Young people thrive on encouragement and deserved praise. They cope with constructive criticism, because it proclaims our belief in their worth. Being relentlessly reviled or ignored, though, cuts to the heart. A fair target for sneers, bullying and harassment. Those wounds don't always heal.
Some people even go off the deep end.
There are other things to discuss that might actually edge us toward useful ideas. Yet the assailants came from middle-income backgrounds, from families that look prosperous. It leaves us breathless that so many people could be so blind or, worse, so indifferent to danger signs. Robert Landauer is editorial columnist of The Oregonian.