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My Rahm Reunion
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The Left Hates Us
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Such a Dynamic Duo
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The Continuing Crisis
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Calvin Coolidge: His Times Are Our Times
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The Current Crisis
Forget the Creep
I fear there might be a growing number of such creeps among us.
WASHINGTON — What does James Holmes, the Colorado killer, have in common with Jared Loughner, Andres Behring Breivik, Seung-Hui Cho, Dylan Klebold, and Eric Harris? They all have massacred innocent people on a massive scale. Yet they have something else in common. They are all nobodies or losers, as the phrase has it.
All were on a downward incline from a not very lofty ascent. They were troubled, but there are other troubled souls in our society. They were fascinated with violence, but so are others. Why else would major entertainment corporations invest so much money in clang & bang, blood & guts, entertainments, for instance, childish movies, idiotic video games, even rap music?
They were quiet, loners, and dreamy isolates. My guess is they have watched a lot of TV with canned laughter and implausible sound effects. I do not see a lot of participation in sport with these young heroes’ lives. At their most active, they are probably vigorous onanists.
They were fascinated with guns but also other tools of destruction. Holmes had sedulously strung up his apartment with explosives so that it would be turned into an inferno when the authorities arrived. Now one thing that troubles me is that others are out there dreaming similar dreams. I fear we shall discover that there are ever more of these creeps.
Commentators across America are all rummaging through their minds to ferret out something arresting to say about James Holmes. Well, all I can say is that he is a creep with no special talent, but what if there are more like him out there? Though I have not seen anyone mention it in all the commentary about the Aurora massacre, my fear is that the massacres are increasing in frequency. Could it be that there is gathering a sub-culture of a sub-culture of a sub-culture of young men peering out at the drama of Aurora, Colorado, and preparing to surpass the carnage of Holmes and his peers. Perhaps it is time that the cameras and the commentators shut down about them. Forget them. They most assuredly seek attention. Let us agree not to give it to them.
It takes only a person of mediocre intelligence, no particular courage, and what Hannah Arendt, the twentieth century political theorist, famously called the banality of evil to commit a crime of the magnitude of the above losers. Let us stop commenting on them and turn to other things, for instance, the way journalists report these events.
Shortly after the Aurora massacre the New York Times headlined that the atrocity was “Reviving Debate.” What debate is the Times talking about? Five paragraphs into its story the Times elaborated, “the nation was plunged into another debate about guns and violence.” Actually the Times, along with the other brain-dead Liberals, wishes that the nation would be “plunged into another debate about guns and violence,” but the debate is in the eyes of the beholders. There are now over 200 million guns in America. The time for debate was around 1900, and does anyone think that western cowboys, for instance, would have given up their guns easily? Perhaps among thoughtful people the debates would never have taken place. Today Americans cannot even secure their borders. How are we going to collect all those guns? My guess is that if there is a debate, it will be among Liberals. The rest of the country does not know what to do about public massacres. That is a problem. The Liberals’ solution is no solution at all.
Back in 1955 in Chicago about the time of the famous Schuessler-Peterson murders, I heard a famous police reporter tell my parents that reporters of his era reported on such grisly crimes reticently. They did not reveal things that they knew might betray the investigators’ plans to investigate the murder. And another thing, they did not write much about the perpetrator of the crime once he was nabbed. They knew the creep and others like him were encouraged to undertake “copycat” crimes.
Right now I fear that we may be at a point where copycats are planning to outdo Holmes and his colleagues. Let us leave them to sulk in their lonely cells. After all, there really is not much to say about them that is very interesting.
About the Author
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (140) | Leave a comment
More Articles by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
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Appleby| 7.26.12 @ 6:47AM
There has been a lot of mewling about the shocking fact that this clown "had no presence on Facebook and Twitter." I am waiting for the next exhibitionist that not only has a "presence" inside his Binkie, but who also has placed plenty of cameras and hacked into a local network to be sure his antics (have you noticed that these crimes are always committed by men?) are broadcast to an admiring world.
And by the way, have you of the Christian persausions thought at all that if you, or anybody, had heeded Christ's admonition to those bound for Hades, "I was alone and You Did Not Visit Me?" and dropped in now and then, it wouldn't have been possible for him to wire up his apartment as a bomb? Anybody at your church that you shove your way past coming and going, and never speak to, that could use at least the offer of a visit? Many people like their own company best, but there are others who long for a friendly word and you could offer to drop in or invite him to visit you. Think about that.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.26.12 @ 7:03AM
Seriously, that last comment makes no sense. If he was nuts and you invited him over, the orange devil may have killed you. You have no obligation to straighten out other people's lives. In fact, that's how we got to where we are today with the legislating of that concept over and over.
Mimi | 7.26.12 @ 9:35AM
When will the world confess to this killing of unborn children?
It is the CIVIL RIGHTS issue of our TIME....The murders are hidden in pails....very tiny indeed.
ARE WE IN THIS GREAT NATION ever to begin to take these VICTIMS rights of life serious?
Thanks Tim....I wonder if a civil war is what it will take.....it would be so much more civilized to do it at the POLLS ! The outright diehards are all that the PRO-CHOICE have left...The President included...he holds views that are downright savage like.
Mimi | 7.26.12 @ 10:04AM
This was in response to Tims comment which has disappeared.... maybe you should take mine off too!
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 10:25AM
So much for Freedom of Speech, eh Mimi? And, don't give me that Crap about this being a Business.
I saw the Nig Word on this site, the other Day!
Tyrrell is an Establishment Punk, and a Disgrace to Conservatism, which he Pretends to extoll.
Glenn Beck has a new Book out, all about the R. Emmett Tyrrells of this Country.
It's called - COWARDS.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 3:58PM
Here's the thing:
We have ACLU dingbats preventing MDs from giving long term involuntary medication to these people to prevent such crimes. The criminals are dull, yes. But psychosis is not---it's problematic and ignored. Only Mona Charen among Conservative commenters has even noticed this problem. The rest are fighting back against gun control idiots.
But it's THE ACLU that has made this difficult. Surely there can be some Conservative opposition to the ACLU?
CJW| 7.26.12 @ 4:45PM
Pa, and I believe other states, passed new laws in 1980 dealing with civil committments. It made out patient therapy the preferred treatment, and required more strict evidence of committment.
Prior to 1980 the courts routinely committed people based on a written report from a psychiatrist. Now the hearings are similar to a criminal case where the attorney appointed to represent the person has to raise all objections and argue for out patient care.
Since then many of the state institutions have closed which resulted in an increase in the homeless.
PJ| 7.26.12 @ 10:48AM
You're absolutely correct; we are under" no obligation to straighten out other people's lives." I certainly would not invite a person I hardly know into my home or enter that person's home even if he belongs to the same church as me. (Although I might say "Hello.")
Yet, a simple acknowledgement of another person's existence, like a harmless smile to a passing stranger who could be lonely, may do the trick to get him out of his rut. You have no idea how much positive good feelings both strangers receive when the only thing they have in common is the passing smile.
And, that passing smile could have prevented or at least postponed the nut from taking the plunge.
We, normal people, are obligated to be hospitable & charitable as best as we can without endangering our own lives. (WWJD?)
And without government interference.
