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**meteeratymn** · 07-21-2012, 09:04 AM

I think it's a bit more complicated than that. To ease our minds we label a person "insane" to justify the atrocity, but there is something to be said about a culture where these events occur on a much more frequent basis than other developed countries. While the media propagates terrorism, a seemingly harmless Doctoral Student with zero felonies or prior arrests one day decides to shoot up a movie theater and kill over a dozen people.

But whether he is insane or just deranged or none of the above, doesn't matter... what does, imo, matter to him is the fame and glory he will get over the next few weeks when his name is plastered everywhere 24/7. We play right into his, or anyone else's hands, that do something like this by making them famous, and thus, showing others they can be famous too, by doing the same.

He should be called what he is, a shooter/gunman, and nothing more. There should be a blackout on 'him' in the same way there is a blackout on listing anyone who was raped, or is an underage victim. Not for his safety, but for ours. We just create the next bad player by giving the current bad player wall to wall coverage on any channel you flip to and a complete dissection of that persons life.

I think that you are both in agreement. insane or not he is a demented evil being who only seeks attention, which he got. i think that there are various factors which influence these mass killers, society itself playing a major part, especially the news networks and media who sensationalize the events. i read reports by psychiatrists who mention things which should be done to avoid these things. Among them, not to start news reports with blaring sirens, not to release photos of the suspect to the public and stories which just create an anti-hero persona of the killer, to localize the news coverage to the area and not to cover it so extensively nationwide and a ton of other things which
the media continues to do the complete opposite. Another is the gungho gun culture of the US and the pervading culture of gun ownership and the ease with which one cam get a gun, legal or not. Even if he got the guns illegally (which he didn't) the legal and very easy availability of guns is what in turn creates the massive black market for guns. (I do not advocate a gun ban or anything but it's undeniable that it's the legal market which made guns so popular and made guns such an intrinsic part of US culture.) Although these attacks also happen elsewhere in Europe, the rate that they happen in the US is 5-6 times greater, even though the US only has less than half the population of all of Europe.

The film has nothing to do with it, never mind him dyeing his hair orange and proclaiming to be the Joker, when this kind of person plans an attack with such a desire to kill for attention, they just choose the best opportune moment, which in this case happened to be the massive release of The Dark Knight Rises. the bigger the event, the bigger the coverage. Taking cue from previous killings and upping the scale, like Zed said before.

I go back and forth one this from time to time.

But isn't the desire to punish kind of sick in a way?

I agree with the idea to just put him down and get it over with.

Some people are incapable of existing in society.

I used to do that, but now I'm convinced. As much as he deserves to die, i think we would just be doing him a favour if they execute him. Besides that this idea that life can be taken away so easily and readily, merely for supposed closure, redemption and revenge only helps to perpetuate the same ideas and culture in a society that breeds the same examples of personified evil like James Holmes.

There is only one way to stop this from happening again, and that is to stop the viscous cycle which perpetuates these kind of attacks, and it might be a good idea to start with not killing anymore people.

Besides, the idea that he's rotting away in some solitary prison cell in a super-max is far more comforting than knowing that he died by capital punishment with that rotten smirk on his face, knowing that he succeeded in his mission as a martyr for others to follow his example years or maybe months even later.

Sorry for the punctuation, I'm typing on my phone.

07-21-2012, 09:04 AM	#58
meteeratymn Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 503 Senior Member	I think it's a bit more complicated than that. To ease our minds we label a person "insane" to justify the atrocity, but there is something to be said about a culture where these events occur on a much more frequent basis than other developed countries. While the media propagates terrorism, a seemingly harmless Doctoral Student with zero felonies or prior arrests one day decides to shoot up a movie theater and kill over a dozen people. But whether he is insane or just deranged or none of the above, doesn't matter... what does, imo, matter to him is the fame and glory he will get over the next few weeks when his name is plastered everywhere 24/7. We play right into his, or anyone else's hands, that do something like this by making them famous, and thus, showing others they can be famous too, by doing the same. He should be called what he is, a shooter/gunman, and nothing more. There should be a blackout on 'him' in the same way there is a blackout on listing anyone who was raped, or is an underage victim. Not for his safety, but for ours. We just create the next bad player by giving the current bad player wall to wall coverage on any channel you flip to and a complete dissection of that persons life. I think that you are both in agreement. insane or not he is a demented evil being who only seeks attention, which he got. i think that there are various factors which influence these mass killers, society itself playing a major part, especially the news networks and media who sensationalize the events. i read reports by psychiatrists who mention things which should be done to avoid these things. Among them, not to start news reports with blaring sirens, not to release photos of the suspect to the public and stories which just create an anti-hero persona of the killer, to localize the news coverage to the area and not to cover it so extensively nationwide and a ton of other things which the media continues to do the complete opposite. Another is the gungho gun culture of the US and the pervading culture of gun ownership and the ease with which one cam get a gun, legal or not. Even if he got the guns illegally (which he didn't) the legal and very easy availability of guns is what in turn creates the massive black market for guns. (I do not advocate a gun ban or anything but it's undeniable that it's the legal market which made guns so popular and made guns such an intrinsic part of US culture.) Although these attacks also happen elsewhere in Europe, the rate that they happen in the US is 5-6 times greater, even though the US only has less than half the population of all of Europe. The film has nothing to do with it, never mind him dyeing his hair orange and proclaiming to be the Joker, when this kind of person plans an attack with such a desire to kill for attention, they just choose the best opportune moment, which in this case happened to be the massive release of The Dark Knight Rises. the bigger the event, the bigger the coverage. Taking cue from previous killings and upping the scale, like Zed said before. I go back and forth one this from time to time. But isn't the desire to punish kind of sick in a way? I agree with the idea to just put him down and get it over with. Some people are incapable of existing in society. I used to do that, but now I'm convinced. As much as he deserves to die, i think we would just be doing him a favour if they execute him. Besides that this idea that life can be taken away so easily and readily, merely for supposed closure, redemption and revenge only helps to perpetuate the same ideas and culture in a society that breeds the same examples of personified evil like James Holmes. There is only one way to stop this from happening again, and that is to stop the viscous cycle which perpetuates these kind of attacks, and it might be a good idea to start with not killing anymore people. Besides, the idea that he's rotting away in some solitary prison cell in a super-max is far more comforting than knowing that he died by capital punishment with that rotten smirk on his face, knowing that he succeeded in his mission as a martyr for others to follow his example years or maybe months even later. Sorry for the punctuation, I'm typing on my phone.
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