What it was that made James Holmes go nuts.

[Gargantua]

Mallery…

You are definetly at high risk for cereal-killing.

Tucan - Son of Sam?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-9uq_lyRQ :P

[Mallery29]

@Mallery29:

Maybe he was Cuckoo for Coco Puffs?
Kids were after his Lucky Charms?
Was tired of Trix being for kids?
Mad at Anne Hathaway cutting all here hair?
Had tickets for Katy Perry, but all they were showing was Batman?
Didn’t like the way his business cards looked compared to the guy next to him (ode to American Psycho/Bale)…

I meant “her” hair…

[Mallery29]

@Gargantua:

Mallery…

You are definetly at high risk for cereal-killing.

Tucan - Son of Sam?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-9uq_lyRQ :P

James Holmes, Ted Bundy, Manson, Zodiac Killer, BTK, Dahmer have nothing on this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDvgL58h_Y

[Gargantua]

LOL,

Great vid Mallery.

[Crowninshield]

@LHoffman:

What an absolute scumbag.

I couldn’t agree with you more that Rush is an absolute scumbag.  I’d like to add that that Holmes guy is an absolute scumbag too.

[Imperious Leader]

I agree in the sense that some people are being inspired in a way to live in their own fantasy worlds, or try to capture those elements in their own lives. But the violence and subject matter in the film did not cause this.

Popular Culture is what brought people like that to the fold and inspired them. The film and films like it was are catalyst because they bring the fantasy to life. Consumer technology makes and allows greater non-personal interactions to take place, so people become dehumanized and violence becomes acceptable.

Consider 1930’s Germany and her film program directed/controlled against the Jews.

[Asterios]

@LHoffman:

This is not political in any way, but Rush Limbaugh’s analysis on Monday was quite compelling. He surmised that Holmes and others like him do these things, ultimately, for some level of fame. We are growing in a culture where technology and internet media like Facebook and Youtube allow people to share everything about themselves with the world. Young people are obsessed with displaying everything about themselves for the world to see. We live in an age of instant fame for those who are not accomplished in any way. All you have to be is the first one to do something crazy, unusual or shocking and you are recognized worldwide almost instantaneously. He also used the example that Charles Manson, while in jail, is still very famous.

I think this is a very good explanation for what happened. It is a social commentary, yes, but a fitting one. Most people who do these things are not “crazy”. They are not mentally unstable, do not have a psychlogical disorder or anything like that… Most of them, I think, are bored, tired of being normal and want some increased level of stimulation which will forever alter their life. Holmes didn’t try to kill himself, he seemed to happily surrender to the police and was even rather helpful in explaining that his apartment was booby trapped. Holmes didn’t care about prison, or execution… people recognize him for something now and the rest doesn’t matter to him.

but then where is his manifesto, his you tube video or even his facebook page, he left no evidence he was looking to be famous.

[Guest]

@Imperious:

The problem is cultural. The rise of impersonal technological gadgets which surrogate human interactions along with a continual fixation of fantasy movies ( stupid comic book movies since they ran out of ideas like Chucky part 36 or Batman part 597).

Just as an aside, I went to see Batman part whatever, and I was struck by the number of RERUNS being advertised in the previews.  Total Recall, Ghostbusters, Lord of the Rings, and a bunch of other garbage I can’t remember right now are all coming out in reruns this Fall.  Western civilization is all out of creativity I guess.

I fell asleep during batman.

[Imperious Leader]

Western civilization is all out of creativity I guess.

totally.

In the 1980’s movie ideas came from remaking old classic’s.
In the 1990’s it was a rehash of old TV shows ( Munsters, Adams family, Gilligan’s Island).
In the 2000’s it was rehashed comic books in 3D meant to dumb down people and operate on the lowest human denominator of intelligence.

[Mallery29]

 Western civilization is all out of creativity I guess.

Umm….chocolate covered oreos? There is still hope!

[Most Holy]

IL. The reason this stuff comes around is because the KIDS that had all the toys and watched all this stuff are grown up and have disposable income. I thought you were an intelligent guy. I guess not. You remember when Indiana Jones came out and it was hugely popular? That’s because it entertained the kids AND reminded adults of the old serials they used to see in the theaters when THEY were kids. Hollywood has always been cyclical. Batman has been around since 1939 and crosses and recrosses generations.

This piece of shit is a wack job. Remember when D&D was blamed for kids losing their minds? It wasn’t D&D’s could it was fucked up kids fault

Comics haven’t been for kids since the early 80’s by the way. You seem to have a lot of knowledge about WWII history, perhaps you should contain your opinions and statement to that area of coversation.

You sound like a bible thumping Midwest idiot who wants to shove your idea of morality down everyone’s throats.