Appleby| 7.26.12 @ 4:21PM
(1) How do you know he's "nuts" if you've never had any interaction with him? From what everyone has said, he was simply a quiet, well behaved, scholarly fellow who fit the general description of "geek" -- hardly the textbook description of "mentally ill" that most of us would use. Even if he had dyed his hair orange and come to church that way, in most churches that would have simply branded him a College Student. My nieces and nephews had, at one time or another, blue, green and orange hair; and one nephew had hair down to his backside -- he was growing it for the program that makes wigs for cancer patients.
(2) My point was that if anyone had visited him during the three weeks he was hot-wiring his apartment, perhaps that person might have seen what he was doing and either asked him about it or reported it. I mean, most of us might have noticed basketball sized gasoline bombs, right? In any event, if people had dropped in on him, it would have made it harder for him to rig the place up, right?
Fast and Curious| 7.26.12 @ 9:06AM
I don't enjoy the implications here. Plus, it's WAY too early in the day to be lectured to.
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 10:50AM
What do Margaret Sanger, Tiller the Killer, Planned Parenthood, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, the Democrat Party, and The Muslim, all have in common?
The Brutal Extermination of Millions of Innocent Human BABIES.
One of them did it to Cull the Number of Negros, whom she deemed Inferior, and a Danger to the Gene Pool.
One of them did it for Money.
Another one did it for A LOT OF MONEY.
Ayers and Dohrn just wanted to kill ALL THE WHITE BABIES.
One of them Promotes It, with the idea that Every Dead Baby represents a Vote For Them.
And, the last guy wants them Dead, because he's all about Death.
Communism, Marxism, Progessivism.
These are all Political Death Cults, with a long History of Forced Labour Camps, Concentration Camps, Gulags, Iron Curtains, Forced Starvations, Death Marches, Holocausts, and Killing Fields.
Besides.
These are all Infidel Babies.
And, his God of Murder wants them dead, anyway.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 9:15AM
How many of the mentally ill, Appleby, do you make it your regular practice to visit, in imitiation of Christ?
I worked with the mentally ill in a hospital setting for nearly a decade; they were among the least-visited people in the entire hospital. No one not related to them wanted to have anything to do with them unless it was their job to serve them. During visiting hours, you could hear the crickets chirping.
Dai Alanye | 7.26.12 @ 9:39AM
It's easy to give up on the mentally ill, because they never are cured and rarely get significantly better. I refer primarily to schizophrenics. Not only do they tend to have obnoxious or disconcerting habits, they become a drain on their families' emotional resources.
Speaking from experience, it is common also for them to become "institutionalized" -- that is, to begin to consider the institution their home and feel more comfortable there, showing less interest in family members and avoiding home visits.
It's a generous act to visit the mentally ill, but don't be too quick to criticize their families, who might be understandably responding to circumstances.
PJ| 7.26.12 @ 10:50AM
Isn't there medicine for schizophrenics that can help them lead normal lives?
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 10:59AM
Yeah, there are lots of medications that can mitigate the effects of mental illness. The mentally ill who are prescribed these medications all too often refuse to take those meds. Thorazine, an early psychoactive med, made peoples' minds fuzzy, in excessive dosages caused Parkinsonian tremors and muscle cramps, and made the skin more sensitive to sunburn, so people refusing to take it was understandable. The newer meds are better, I'm told, but mentally ill people often believe psychoactive meds are given to them in an attempt to impose mind control (which, in fact, is true), and they object to having their minds controlled by drugs.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:09PM
The new meds are significantly better and have far better side effect profiles. We are not allowed to prescribe them involuntarily for long periods of time because the courts have decided that killing innocents is more important than treated psychotics involuntarily.
Sorry, Bill---these drugs do not do "mind control." They get rid of psychosis and control horrible behaviors, and allow people to get on with living their lives in minimal annoyance and supervision.
Thorazine was invented in 1950. The latest antipsychotics were approved 50 years later, and the side effects profile is light years ahead. I have been a boarded psychiatrist since 1995.
When we get over the concept of "mind control" (an antipsychotic cannot make a Liberal Conservative or a Democrat Republican, for example) and realize that the drugs treat symptoms caused by malfunctioning nervous systems, we will do much better in reducing the toll on society taken by these terrible diseases.
In short--- on proper meds taken PROPERLY by the patient (which I doubt he was doing), I doubt our shooter would have been a shooter. Stopping this type of violence is MY JOB. Lawyers and ignoramuses get in the way of my doing MY JOB effectively.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:12PM
Sorry: "Than treating psychotics."
By the way---think of the last time you have read the following story: "(Blank), who complied with his doctor's medication regimens religiously and attended appointments, nonetheless went on a shooting spree..."
It has NEVER happened on a patient of mine in 23 years now, as resident trainee and in private practice. They take their meds, they do not kill.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:01PM
Dai---if they take their meds, they can do significantly better. That's what I do.
Appleby| 7.26.12 @ 4:26PM
Actually I have had a lot of interaction with people whose mental state is tenuous at times. In 2004 I was covering the 24 Hours of Le Mans, or trying to, when one of my employees (who had gone off her medications, as it turned out, so she could drink alcohol) went absolutely off the rails and pretty much sunk our business until a big racing team (which shall remain unnamed) went to bat for us. (She later drowned herself.) In the day to day round of life in a big city, I encounter plenty of unbalanced people, and I treat them with the same kindness and consideration I show toward everyone else. You never know if a person is hanging by a thread and that one kind word may give her the courage to hang on another day.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:37PM
We have lots of visitors for our patients.
Grzmlyk| 7.26.12 @ 1:39PM
Wow. You've really gone way out of your way, and the way of logic, to try to insult Christians (I guess - frankly, this isn't one of your more lucid posts).
Since you are obviously brimming with moral superiority, Appleby, what's your excuse? Why didn't you show up at his apartment and share your pristine Goodness with him? Where were you? Gazing into your morality mirror and basking in your own vanity, perhaps?
Gee, that's too bad; the light of your moral superiority would have been a beacon to those poor, benighted, inherently hypocritical Christians you are so eager to sucker punch.
Brookschwarzenegro | 7.27.12 @ 12:01AM
Biggest loser in America:
David Duke.
Jack in Wi| 7.26.12 @ 6:51AM
Good comments: The problems of wierdos and these crimes is that Hollywood for 50 years has put out a lot of violent fantascies. These may well influence sick minds who can't tell fantasy from reality. It used to be one or 2 not very explcit murders would be in a story. Now massacres are common and mass murderers are often shown in an exciting way. I don't think these crimes would be nearly as common, if Hollywood would have used some restraint in it's productions.
squalis| 7.26.12 @ 9:39AM
"The problems of wierdos and these crimes is that Hollywood for 50 years has put out a lot of violent fantascies. These may well influence sick minds who can't tell fantasy from reality."
Jack, based on a bunch of your previous comments, I sometimes wonder if you are waiting for the movie version of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion".
Dai Alanye | 7.26.12 @ 9:41AM
Jack has some strange political theories, but he's absolutely correct about the negative influence of graphic violence on unstable minds.
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 4:09PM
He's not waiting for it.
He's living it.
Crassus| 7.26.12 @ 11:24AM
Isn't it about time for you to face Mecca, Jackaroo?
