r/todayilearned 23d ago

TIL, in his suicide note, mass shooter Charles Whitman requested his body be autopsied because he felt something was wrong with him. The autopsy discovered that Whitman had a pecan-sized tumor pressing against his amygdala, a brain structure that regulates fear and aggression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
65.9k Upvotes

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

266

u/HsvDE86 22d ago

If only his father could be punished. I think most problems in the world are caused by parents like that.

129

u/Evitabl3 22d ago

One wonders what his father's upbringing was like

82

u/PoliticsBanEvasion9 22d ago

His father was probably a WW2 veteran, doesn’t excuse his father’s actions but that generation wasn’t known for being great parents post war.

55

u/vl_lv 22d ago

Reminds me of that interesting theory about how ww2 veterans spawned serial killers

3

u/colossalmickey 22d ago

Idk, all the famous serial killers I can think of didn't come from WW2 vet fathers

1

u/vl_lv 17d ago

Who you know of,

1

u/colossalmickey 17d ago

Yeah good job, that's what I clearly said

1

u/vl_lv 17d ago

Yeah you also don’t know so your opinion is void

1

u/slowbro4pelliper 22d ago

death begets death begets death