Media coverage of this story demonstrates an alarming naivete about stalkers. The television has been on all day, and I am astonished at the uninformed reactions to George Sodini’s infamous blog posts. Some media outlets consulted with mental health professionals who have called him everything from a sociopath to a psychopath to an angry, anti-social loner. The FBI says he had the “profile of a shooter.” Why can’t all these experts tell it like it is? He was a misogynistic, sexually-frustrated stalker.
Did anybody read his blog? It’s pretty clear about his intent to go on a shooting rampage and to commit suicide on August 4, 2009. Hard to miss. He lists the date of his death at the top of the page in bold letters.
There’s also clear indication he didn’t just snap. He’d been planning this for at least a year. Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffat said, “I don’t think anyone could have stopped him.” Give me a break. Read these blog entries. It lists date, place, means, and motive. They had nine months to stop him.
His November 5, 2008 post says:
Planned to do this in the summer but figure to stick around to see the election outcome. . .this exit plan was already planned.
On December 28, he wrote:
I will shoot for Tuesday, January 6, 2009, at maybe 8:15. I have list of to-do items to make.
On December 31, he wrote:
I hope it doesn’t snow on Tuesday. Just thought of that. The crowd will be thin so I would postpone.
On January 5, 2009, he wrote:
Was at the gym [he belonged to LA Fitness] to lift. Very crowded. Tomorrow should be good. There is a woman there that gives me a certain look every time I am there. I decided to walk over and make a comment. . .but she left when I finished the exercise. . .One or two dates with her, then the end.
On January 6, he wrote:
It is 8:45PM: I chickened out!. . .I brought the loaded guns, everything.
He had a date on May 18, 2009, but spent July 4 alone. On July 20, he got a promotion and a raise; he wrote:
New boss is great. . .Girls and women don’t even give me a second look ANYWHERE. There is something BLATANTLY wrong with me that NO goddam person will tell me what it is.
A misogynistic attitude about women does tend to have a chilling effect on a man’s love life.
On August 3, he was clear as a bell about his intent:
I took off today, Monday, and tomorrow to practice my routine and make sure it is well polished. I need to work out every detail, there is only one shot. . .Tomorrow is the big day. . .Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out. . .Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus.
. . .any of the “Practice Papers” left on my coffee table I used or the notes in my gym bag can be published freely. I will not be embarased (sic), because, well, I will be dead. . .
Law firms do due diligence on everything. Somebody had to have read this blog. It is very easy to find. It’s his name.
His “poor me” laments about his inability to get a date include numerous misogynistic references to women. He didn’t respect his mother, and he sees women essentially as instruments for his own sexual gratification. On his web site’s home page, there is a photo taken during his vacation to Los Angeles of a woman sunbathing. Next to her photo, he wrote:
Sure, just take off your clothes, ain’t nobody goin’ to bother you, honey. Except for a bold pigeon…
She is not my girlfriend. Seems you can do what you want in LA, this didn’t seem unusual.
The cops claim he didn’t target anyone in the aerobics class. This doesn’t square with his January 5 post or the fact that he had circled the class on his copy of the gym schedule. Look at his January 5 entry again ~ the day before he planned to carry out his shooting rampage:
There is a woman there that gives me a certain look every time I am there. . .One or two dates with her, then the end.
Sodini made three trips to LA Fitness in Bridgeville, PA (suburb of Pittsburgh) on Tuesday. He was armed with four handguns. He shot 36 rounds. Four people are dead.
This is what a stalker looks like, folks. We can no longer stick our heads in the sand and pretend we can’t prevent these tragedies. This is why we feminists get cranky about misogynistic attitudes.
See also:
Analysis: What Do Many Mass Shooters Have In Common? A History of Domestic Violence Take Violence Against Women Seriously. It’s a red flag. by Nancy Leong, Washington Post, 6/15/2017
Anne Caroline Drake 
Yes, they had a lot of months to help him. And there isn’t any other reason for writing your intentions on a blog if not for asking help. He was ill and his illness caused his lonliness and lonliness did aggravate his illness. However rage is the same kind of reaction he had. He had rage, and not comprehension of his problems. We should not have rage but comprehension as well. This doesn’t speak about feminism or machism but it’s related to the problem of solitude and lonliness in our society. He had not even a male friend to communicate his thoughts, no body.
Paolo, thanks for visiting and leaving a comment! I think you are my first international visitor! 🙂
After I finished reading Sodini’s blog, a part of me felt very sad that he was so lonely.
However, I noticed that the ONLY reason he wanted a woman in his life was for sexual gratification.
He got invited to parties so he must have had some friends. My hunch is that a lot of people told him that his sexist attitudes were no way to woo a woman, but he didn’t want to hear it.
In the end, I realized he was more vested in his rage and “poor me” control drama than he was interested in changing his attitude about women so he could get what he claimed he wanted.
Happy to be your first international visitor 🙂 Forgive my broken English…
Indeed there is a period in the life of every male, particularly when is young, during which he wants sex only. Even though my youth is a far memory by this time I remember it.
Indeed many women too have that period in their life.
The difference is that if you’re healthy you have those experiences, enjoying casual sex and living a happy consensual reciprocal objectification.
George was ill, and even this attempt was frustrated. He never overcame that phase. Lonliness has a very different effect on healthy people in comparison to ill ones.
The fact is that he had a website with his first and family name and his photo (the less anonymous website anyone could imagine).
There he explicitly wrote about his foolish idea for NINE MONTHS. For which reason anyone would wrote his plan on a website with first and last name if not for asking help ?
Indeed not a friend was searching his name on google.
He was sick and deranged, but this act speaks about a sickness and derangedness in a individualistic society that lives people abandoned and isolated.
Your Enlish is excellent, Paolo.
This whole story is just too sad. Four people are dead.
My hunch is that there are a whole lot of people in the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania area where he lived who wish they would have intervened.
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