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.26.12 @ 6:58AM
There was an article in the USA Today where his former professors indicated he was in way over his head intellectually.
You have to wonder if he graduated with honors from High School and then found out to his horror that he was in over his head if the school system isn't manufacturing potential disappointed students by the thousands.
High schools and all schools have a tendency to not focus on real knowledge but believe puffing people up with phony excuses for failure and ever decreasing standards.
If anything, it's more likely he had a mental breakdown when he discovered that what he learned or what he had been taught about himself was a lie. In the meantime, Homeland Security should be alerted to any purchases of orange hair dye by young males.
In essence he went into shock when he discovered that in the real world you actually have to know something to accomplish something. It isn't just a question of using the roads to get to work:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....8/1?csp=ip
He received a $26,000 federal stipend.
But neuroscientist David Eagleman says Holmes' credentials were no better than those of an average student. The mass killing suspect is no elite neuroscientist, says Eagleman, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
"He was just a second-year grad student," he says. "He didn't know anything."
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.26.12 @ 7:01AM
By the way, it has now been pointed out that the money for his guns purchase may have come from his federal stipend. There are different rules and he may have been financed by the federal stipend mentioned.
http://www.americanthinker.com.....sacre.html
This last weekend, the Drudge Report had headlines that the Aurora Monster was receiving unemployment benefits and had a lab technician job.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 9:09AM
In college, I had an experience with a mentally ill person: he was below-par intellectually and failed most if not all of his courses, nevertheless he received his B.A. Why might that have been? Two reasons: (1) the instructors felt sorry for him, so they passed him in each course, time after time, because they felt sorry for him and didn't want to be responsible for standing in his way, and (2) he was aggressive and so were his parents, who paid his bills and advocated for him, so the instructors passed him to avoid conflict.
Maybe James Holmes falls into that category.
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 4:12PM
If he spent his High School Years "In a Drug Induced Haze?
How did he get into all of these Ivy League Schools?
Think: "Boys from Brazil".
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:13PM
Graduated PBK from undergrad, went to PhD school, had 1st psychotic break with stress of grad school. He's the right age for his first psychotic break, folks.
Tom near Boston| 7.26.12 @ 10:35PM
Reading the first lines of Bill's post ("former professors indicated he was way over his head intellectually..."), I thought the "he" was POTUS. But when I saw the attribution to USA Today, I figured it out.
Just a thought on the shooter I haven't seen anywhere: he may not have been board certified, but the kid was drawn to neuroscience. A native of my town, neurobiology professor Amy Bishop, went on a shooting spree a couple of years back. Dr. Hassan was a jihadist, but also a psychiatrist. I wonder: if you are adrift from your God-given common moral sense, but happen to possess higher than average intellectual ability, are you more likely to find yourself drawn to psychiatry and especially neuroscience? I always found the "we've unlocked to secrets of the mind" mindset in the texts and professors in these disciplines to be more than a bit creepy.
Maybe Big Sis should have put a watch on neuroscience students instead of vets and folks who like the US constitution.
Just an idle thought, but I think we've seen flimsier "connections" pursued with vigor in the MSM recently.
Intelligent Design| 7.26.12 @ 7:00AM
Guns are like cars. There will always be the chance that some nut will drive her car into a shopping mall and kill 20 people. There is no way to eliminate this risk, or the gun risk.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 7.26.12 @ 7:09AM
There are many examples:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00642.html
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Eight people were killed and six others were injured early yesterday morning in southern Prince George's County when a motorist unwittingly drove into a smoke-shrouded crowd of people gathered on a dark rural road to watch as two drivers roared off in an illegal street race, police said.
John Navratil| 7.26.12 @ 10:26AM
Intelligent Design,
Absolutely. Unfortunately it is the human dimension which makes this so compelling. It's why we rubber-neck at accidents.
To put this is some probabilistic perspective, NOAA claims 54 people per year are killed by lightning.
Appleby| 7.26.12 @ 7:31AM
A bus driver in Toronto ran a red light, hit a rental car full of tourists and a taxi, then slammed into a building. No medical reason for this crash, but it's generally accepted that Tweeting While Driving was the culprit. Binkie-twiddling has now surpassed drunk driving as the leading cause of car accidents and pedestrian deaths in Canada.
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 2:36PM
What in the hell does this have to do with the subject at hand?
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 4:13PM
She's Canadian.
Appleby| 7.26.12 @ 4:29PM
Sorry, wrong thread. Momentary lapse of attention. Disregard.
THKrupp| 7.26.12 @ 8:59AM
Everyone is wringing their hands looking for some kind of answer that will make them feel safe. The truth is that there is almost no way to have prevented this. Theres millions of people in this country who exhibit the same type of behavior as this man did. None of them are shooting up movie theaters. The answer is that there are no answers and that this guy is probably suffering from the onset of mental illness. Trying to blame society, guns, the internet, mobile telephones and video games only serves to take away the personal responsibility that this man has for his actions, mentally ill or not. Thats not comforting for anyone nor will it prevent it happening again. Unfortunately thats the way it is.
Dai Alanye | 7.26.12 @ 9:47AM
Holmes is seriously mentally ill, and most likely the symptoms were plain to see but deliberately overlooked by his family and others. There's a further possibility his crimes were triggered by an incident of heavy marijuana use, because MJ use mimics and enhances schizophrenic episodes.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 10:49AM
Yes, I agree that Holmes is surely mentally ill; actually carrying out a murderous fantasy as he did, even without the orange hair, the journal mailing, and the booby traps, displays some sort of disastrously off-the-rails mental failure.
But he's also working his ticket for all he's worth. While he was doing his wide-eyed thing in court, alternating with pretending to fall asleep, it seemed a fair inference to think that he was enjoying himself to the max, even though his real-life courtroom experience wasn't nearly as dramatic as the movie Joker in a movie courtroom.
Holmes is crazy and chuckling to himself as he manipulates the system and the people around him into hoped-for incarceration in a mental hospital instead of prison.
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 2:38PM
Now he is claiming Amnesia
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1122289
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:16PM
Correct, Dai.
However, patients can do VERY well on medications. The foremost authority on Bipolar disorder in the world is a lady with a psychotic bipolar disease. Her textbook, Manic Depressive Illness, sits on my desk as I type. Her name is Kay Jamison. But she is COMPLIANT with treatment.
Butch| 7.26.12 @ 1:59PM
Agree, THKrupp. If just one-tenth of one percent of the population has tendencies like this, that's still 30,000 people if I have done the math correctly in my head. I'm actually surprised it doesn't happen more often than it does. I'm afraid this is one of the unfortunate costs of a large, free society.
THKrupp| 7.26.12 @ 3:23PM
Thanks for doing the math. The question becomes do we set up laws that regulate the activities of 300,000,000 people based on the actions of a tiny sliver of the population. People are understandably shocked by things like this. Everyone thinks " we ought to do something to stop this!" The problem becomes in order to stop somthing like this from ever happening you end up with a very restrictive police state. There are always going to be mentally disturbed people. The best we can do is try to help them and keep them from becoming a danger to themselves and to society.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:19PM
No. What you do is this: 1) reintegrate involuntary court ordered medication with involuntary court ordered treatment. Overturn Reise versus St. Mary's.
