Elliot Rodger

Elliot Rodger went on a killing spree, murdering six people and injuring 13 more. Then, he killed himself.

Besides bottomless grief, Rodger left behind a manifesto and YouTube videos.

Obviously, Rodger wanted the world to dwell on his thoughts and study his face and watch him speak. The media are obliging, giving Rodger exactly what he wanted.

Rodger used murder to achieve the attention he craved.

Now others are using Rodger and exploiting his victims to advance their agendas.

It's a sick little routine.

Of course, mass murders are horrific, and newsworthy events.

But the compulsory post-crime dance that follows is so unseemly - all the fingerpointing, the demands for more gun control and more laws, all the pontificating. Add hashtags to the mix, too. So much exploitation.

Instead of reducing Rodger's victims to little more than political props in the required "conversation" that accompanies these horrors, I prefer to pray for the families of the murdered, and pray that people realize that without morals and conscience we are doomed as a society.