think about there.