2) 3 strike rule: two previous short term commitments, the third is for 10 years with involuntary medication as part of it (it does NOT mean 10 years in psychiatric hospitals---my longest patient was in my hospital for less than 6 months).
This case is NOT about access to guns---it is about treating the recognized mentally ill more aggressively and involuntarily.
RCV| 7.26.12 @ 8:36PM
Spot on, Occam.
THKrupp| 7.27.12 @ 8:38AM
Thanks Occam, I will leave it to professionals like yourself as to the best way to treat the mentally ill and prevent incidents such as this.
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.26.12 @ 9:02AM
"At their most active, they are probably vigorous onanists."
I must object to this association of onanists with violent losers. Onanism is a respectable profession, and those who practise it are upstanding members of the community. Even politicians are known to be adherents. We live in a country where a persons beliefs are protected and no man can take his rights away from him. Many of us who have only heard about it from afar have been tempted to join this group and see what they have to offer. Nothing human is alien, as I've heard somewhere.
I've just been told that onanism is masturbation. Okay, forget all that above. Except the part about politicians.
John Navratil| 7.26.12 @ 10:30AM
C. Vernon Crisler,
And I understand that quite a few politician's daughters are thespians ;)
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.26.12 @ 12:03PM
LOL
JimH| 7.26.12 @ 3:07PM
But, on the other hand...
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 4:15PM
You're last sentence should be in the TAS Comment Hall of Fame.
Classic.
Tom near Boston| 7.26.12 @ 10:46PM
No no no -- don't forget all the above. What an angle! Get to work on the Onanist website, support group,and literature to distribute at middle school nurse's offices. Get in touch with a literary agent to pitch children's books ("What Are You Doing In There, George?") and make a quick indie documentary to put on PBS at odd hours. And most importantly start writing grant proposals. You may end up the Onanist Czar.
Louis Jenkins| 7.26.12 @ 9:03AM
Yes, those losers are out there. What do you want me to do about it? Get all weepy eyed and puffy?
As was pointed out above, millions of babies have been aborted. You think they don't experience terror when the womb is invaded, or during partial birth the back of their head is split open to suck out their brains? Legal terrorism vs illegal terrorism. It's still a terror to be killed.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 9:05AM
The movement of our culture over the years since about 1960 has been in the direction of creating a nation of barbarians. Hillaire Belloc, early in the 20th Century, saw it coming, and he said:
"The Barbarian hopes and that is the mark of him, that he can have his cake and eat it too. He will consume what civilization has slowly produced after generations of selection and effort, but he will not be at pains to replace such goods, nor indeed has he a comprehension of the virtue that has brought them into being. Discipline seems to him irrational, on which account he is ever marvelling that civilization, should have offended him with priests and soldiers .... In a word, the Barbarian is discoverable everywhere in this, that he cannot make: that he can befog and destroy but that he cannot sustain; and of every Barbarian in the decline or peril of every civilization exactly that has been true. "
c. j. acworth| 7.26.12 @ 9:07AM
You know, as I read the description of this "creep" by Mr. Tyrell, I was struck by how many things he and I have in common. I live alone, have no social media presence, have no interest in sports, esp. team sports. I have wound down my gun collection in recent years but am still formidably armed, and I like other things that go BANG in a big way (you should've seen the fireworks display I put on for the 4th.) In addition I read Amspec, so am an obvious right-wing extremist and probably racist to boot. So why haven't I shot up the local shopping mall or theater? Probably because my recently departed mother trooped us all to church on Sundays, and continued the training at home during the week. She believed that the writer of Proverbs was correct when he said "Bring up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." She also believed the part about sparing the rod and spoiling the child. (Thats right. In addition to all the other strikes against me, I was "abused" as a child by parents who actually were so unenlightened they used physical dicipline.) Were it not for my sainted mother (backed up by Dad) who knows what jail I'd be in right now.
Bob Grant| 7.26.12 @ 9:54AM
I also thought Mr. Tyrell painted this guy using broad strokes.
If these really are the criteria for pigeonholing would-be mass murderers, then every citizen should obtain a concealed weapon permit.
This "weirdo" could just as easily have turned out to be the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg....or, the friendly, helpful geek working at your local Best Buy.
He refused to list all of the "charming", "normal"-appearing narcissistic mass murderers who have inflicted much more misery on society. They could have just as easily turned out to be the next great NFL running back, actor, ....or, President of the United States!!
Evil has many faces and takes many forms. I think your mom was on to something.
THKrupp| 7.26.12 @ 10:38AM
My thoughts exactly. The discriptions of the shooter are very similar to myself as well. The only thing that makes him a creep is that he committed murder, at least from what I have read about him.
PJ| 7.26.12 @ 11:08AM
So what you're saying that having a caring mom & dad under 1 roof raising the kids keeps one from going deviant?
Hmmmm--- over 50% of Black & Hispanic children & ?% of white children are being raised by a single parent in poverty.
Aurora, CO--------- it's only the beginning!
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 9:27AM
On the reviving-the-debate-about-gun-control issue, when one acknowledges that debate on gun control is an ongoing debate that has been going on in all media for decadess, please keep one image in mind when imagining the liberal stance toward that debate (which is continually resolved by a large majority of the public support the right to keep and bear arms as it presently exists): a little girl of about 8 years of age, jumping up and down, hands covering her ears, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Ban guns! Ban guns! Ban guns!" That's the gun control debate for libbies: do what I want you to do.
JD| 7.26.12 @ 11:47AM
That's not how they debate gun control. It's how they debate everything!
Bob Grant| 7.26.12 @ 9:34AM
Rush had a good insight on his radio show yesterday. The mainstream media should follow sportscasters' lead in how they deal with people who disrupt sporting events.
They ignore them by refusing to cover their acts.
They simply make a few negative comments about the foolish act and move on, but never acknowledge their identity.
This is the model the mainstream media should follow for covering events such as what occurred in Aurora.
Quit providing what they desire most >>>> acknowledgment !!! Oh, but the general public desires something as well >>> the gory details!!!...Oh, but the mainstream media also desires something >>> ratings!!!
It's this Exhibitionist/Voyeuristic/Exploitative relationship that needs to be dissolved.
24 hour cable news simply could not exist without these types of "breaking news" events, so good luck with that.
As far as what pushed this "joker" to do such an act?..............pure evil!!!
As always, the Bible addresses this problem and provides the only solution.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.26.12 @ 9:48AM
Emmett,
I can only hope that you have dismissed me as yet another ororifice, (smile).
GOVERNMENTS can kill more citizens in a moment than occasional idiots can in years.
When will american spectator begin EXPORATING instead of merely "spectating" in the cheap seats?
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.26.12 @ 9:54AM
Uh Emmett...iof you guys don't get off your ass..you won't HAVe a website a year from now. You will bein a FEMA camp non-comicodo (sic).
Louis Jenkins| 7.26.12 @ 1:59PM
How many people died back in 1995 in Waco Texas? There was no man that killed them. It was the government. And the use of a gun would have been more merciful. Only one man died who perhaps deserved to die, and the BATF, FBI, et al, could have had him on the street any day of the week prior to the mass killing.
Mimi | 7.26.12 @ 9:58AM
I believe a lot more will come to light, to help us understand this guys mind set! There are too many unknowns. We should be not held helpless and should be finding out the cause and prevention of these tragic events.