[Der Kuenstler]

Well what the news does is take the very worst thing that happened in the world that day and plaster it all over the place, because that’s what gets ratings. In a nation of over 300 million people, there will be some mentally unstable ones. Combine that with access to deadly weapons, and you have what we saw. IMO it really has nothing to do with what comic books are read or how modern society is. This guy was really intelligent - a doctorate student. Some people are just messed up and things like this will happen. We never heard about all the billions who didn’t get shot last week.

[ABWorsham4]

@Imperious:

Western civilization is all out of creativity I guess.

totally.

In the 1980’s movie ideas came from remaking old classic’s.
In the 1990’s it was a rehash of old TV shows ( Munsters, Adams family, Gilligan’s Island).
In the 2000’s it was rehashed comic books in 3D meant to dumb down people and operate on the lowest human denominator of intelligence.

Very correct. The West was the exporter of ideas for centuries, now we import. Very sad.

[Gargantua]

You’re right Kuenstler More people probably died in car accidents in Colorado, on that same day, than the shooting. No word of a lie.

LOL @ Most Holy… epic post.

D&D is the devil and melt’s childrens minds with a +1 magic Missle, and a greater spider!

[axis_roll]

The amount of work put into the booby-trapping of his apartment proves a cold calcuation of a horrible plan to hurt people.  This is not the sign of someone who ‘lost it’.  This is a brilliant mind working hard on something for all the wrong reasons.

WHY?

We can speculate all you want, that’s all it will ever be.  We may never know why this man planned for months to hurt innocent people.

There will never be a valid reason for this behavior.  What a coward and a waste of all the gifts that were bestowed upon him.

[Imperious Leader]

Comics haven’t been for kids since the early 80’s by the way. You seem to have a lot of knowledge about WWII history, perhaps you should contain your opinions and statement to that area of coversation.

Comics should be for children only regardless of what they create in shallow and impressionable adult minds. What the so called ‘adult’ lacks at home becomes surrogate for power they lack to control events. These comics come alive for some due to self esteem issues because of what they can’t achieve in life, they live a fantasy world.

They play D$D and other such games and overindulge because decent parenting skills could not control behavior.

[Most Holy]

Wtf are you talking about? By that logic someone on these boards is building a Panzer right now to storm the White House.
Comic books are a form of literature. Just because some of the creators do stuff like Archie and Richie Rich doesn’t mean here can’t be books that are written and drawn for adults. In fact keeping with the WWII theme of these boards look up Maus by a guy named Spiegleman. It’s about the plight of the Jews in Poland and Germany during WWII, and it won a Pulitzer. They’re not exclusively for kids and you pigeon hoping an entire industry into one age group is not only short sighted but imbicilic.
Maus
Scalped
Walking Dead
Watchmen (or anything written by Allan Moore)
These are not kids books.

Again, speak to your knowledge fool and educate yourself before you make definitive statement about a topic you are clearly ignorant of.

[Imperious Leader]

Comic books are a form of literature for kids

By that logic someone on these boards is building a Panzer right now to storm the White House.

By that form of extrapolation it is most clear you should stay away from reading comic books. The anger you display is exactly what i’m talking about. The irony is too funny!

[McLovin1985]

Fame and attention is all he wanted in my opinion, and the media is feeding it to him with a silver spoon. I agree with some of the families calling on the media to stop using his name and showing images of him. Just boosts his claim to fame even more.

And when he was in the courtroom a few days ago, honestly it seemed like he was just sleep deprived. If my theory is right and he was just looking for fame, not a mental patient, do you think he’d be able to sleep after doing what he did?

Regardless, mental or not, he needs to be sent off to a country where they have more creative ways of the death penalty other than getting stuck with a needle and falling asleep forever…

[Most Holy]

@Imperious:

Comic books are a form of literature for kids

By that logic someone on these boards is building a Panzer right now to storm the White House.

By that form of extrapolation it is most clear you should stay away from reading comic books. The anger you display is exactly what i’m talking about. The irony is too funny!

Your penchant for changing peoples words in quote boxes is one of the reasons most people want you canned as a moderator you asshole. I live and breath anger IL, this does not come from reading comic books but from having to deal with moronic people like you on a daily basis. You attack comic books as being child oriented and yet have no knowledge of the medium. if you did you wouldn’t make such statements.

Now go cry about my posts and have them removed like the cowardly puke you are.

Back on topic, let me reiterate. This nut job was a nut job not because of Batman, not because of comic books and not because his mommy and daddy didn’t give him enough love as a child. it’s because he is not a sane member of society. I’m not either and although I love beating the crap out people who deserve it, I understand what a fair fight is. Bringing a gun into a crowded theater and mowing down unexpecting citizens is not a fair fight. Whether it was hair dye or the current state of western society or the fact that he was fed up with the idiot moderators on his forum of choice is not for me to judge but this guy is nuts and should spend the rest of his life (long or short) in jail.