[Twai]

After sending putting 4,000 copies of the above letter under dorm doors at UMass, Tyler Molander has been forced to withdraw from the university by school officials.

School officials said the final line of the note, where he asked his acquaintances to stay away, was interpreted by more than 100 students as a veiled threat; there are several recorded instances where kids told their friends not to come to school the next day, and then shot up the school.

In addition, people seeking more information about Molander on facebook discovered this video where he seems to call himself a sociopath, and this note which begins "We shall meet our own demise at the hands of our own happiness. Those hands are red with the blood of the innocent."

Molander underwent hours of psychological evaluation to determine whether he was mentally unsound, and then was asked to withdraw from the university.

SOURCE

What do we think, ATRL? What would you do if you got a letter like this?

Is he just lonely, or is he disturbed?

He made this video, which I think can either be interpreted as really lonely, or really creepy

I love the idea that a radical letter can change society, but that last line about him asking his friends not to go really, really weirded me out.

Discuss.

[Guero]

That video.

He seems pretty angry at the school... which could be a bad sign too.

[Guero]

And he kinda reminds me of Lucas from PLL.

[Twai]

Originally posted by Guero

That video.

He seems pretty angry at the school... which could be a bad sign too.

If you watch it with the mindset of "this kid has no idea how to interact socially with other people," it's kind of sad.

If you watch it with the mindset of "this kid is seriously psychologically disturbed," it's ****ing creepy.

[Witness]

That last line does sound ominous. I'm not sure what he's asking for, either. It's like he wants to build friendships while removing many building blocks that allow people to become acquainted with one another to begin with.

[Twai]

Originally posted by Witness

That last line does sound ominous. I'm not sure what he's asking for, either. It's like he wants to build friendships while removing many building blocks that allow people to become acquainted with one another to begin with.

I mean, I kind of get it, he just really worded it wrong.

It's not that he doesn't want friendships based on common interests, it's that he wants to develop and discover those common interests together, not discover the people because of the common interests.

[Jameson Teqkilla]

Originally posted by Twai

If you watch it with the mindset of "this kid has no idea how to interact socially with other people," it's kind of sad.

If you watch it with the mindset of "this kid is seriously psychologically disturbed," it's ****ing creepy.

It's both, tbh.

I just wish I could get in the mind of these people, just to see the thought process honestly. This is so much work and effort for something that's just obviously...crazy.

[ManDown]

Oh come on you guys, the last line isn't that suggestive. He's obviously telling his acquaintances not to come since it would be pointless as they already know eachother. People are so paranoid about school shootings and bombings now. I highly doubt that a kid asking for new friends would harm the people that actually show up to meet him.

This whole situation just shows that schools don't give a **** about their students. They can party and haze, but god forbid somebody writes a letter to their fellow students, asking them to come together and be friends. Their priorities are wrong.

[Twai]

Originally posted by ManDown

Oh come on you guys, the last line isn't that suggestive. He's obviously telling his acquaintances not to come since it would be pointless as they already know eachother. People are so paranoid about school shootings and bombings now. I highly doubt that a kid asking for new friends would harm the people that actually show up to meet him.

I completely understand that, but I also completely understand why people freaked out.

It's a textbook warning sign of somebody about to act out a school shooting -- they tell their friends not to go to school the next day.

And if the guy is truly mentally disturbed... You have to understand, he was asking people to meet in a crowded cafeteria. Maybe he thought whoever showed up would be impressed with him shooting other people? I'm not saying he really is crazy, but if he is, all bets are off.

[ManDown]

Originally posted by Twai

I completely understand that, but I also completely understand why people freaked out.

It's a textbook warning sign of somebody about to act out a school shooting -- they tell their friends not to go to school the next day.

And if the guy is truly mentally disturbed... You have to understand, he was asking people to meet in a crowded cafeteria. Maybe he thought whoever showed up would be impressed with him shooting other people? I'm not saying he really is crazy, but if he is, all bets are off.

I understand why people would freak out as well. But this is a bit much. I could understand if the school actually investigated it and came across videos similar to the ones that the Columbine and Virginia Tech shooters made, but they didn't, as far as I know. It's easy to take somebody's words out of context and piece them together with other misconstrued letters/posts and make it sound like the ravings of a lunatic. It seems like the school looked for a reason to kick him out, and they made one up.

[Jameson Teqkilla]

Originally posted by ManDown

Oh come on you guys, the last line isn't that suggestive. He's obviously telling his acquaintances not to come since it would be pointless as they already know eachother. People are so paranoid about school shootings and bombings now. I highly doubt that a kid asking for new friends would harm the people that actually show up to meet him.

This whole situation just shows that schools don't give a **** about their students. They can party and haze, but god forbid somebody writes a letter to their fellow students, asking them to come together and be friends. Their priorities are wrong.

It's the way he phrased it. It would've been one thing to say "Don't come if you already know me, I want to meet new people," but the whole "I apologize, but trust me" thing is just...odd.