I would like to know more information about his family and upbringing and sibling relationships.
Could it all be because of the DRUGS he was taking?...Lots of info to be had before we can judge a motive. EVIL and SENSELESS was this act.....WHY ???
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.26.12 @ 12:10PM
Leftists are waiting, hoping, salivating, that some "right wing" literature will turn up in the shooter's background. That will be trumpeted for years by the media, while discussions of insanity will be put on the back-burner. Now, if the guy turns out to be a leftist, insanity will be front and center again. The media is so predictable.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 10:29AM
Clearly the best thing we can do is let any creep order a Glock or four and 6000 rounds of ammo on the Internet, no questions asked. We owe that to all Americans.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 10:51AM
As long as the law-abiding can order their own Glocks and 6,000 rounds of ammo.
I recommend any Glock .45, although I personally would choose something other than a Glock, but that's just me.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 10:56AM
James Holmes was law-abiding until last week. I guess that's the price we pay.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 11:10AM
Yep, that's the price we pay. We pay that price because it's worth it to have a few nuts with guns so that the rest of us who will never cause a gun problem can own our own firearms in order to defend ourselves and those we love, engage in gun-related sports, and otherwise protect our own liberty.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 11:28AM
At least you're honest about the price. Respect for that. Most who argue for limited gun control deny the problems.
JD| 7.26.12 @ 11:46AM
I don't deny that freedom includes the freedom to do harm, and I haven't seen anyone else here do that either. What I HAVE seen is you denying the problems CAUSED by your precious gun control, and the statistical realities of its consequences.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 12:31PM
If we took illegal guns away from southside Chicago and kept them away do you think we'd see more, less or the same number of shootings?
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 1:07PM
My two cents' worth is that the amount of shooting would be about the same, as people smuggled firearms into southside Chicago, and gang bangers traveled to less controlled areas to purchase their firearms. Also, thieves on nearby military installations would discover that they could make a fortune stealing military firearms and ordnance and selling it to the gangsters.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:23PM
No, the question, Jack, is if we took LEGAL guns away from Chicago, would we see the same number of killings, or more, or less? The answer is more, as criminals can ALWAYS get guns.
How you gonna take ILLEGAL guns away, Jack? If they are illegal, they are surreptitious.
Oldefarte| 7.26.12 @ 11:19PM
I KNOW that it instead the little gangbangers of the southside were taken away and locked up [w/o the ability to lawyer-up], there would be less shootings. Thats where the guilt lies, not with the guns. Maybe if the police had the ability to shoot first and ask questions later, there would be lees shootings also, huh?????
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.26.12 @ 12:12PM
Perhaps if your children were mowed down by a psycho with a gun, you'd think differently.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 12:33PM
That's a good question and one to which I'm sure Bill will give us an honest answer.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 1:05PM
I don't know what I would think if my child were murdered by a James Holmes. I strongly doubt that I'd blame the gun or its ease of access. I suspect that after the personal trauma, I'd be thinking bitterly about how cosmically unfair it was for my kid to have to have run across some self-indulgent obsessive nut-case fantasist as he created and carried out his murderous scenario, and looking at my own firearm, whatever it might be, and having my own fantasy about shooting the mad dog down in the street.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 1:30PM
It's always to easy to raise the ad hominem (ad hominem in its original meaning, as: "What if what you're advocating in the abstract actually happened to you?"), and of course the test of a principle is what you would do if it directly affected you. Still, it's a bit intellectually dishonest to raise it, particularly when the issue is not personal but one that affects everyone.
Another approach to the "what would you think if it was your kid who was killed" is to think of one's own feelings against a multi-hundreds of million peoples' feelings? Even Thomas Jefferson, in the same paragraph where he said that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of tyrants, said that a few lives lost for the sake of liberty was worth the price. Did anybody ask him "what if the life was Sally Hemings?" or some similar person?
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 1:55PM
Well you make a good point, but we don't have a constitution or society that is based on the concept of absolute freedoms, but on balances of freedom and harm. On that basis, I have the right to ask you if some of your freedoms - such as not being able to buy 6000 rounds on the 'net without some kind of licence - could be curtailed to reduce harm in society. And if 'I' is a majority then we may well move to more sensible regulation.
have a look at this from a retired Chicago cop - hardly radical but he makes some sensible points:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07.....l?_r=2&hp;
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 2:10PM
One other thing I'm certain I would think: my personal tragedy, however devastating it might be to me, is not enough to justify laws that change the rights of 350,000,000 other people.
That's why ad hominem arguments are intellectually dishonest: they call upon one's personal propensities to upset an entire community's standards. This is why Thomas Jefferson and George Washington being slaveholders doesn't detract one iota from their principles on human equality. When the nation adopted those principles, it didn't matter where they came from; their value was in what they meant for everyone, including the slaves, who now had a moral and political principle upon which they and their friends could base an argument for emancipation.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 2:14PM
The answer to that question is that mass gun violence like the Aurora theater incident does not occur often enough to make the majority of Americans believe that the harm caused by internet sales of ammo and the extent of gun ownership and gun rights as they exist today are sufficient to justify gun control.
The cop's ideas may have merit, they may not; the bottom line is that the rights of 350,000,000 people in America are going to trump a great many ideas about gun control.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 2:34PM
No, you're right that the big massacres are fairly rare. But gun violence generally - homicides, injuries, accidents and suicides - are shockingly high compared with other nations. It's this huge background harm we should seek to reduce, as it has a high cost to us all, in the same way that auto accidents have.
Most Americans do not have guns: my guess is that with the right leadership, we could have more regulation such as licences and purchase control, in a similar way to the obvious need for regulation on using seatbelts.
Today, at long last, Obama has shown some leadership on guns by calling for commonsense measures while respecting basic rights.
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 2:50PM
So, using yoru logic we should outlaw ammonium nitrate as well. I mean afterall that was the primary ingredient used in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. Hell, I didn't hear you guys screaming to outlaw jets after 9/11.
Outlawing guns or limiting amounts of ammo will not deter those intent on causing harm on a massive scale. They will simply develop another means or get what they require through more clandestine methods.
You can not fight insanity by making laws restricting activities. The insane do not care about those laws of men.
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 3:02PM
Sigh - if you read what I just said you'll see I wasn't talking about the rare massacres but about "gun violence generally - homicides, injuries, accidents and suicides - shockingly high compared with other nations".
And you're also dead wrong if you think the feds aren't trying to monitor the sale of chemicals used in explosives. Now - do you think we need tighter regulation on these chemicals or is it your right to order a few tons on the net?
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 3:25PM
Your gun violence in general resonings are just as easily used to outlaw/restrict whatever you want. Obviously you missed the point, that being, outlawing guns or the ammo will not solve the gun violence, accidents or suicides one iota.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:35PM
How much of that occurs with LEGAL versus ILLEGAL weapons, Jack. That's the interesting breakdown.
Oldefarte| 7.26.12 @ 11:16PM
We don't need regulations, but rather for individuals to DO THEIR JOBS! In this case, did the GD relatives/family know of this killer's mental illness tendencies and if so, why did they not intervene? He didn't exist in a vacuum, and just like with Ft Hood, those in the know should have open their mouths to authorities. Forget the guns issue being promoted by the domestic terrorists party and concentrate on those responsible persons as to guilt!!!!!!
