In sci-fi and fantasy stories, rebellions are usually the oppressed, impoverished underclasses rising up against their wealthy and powerful oppressors. In the real world, it’s often those who are the most comfortable in the system who want to bring it down. As such, lots of mass killers are in the category of the aforementioned incel hero Elliot Rodger, who carried out his rampage in a brand-new BMW his mother had gifted him. The deadliest shooting in American history—the 2017 Las Vegas attack that killed sixty and wounded more than eight hundred—was carried out by a millionaire who believed he’d been treated poorly by casino staff. The deadliest school massacre in American history wasn’t Sandy Hook, it was a bombing in 1927 that leveled a rural Michigan school, killing thirty-eight children and six adults. The culprit was a local farmer, upset that he lost an election for school board treasurer. What they had in common, in Key’s view, was aggrieved narcissism, a total inability to put personal affronts into perspective. Why shouldn’t others die for your petty humiliations, when you’re the Main Character of the Universe?

— Key in Jason Pargin, I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, 2024, St. Martin’s Press, Ch. Day 2, p. 174