And the rest of the letter is just bizarre. He wants friendship, but doesn't want any of the elements that actually make up friendship.

[Twai]

Originally posted by ManDown

I understand why people would freak out as well. But this is a bit much. I could understand if the school actually investigated it and came across videos similar to the ones that the Columbine and Virginia Tech shooters made, but they didn't, as far as I know. It's easy to take somebody's words out of context and piece them together with other misconstrued letters/posts and make it sound like the ravings of a lunatic. It seems like the school looked for a reason to kick him out, and they made one up.

Well if you ask me, a long, rambling manifesto that begins "We shall meet our own demise at the hands of our own happiness. Those hands are red with the blood of the innocent." is pretty suggestive of mental issues, as is a video where is face is covered by a paper reading "Sociopath."

Again, I'm not saying he's crazy, I'm just saying I TOTALLY get why people freaked out.

[JonathanLGardner]

Most of the letter seems pretty innocent....then you catch the last line and think



Something's not right here!

The last line is definately a red flag. If you want to create new relationships, wouldn't you want your friends there to do the same?

Unless of course you plan to congregate as many people as you can and do something to them that you don't want to do to your friends

[Twai]

Originally posted by JonathanLGardner

Most of the letter seems pretty innocent....then you catch the last line and think



Something's not right here!

The last line is definately a red flag. If you want to create new relationships, wouldn't you want your friends there to do the same?

Unless of course you plan to congregate as many people as you can and do something to them that you don't want to do to your friends

Exactly. And he was asking people to meet him in a crowded cafeteria...

[D/X]

Everybody has wrote my exact thoughts.

The letter was a good read, and it had really good points, but damn. The last line was like the ****?
I thought the same as ManDown: he wanted to have NEW friends, so why would his old friends be there? BUT the things here is that it's kind of a contradiction, when only ONE of his friends is coming and the rest aren't allowed.

I mean, I wouldn't go. I'm really paranoid, and imagine if he was about to sacrifice everybody cause some ****ed up ****?

Poor guy though.

[Patrick]

I think the awkward, somewhat incoherent, rambling nature of the letter is indicative of some sort of problem. Add on top of that some of the cryptic content, as well as the (perhaps unintentionally) ominous warning at the end of the note, and I think these's just cause for concern. Was the kid a potential danger to his fellow students? I don't think it's possible to say with absolute certainty either way, but this letter and the peculiar things he was posting on Facebook (the video and the note) seem to raise a few red flags. I can't fault school officials for taking preventative measures, and I don't think they would have asked the student to leave the university without giving some consideration to the student's well-being, or the common good for the rest of their students.

We'll never be privy to the details, but I'd love to know if the psychological evaluation revealed anything significant.

[extrachapstick]

Originally posted by Patrick

I think the awkward, somewhat incoherent, rambling nature of the letter is indicative of some sort of problem. Add on top of that some of the cryptic content, as well as the (perhaps unintentionally) ominous warning at the end of the note, and I think these's just cause for concern. Was the kid a potential danger to his fellow students? I don't think it's possible to say with absolute certainty either way, but this letter and the peculiar things he was posting on Facebook (the video and the note) seem to raise a few red flags. I can't fault school officials for taking preventative measures, and I don't think they would have asked the student to leave the university without giving some consideration to the student's well-being, or the common good for the rest of their students.

We'll never be privy to the details, but I'd love to know if the psychological evaluation revealed anything significant.

exactly.

[Thisisit]

Originally posted by ManDown

Oh come on you guys, the last line isn't that suggestive. He's obviously telling his acquaintances not to come since it would be pointless as they already know eachother. People are so paranoid about school shootings and bombings now. I highly doubt that a kid asking for new friends would harm the people that actually show up to meet him.

"But just trust me" this should ring alarm bells, it's not a casual "don't bother showing up if I already know you" it's "showing up will have BAD consequences and I don't want you to experience those consequences"

This whole situation just shows that schools don't give a **** about their students. They can party and haze, but god forbid somebody writes a letter to their fellow students, asking them to come together and be friends. Their priorities are wrong.

Their priorities are dead on right, you know damn well if this had turned into a tragedy everyone would the roasting the school on a stick for not spotting the warning signs.

[Neptune]

If I got a rambling letter from a complete stranger signed off "remember I love you" I'd throw it in the bin

[Dr. Shenanigans]

I don't find this nearly as creepy as people making this out to be. Actually, to be completely honest, as a college student myself, I somewhat understood and to an extent agreed with most of the note It was basically only the last line that seemed somewhat creepy, and it could've easily been just an awkward choice of words.

As far as the videos go: I succeed the sociopath video is pretty weird, as is his personal definition of a sociopath according to his facebook post.

And I think the youtube video was brilliant. All he did was point out the paranoia the school officials had, and their attempt to vilify him, in a humorous and dramatic way.




Now with all that said, I still wouldn't have shown up to the Blue Wall that week myself