THKrupp| 7.26.12 @ 3:06PM
At least from what I saw Obama didnt offer up anything that we dont already have. In order to purchase a firearm you have to go through a background check already. If you are mentally ill or convicted of a felony you cannot purchase a firearm. He basically said he was going to enforce laws we already have.
So called assault weapons are a red herring. They are very rarely used in the commission of a crime. Pistols have a much higher rate of use in criminal activity accounting for about 3/4 of all crimes. The most popular being 9 mm luger followed by .22 rimfire , .40 S&W and .380 ACP.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 3:09PM
Most Americans don't have guns? Maybe; I doubt it. One online gun control website claims that there are 300,000,000 guns in private ownership in the U.S. Another source claims 250,000,000; a third claims 200,000,000. U.S. population is about 350,000,000.
Whichever source you rely on, there are a hell of a lot of guns floating around in the U.S. That's why, aside from smuggling and illicit manufacture, gun control will never work here. I would agree that gun owners tend to own more than one gun, but I would also venture to guess that there are more than 175,000,000 people who own guns.
If we're going to debate gun control based on homicides, injuries, accidents, and suicides, well, accidents just happen; gun control isn't justified by that. Suicides don't depend on guns; if they can't get guns suicides will find a tall building or get toxic amounts of meds or drugs to kill themselves. That leaves injuries and homicides. Like the majority of Americans, I weigh the damage of limiting our Second Amendment rights against homicides and injuries and don't find the amount of damage from the latter to justify laws limiting gun use or ownership, or access to ammo. So I guess we just differ. But for what it's worth, my view is the majority view. We in the majority tend to think that proper training can minimize injury. Homicides may or may not be the result of easy access to guns; personally, I doubt it. Homicide can be committed with many weapons other than guns.
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 3:30PM
DEAD ON BILL!!
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 3:42PM
Surveys show that well under half of households have a gun, but that's part of the trouble - we don't know with great accuracy.
With fewer guns we'd have fewer gun accidents - just look at how many little kids get themselves shot - and there is evidence that we have a higher suicide rate in states with more guns.
And really - I don't know how long we can go on pretending our gun homicide and injury rate is nothing to worry about. Why do you want our country to be so much worse than other developed nations? It makes no sense and puts us as a real outlier.
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 4:24PM
Well hell Jack. Over 2,000 kids die each year from Automobile accidents. Guess we should outlaw them as well. I don't know how long you can go on pretending our auto injury rate is nothing to worry about.
Lets work on these top 5 as well.
5. Choking (Approximately 2,500 deaths per year)
4. Fires (2,700 annual deaths)
3. Falls (25,000 annual deaths)
2. Poisoning (39,000 annual deaths)
1. Motor Vehicle Incidents (42,000 annual deaths)
Oh wait there are those damn cars again!
Jack London| 7.26.12 @ 4:45PM
Do you think that the fact that other things cause deaths means we should give up and not do something about any of them? This is about as stupid as you've got so far, Drunken.
Drunken Sailor| 7.26.12 @ 4:56PM
Just demonstrating the folly of your logic and gun control. It's really very simple. There are more than enough gun laws on the books currently. Many of them even overlap. Stricter enforcement of them may help. Adding even more laws or outlawing guns period (like in other countries that you praise on a routine basis), will not stop gun violence or outlaws from having guns.
As for accidents, gun safety training is a great idea. Unfortunately when it is brought up most liberals scream we are trying to indoctirinate the children (they know all about indoctrination).
It simply amazes me how the side that constantly preaches tolerance is quick to be intolerant of what they do not agree with. We get it, you don't like guns. Fine, don't own one. But stop trying to step on my constitutional rights.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:31PM
Doesn't Finland have gun control? It is one of the suicide capitols of the world, you know. So is Greenland---what's the gun situation there?
I, myself, have no problems with gun ownership being connected to gun training, a la NRA training in gun safety.
But the little kids getting shot stuff really does NOT happen all that often---it is why it makes news.
THKrupp| 7.27.12 @ 10:00AM
Exactly, Finland has a fairly high rate of gun ownership, but Japan has very strict gun ownership laws and correct me if Im wrong but they also have a high rate of suicides as well. Canada has a relatively high rate of gun ownership yet they dont have the rates of gun violence that we have in the States.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:25PM
Jack:
have you ever answered the question about more aggressive involuntary medication of the mentally ill? This case really comes down to changing our view of identifying potentially dangerous people, and medicating them, forcibly if necessary.
It is only very, very secondarily about guns.
Skippy| 7.27.12 @ 4:40PM
My daughter does the mowing, thank you.
Soldiers like her get to do that stuff with my blessing.
wally| 7.26.12 @ 4:35PM
You CAN NOT order Glocks on the internet with no questions asked.
Paul A'Barge | 7.26.12 @ 10:33AM
You miss something they all likely have in common: possession by a demon/Satan.
As long as you persist in treating these evil creatures as morally equivalent to common losers you maintain yourself as part of the problem.
C. Vernon Crisler | 7.26.12 @ 12:15PM
One might wonder whether Satan would want to be associated with these loons when he can just as easily associate with political parties, and have better results.
Who Knows?| 7.26.12 @ 11:53AM
What a paradox.
Some human decides to become infamous by killing lots of other humans, which in an open society like the USA is easily done. Not too many people walking around in public decked out in body armor carrying a rifle, eh?
And, the openness is expressed, further, by other humans who either try to make money by spreading words about the shocking choice by the instigator, and his visage, or the goody two shoes do the same thing, bemoaning how bad it is to put the perp on the front page.
Hey, Emmett---I don’t mean to pick on you. But at least American Spectator shouldn’t have put a photo of this idiot atop the column! A picture is worth a 1000 words.
The go-to Jennifer Rubin did the math, and the number of mass killers and the number of their victims are NOT statistically going up. What is happening, though, is the inevitable “going for the gold---literally: $$$” actions of ambitious humans, who never miss a chance to profit on bad news, ever alert to use the latest high tech gadgets to bring the “news” to YOU.
Basically, the Absolute doesn’t care about humans, in particular. Choice makers ALWAYS necessarily bounce off each other, in all ways---loving, indifferent, or hating, even unto killing.
The movie fans AND the killer chose to be at the same place at the same time, and each chose to do their own thing.
Period.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 1:23PM
Stephen Pinker has written a book about this time in the West, and has opined that this is probably the most peaceful time in the history of the world, with fewer and fewer incidents of violence by people against other people. He claims that this fact is why we get so exercised when violent incidents occur. Mass killing incidents are probably going down in both frequency of occurrence and number of people killed.
Bill84728| 7.26.12 @ 1:25PM
The book is The Better Angels of Our Nature.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.12 @ 4:34PM
Pinker's not following things in the Dar es Islam and frontier zones very well.
I was amazed to find that 9/11 actually was as murderous as some of the most murderous days in US history. Not as high in total casualties as Normandy, but it did exceed the US deaths on Omaha beach.
In Western Countries, the violence rate is lower. But not overall.
Who Knows?| 7.26.12 @ 12:07PM
Ah, onanists.
Back in the fifties, what I was in my teens, I read a man’s magazine. I always enjoyed the jokes.
There was one, showing a guy in a jail cell, looking with admiration at his right hand, saying,
“I love you!”
Petronius| 7.26.12 @ 12:36PM
This piece is grounded in the assumption that public attention was the motive. True to a point. What such desperate frustrated gits really want is what organized minorities get; THEIR WAY! He committed mayhem because there's no movement treating his demands he can join nor adversaries he can sue to gain his desires because he is so isolated. He was until now, unknown, unseen, unmentioned, unloved, and as a matter of course, impossible to please. And I'd bet my last buck he was taught that pleasing others is the way to get what one wants. We all know that's not true since obligation is merely implied. Belief can be every bit as dangerous as weaponry. Ask Al Quaeda. Belief is their primary weapon. Holme's bloody tantrum is the response to us for failing to order the world to his liking.
Loess Hills| 7.26.12 @ 12:38PM
Absolutely correct. I said in the aftermath of Columbine that succeeding massacres were largely the result media coverage of that event. Just the thing for attention-seeking losers.
CaneCutter| 7.26.12 @ 1:42PM
STOP giving creeps like the DEGENERATE Murderer in Colorado PUBLICITY! This moron is basking in the glow of 24/7 Media coverage. His orange hair is all over the TV, Newspapers and Intenet. The KILLER can spend YEARS and YEARS reliving his big moment, thanks to the MEDIA, even American Spectator! Why do we give these MONSTERS anything but contempt? Reporting can still go on without acknowledging the AH's name! Show a silouette instead of a photo of the ass with his orange weirdo hairdo. When speakng of him do so in a condescending and snarky manner. Easy enough for the MSM. Teat asses like the Colorado BUTCHER with contempt, never mention his name and NEVER show his photo on anything! By doing so, we can go a long way toward avoiding more mass murders by NUTJOBS who only want to be "famous."
Buck Ofama| 7.26.12 @ 2:20PM
>Could it be that there is gathering a sub-culture of a sub-culture of a sub-culture of young men ... preparing to surpass the carnage of Holmes and his peers.
Yes: raghead mudslime c0cksuckers
Abu Nudnik| 7.26.12 @ 9:16PM
Like Bobby Jindal's parents?
Stuart Koehl| 7.26.12 @ 4:48PM
The Romans had a way of dealing with men whose actions were too heinous even to recount. It was called "damnatio memoriae", and a man so condemned was not only physically removed from society (since the Romans had no concept of prison as punishment, this means he was executed, or simply killed like a dog), he was removed from the very consciousness of society. Every last trace of him would be obliterated. Any statues would be smashed; inscriptions would be carved over; any laws in which his name was mentioned would be amended without it; any books with his name on or in it would be burned. In a society in which eternal life was equivalent to being remembered in history, this punishment effectively consigned the man to the outer reaches of hell, never to be mentioned, never to have even lived, in the mind of his peers.
We need something like that.
Petronius| 7.26.12 @ 6:44PM
Stu
That's a non starter in this country where so many pop culture idols are scofflaws and their fans adore criminals because they are envious of their ability "to get away with it." It's the same syndrome that makes Bill Clinton "Cool". James Holmes may not admire anybody, but he wants to be in that club. And the self serving media will never commit a person like him to oblivion. That calumny is reserved for President Ronald Reagan for his effrontery towards them and every other self ordained intellectual snot.
WhiteBikerTrash| 7.26.12 @ 8:23PM
Now let's see if I've got this right.
The liberals say that there is no way that we can collect up the 20 million illegal aliens and remove them from our society, so we must give in and allow them to stay. But we must collect up all 200 million guns in private hands and remove them from society as a protection. And, it can be done with the passage of a simple law? What am I missing here?
Abu Nudnik| 7.26.12 @ 9:14PM
They'll do anything to sell papers. As Ronald Reagan used to say to them: "Well, there you go again!"
Oldefarte| 7.26.12 @ 9:41PM
Folks I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but it ain't the guns, okay? The nuts in other venues use roadside bombs, knives, or whatever else they deem necessary. Ding dong, it's the nuts, stupids! Why are they nuts you ask? Simple, a crapars culture that leads them to become nuts. This culture has pee-peed on religion, morality, hetersexual marriage, movies of meaning and intelligent content for an audience with a mentality over five year of age, respect for one's fellow human beings, etc; while promoting homosexuality and its marriage, glorification of violence, divorse, the bastardization of children outside of traditional marriage, the dumping of the reponsibility for children onto anyone other than the parents of same, etc. How can not these massacres occur with increasing frequencies should be the question being asked under this junglistic culture that we live in today?????
HBealeJr| 7.26.12 @ 10:10PM
I remember back in the sixties Major League baseball had a problem with people running onto the field. The networks would show the guy/gal running around making a fool of themselves. Then one day MLB said no more. The networks were not to show the fool on the field.
Yes, it still happens from time to time, but it is a rare event. In reality, I think the media thrives on these events. Look at what passes for news on most days. Diane Sawyer usually does a segment daily on a food or activity you do that will shorten your life. Boring! But reporting on the life and motives of a mass murderer? That is exciting
Exciting for the in the field reporter, the anchor, the police chief, the mayor, the NYC mayor, Jesse Jackson, and the list goes on. It's exposure for the creep yes, but don't the rest of them love the limelight as well. All the better to politicize the event.
They know banning guns won't work. Liberals are stupid, but not that stupid. But having a good mass murder from time to time gives the liberal a much needed forum of national exposure. It is a small price to pay to receive the continued benefit of their wisdom.
threeleafclover| 7.27.12 @ 12:15AM
You first begged for nothing more to be said or writen about "this creep". "This creep", is that the level of your editorial style, now?
Then you wrote a meandering piece about not much of anything, ending by critiquing your own article, "After all. . not. . .very interesting."
Banality, thy name is Tyrrell. Face it, you have peaked.
threeleafclover| 7.27.12 @ 1:33AM
What if? What if psychiatrist Holmes actually got the package,mailed July 12. He read it, thought he would take it up with Holmes at their next appointment. Discuss it.
A few days later the carnage takes place.
Psychiatrist/professor (in my "what if") hears the news, "Oh my God, he was seriously demented and serious. This is above my pay grade. . ." Fearing getting involved, Professor grabs "manifesto" re-wraps it, scurries to mail room . Plants in obscure corner.
Goes back to office, calls authorities, says he has package "that may be from Holmes." Package is not from Holmes but leads police to where they find one from Holmes.
Why would he say he had a package he thought was from Holmes? Had Holmes said, "I am sending you a package."?
This is in no way intended to sully the reputation of a college professor, but as everyone here feels free to opine on the quality of parenting Holmes had, his crazy look, his mediocre grades - well, maybe Occam can explain the disarray of a psychiaitrist's incoming mail.
Why don't we just take him to the town square and stone him to death? He is obviously insane.And all condemning him are just as obviously judge, jurors and hangmen.
We will never know his genetic predisposition that made him capable of this act, He was adopted by parents who longed for a sweet, little boy. How cruel of commenters who know nothing of any of the family to indict.
Drunken Sailor| 7.27.12 @ 9:58AM
Feel better? Has the bleeding of your heart stopped?
Vance P. Frickey| 8.3.12 @ 2:08PM
The commentators who try to lay Holmes' body count at the feet of his family succumb to one of the pivotal errors of liberalism; that anyone can be responsible for his acts but that person himself. I find it repugnant that anyone feels free to Holmes' adoptive family into this discussion, as though (a) it helped the victims and their families (the families would prefer to remember their lost ones), and (b) their snarky crap had any connection to the truth.
threeleafclover| 7.27.12 @ 10:35PM
Drunken Sailor - Bleeding heart? My friends say I have a heart of stone. Yet somehow I managed to convey to you some sympathy for the deranged individual who committed this mass murder.
I was merely remarking on the willingness of commenters to repeatedly refer to the man as a creep - when creep hardly describes his twisted thinking. And of associates, who previously noticed nothing remarkable in his behavior to now be doing autopsies on his brain.
But you asked if I felt better now. Yes, I feel infinitely better, having seen the photo of the school psychiatrist who was treating him and somehow missed that he fairly rattled when he walked from all the screws loose. Her specialty is schizophrenia .
obadiah| 7.28.12 @ 10:16AM
it's the onanism. we must outlaw onanism.
Vance P. Frickey| 8.3.12 @ 2:09PM
Everyone who agrees, raise his other hand...
Adams'| 7.28.12 @ 12:08PM
Holmes graphically illustrates the power of statistics. If there are a given percentage of the population like Holmes, they will always be there and we can expect them to do what they were statistically born to do.
Vance P. Frickey| 8.3.12 @ 2:18PM
If, in the 1950s, we had (n) number of James Starkweathers and Caryl Ann Fugates, in the 21st century, we can expect at least twice as many assuming nothing else changed in the meantime - since we have over twice as many Americans.
Actually, since the shooting of Trayvon Martin by his intended victim - who didn't intend to lie there and be beaten - caused our country's chief executive to agitate for the prosecution of Martin's would-be victim, and weeks of rioting and racially-motivated murders and assaults unremarked by the press afterward, we can only expect MORE losers to bet that they won't be held responsible for their acts by a morally inverse government.
Ron Ackenberry| 7.28.12 @ 4:36PM
Yes, indeed: Forget the Creep!
I thought the story was over the minute Holmes was taken into custody and named. We knew who, what, when and how. Sure why ? is still a bit vague, but it's not important in my view.
As for the 'debate', forget that too. There is no debate. It would be suicidal for the Democrats to launch a national gun control initiative and at least dumb for Republicans to launch a wild west arm everyone plan.
I suppose the question then becomes, why won't we forget Holmes or forget the debate?
Could it be public hangings and mob reactions have not been excised from our genetic make up?
Even now?
Ever?
threeleafclover| 7.28.12 @ 6:56PM
Maybe what we need rather than gun control is more competent psychiatrists. Having Lynn Fenton, Holmes' psychiatrist, (specializing in schizophrenia), examine every potential gun purchaser in the U.S., would not catch the one about to blow.
Psychiatrists and seismologists are about on a par in their ability to predict accurately in their field.
The airline I worked for had some spectacularly bizarre behavioral outbursts, one resulting in hostage-holding, another in homicide, followed by suicide - committed by employees under psychiatric care and certified as OK to work. The thinking being, yes, you can carry that bottle of nitroglycerine across that rocky road, as long as you walk carefully and don't stumble.
I live on the San Andreas fault in California. No seismologist has ever come on TV the week before, the night before or the hour before and said we were about to have a 4.6 earthquake. The day after they come like roaches out of the pantry to tell us the severity on the Richter scale - concluding with the somber prediction, that we will have after -shocks.
Same with psychiatrists, calling every TV show in their area, offering to come on and pontificate as to why this "troubled youth" did what he did. It should have been noticed that the kid wanted a Batman costume every Halloween - somewhere he went wrong and became obsessed with the Joker.....
threeleafclover| 7.28.12 @ 7:12PM
OK, in case you are missing any of this. Lynne Fenton, the psychiatrist, was disciplined in the 1990's for writing prescriptions for herself, her husband and an employee - for VICODIN, XANAX, LORAZEPAM and AMBIEN. Presumably she had more than a sore throat. Had to take 50 hour course in documentation.
An ideal choice for head of Student Health at a University.
threeleafclover| 7.29.12 @ 12:26AM
How long does it take to become a really competent psychiatrist - capable of running a college student health clinic? Four years? More than four years? Before Lynne Fenton was a psychiatrist, she was an acupuncturist, with a theory about breast enhancement through acupuncture (Denver Post). I suppose that is, if you are careful not to run into a previous motherlode of silicone on your patient.
So far, nothing about aromatherapy or rolfing. Turns out when she was self-medicating, it was when her mother was terminally ill.
Adams'| 7.29.12 @ 12:31AM
Our society, as well as the rest of the world owns a statistical number of kooks. The percent is fixed, but their numbers increase with increasing population. They have always been there; they will always be there...waiting. To try and analyze their motives and incentives is absurd. They are mentally unstable. They have no reason for their rampage. They are exactly akin to lightning strikes and earthquakes. You will have to live with them whether you like it or not.
threeleafclover| 7.29.12 @ 3:25PM
Add to the number of certifiable kooks in this world some of the psychiatrists treating them.
Dr. Fenton's experience in the field of psychiatry seems short and sketchy. Got degree in 2008, at the CO school, became assistant professor and head of the Student Health in short order. Maybe that kind of fast-tracking is normal for professionals who don't have to prove competence in order to get the job - no notches on the belt - just a history of acupuncture in the Army.
I worked in the medical department of a large airline. To return to work after serious illness or surgical procedure, employee had to check back through with a "return to work" slip signed by doctor.
One day a employee came in, bald as an onion, smiling, eager to get checked through. Visible recent scar on scalp. She claimed she could wear a wig for work, but she'd rather not - - it was a bother it was really cooler this way. Liberating, in fact. She seemed unusually giddy.
She had had a lobotomy and apparently her doctor had not given too much thought to how her appearance might be disconcerting to passengers or even how she might need the missing or disconnected part of her brain in an emergency. He had done his job and she was OK in his book. Cooler heads prevailed. She was not returned to schedule.
Sorry, I can't forget George Carlin's line - "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."
Vance P. Frickey| 8.3.12 @ 1:58PM
My apologies to all the James Monroes out there, I posted hastily; I meant the creep, Mr. Holmes.
Vance P. Frickey| 8.3.12 @ 1:52PM
Mr. Tyrell, thou speakest like a book (compliments to Rudyard Kipling). As an adopted Coloradan who lives about eight miles from the scene of the latest outrage ("tragedy" is somewhat nonjudgmental, as though killer and victims were somehow transported to the scene of the crime by Smith and Wesson, Colt, and Glock), I hear more and more from fellow Coloradans just what you propose - forget James Holmes. Mr. Holmes is merely the very least-socialized client of the liberal state - who has carried the impulse to make HIS problems the problems of innocent bystanders to the gravest extent possible.
The will to power is, in its most objectionable form, measured in human lives taken by the person in power. So we have a Barack Obama showing how powerful he is by denying General McChrystal more troops and resources in his Afghanistan Adventure, killing men and women whose only offense was volunteering to defend our country - and James Monroe, who racked up a smaller body count, perhaps only because he couldn't get the liberal establishment to support him in a run for the White House.