by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
U.N. Visitor’s Plaza, New York, New York
A gift from Luxembourg.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last forty-eight hours, you have no doubt seen the coverage concerning the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. If you possess even a minimal level of empathy for your fellow human beings, twelve dead and fifty-eight wounded when their only crime was wanting to see a movie can only be properly described as tragic. Among the dead accounted for up to this point are a man who had been celebrating his twenty-seventh birthday (Alex Sullivan), a member of our Navy (Petty Officer Third Class John Larimer), a twenty-four year old aspiring sports journalist (Jessica Ghawi), and a six year-old girl. Some less responsible outlets are reporting this little girl’s name (Huffington Post, looking your direction), but other more responsible outlets are not. I will not post her name for the same reason others have declined: the little girl remains unidentified because her mother, also a victim of this horrific crime with gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen, remains paralyzed in hospital and has not yet been told of her daughter’s death. Even in reporting on events, sometimes a little discretion goes a long way and does not impair the “public’s right to know” in any substantive manner.
Over the next few days, you will see many attempts by people with various political agendas trying to monopolize on this shooting to promote their pet causes. In fact, it has already started and in a most heinous manner. During a radio interview on The Heritage Foundation’s “Istook Live!” show, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings were a result of “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs” . . . and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter. Gohmert in one fell swoop illustrated that not only is he a base political opportunist, but that he apparently doesn’t understand the 1st or 2nd Amendments very well – a common affliction among Texas pols. Others pols are already using this as a way to promote their anti-gun agendas, their pro-gun agendas and the Twitter-verse is filling with statements from “our leaders” about this tragic event and all of them in some way self-serving.
I urge you to ignore these opportunists for a moment and to think about something else related to the Aurora shooting.
Multiple outlets are reporting that the accused gunman, James Holmes, had dyed his hair red and told the police he “was the Joker”.
There is the fantasy of violence. There is the reality of violence. They could not be more different in outcome. This presents the issue of instances like this where the line between fantasy and reality have clearly been crossed in some meaningful manner. Does this problem exist in the individual or in society itself? I submit the answer might be “a little of both”.
Consider this: one of the elements of drama is that the hero (or something or someone the hero holds dear) must be in peril. It creates tension, it moves the story. You cannot have drama without an element of danger or risk and very often that danger or risk is portrayed in the form of physical violence. As a species, we are wired to find this entertaining. There is nothing wrong with a bit of wish fulfilment in seeing the hero overcome adversity as entertaining.
The reality is starkly different. Witness real heroes like Jon Blunk who was killed defending his girlfriend Jansen Young during this rampage. Witness Jarell Brooks, a 19-year-old from Aurora, who put himself at risk to help Patricia Legarreta and her two young children escape, but not before he and Legarreta were wounded. Witness Eric Hunter, a 23-year-old from Aurora, who found two wounded girls and dragged them to safety in an adjoining theater before blocking the door to Theater 8 and preventing the alleged gunman from spreading his gunfire in to a new room of innocent theater goers.
All three possible outcomes. Death, wounding, escape from physical harm. All three equally heroic in that other lives were saved, some of them strangers with nothing in common but a love of the same kind of cinema and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a funny thing about heroism though. As F. Scott Fitzgerald famously quipped, “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” In real life, the tragedies and the heroics are real and have real consequences. The hero does not always win the day as they are prone to do in fiction.
Does our propensity for dramatic entertainment, let alone dramas involving violence, feed a propensity for violence? This is a question as old as drama itself. On one side of the argument is the catharsis argument put forth by Aristotle in Poetics; that in viewing tragic events, the audience’s negative feelings like fear and pity are purged. This line of reasoning was later supported by psychologists and psychiatrists such as Sigmund Freud and A.A. Brill. On the other side are modern researchers who have found correlations between watching violence and the rate of violence in society, but causal connections between the two in the general population have been difficult to pin down. What is clear is that “exposure to media violence does not produce violent criminals out of all viewers, just as cigarette smoking does not produce lung cancer victims out of all smokers. This lack of perfect correspondence between heavy media violence exposure and violent behavior simply means that media violence exposure is not a necessary and sufficient cause of violence.” (“Media Violence and the American Public” by Brad J. Bushman and Craig A. Anderson, Iowa State University, American Psychologist, June/July issue, p. 482, 2001.) That a small segment of society seems particularly susceptible to being prodded in to violence through the consumption of media violence though seems undeniable. To me, this seems to comport with the rate in society of people with mental problems revolving around empathy like sociopaths and psychopaths. People who lack empathy would naturally not connect the actuality of violence with the fantasy of violence as they don’t care about the impact of their actions on others to begin with. Correlation is not causation and the root causes of violence are more complex than just a person’s entertainment choices. There are also environmental, social, economic, and personal history to consider. Some people in certain situations are simply going to be more prone to violence. While causation in the general population has been found in desensitization toward violence and violent entertainment, causation of real life violence with fictional violence has been more elusive although desensitization in itself has been can “[increase] aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal and aggressive behaviors, and decreases helpful behaviors.”
As a society, do we have a duty to mitigate all factors that can induce violent behavior in individuals? Even if that susceptible segment of society is a very small percentage of society? With complex compound causation, this is a practically impossible task, and even if “perfect mitigation” of contributing factors was had there are a certain percentage of society that are going to be violent psychopaths no matter what their environment is like. Where to do we draw the line a social inputs that can encourage violence and personal responsibility for individual action? Consider this as well: do we have the same duty to mitigate when the violence perpetrated by sociopaths and psychopaths is economic (as in the banking industry shenanigans that birthed the OWS movement), is purely psychological (as seen in pathologically verbally abusive spouses) or is purely political (as in the religious far right attempting to trample history and the Constitution to institute theocratic laws if not outright theocracy)?
Perfection is not possible. Evil cannot be eliminated in the world for without it we have no definition of good. The perfect removal of error from complex systems is a mathematical impossibility. Does that mean we should not try?
What do you think?
Source(s): ABCNews.go.com (1, 2), NBCNews.com (1, 2), Huffington Post (1, 2, 3)
~ submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
UPDATE: The names of all the victims have been officially released by the Arapahoe County coroner’s office. These are the names it is important to remember. Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, Jessica Ghawi, 24, Alex Sullivan, 27, Jonathan Blunk, 26, John Larimer, 27, Matt McQuinn, 27, Micayla Medek, 23, Jesse Childress, 29, Alexander Jonathan (AJ) Boik, 18, Alex Teves, 24, Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32, and Gordon W. Cowden, 51.
A Personal Note to the Aurora Victims and Their Families and Friends:
My sincerest condolences. May your loved ones lost live on in your memories and may your memories be long, robust and full of happiness. May the wounded heal and take every advantage of their good fortune at surviving this senseless act of violence. May this harm done to you and yours not keep you in the depths of lament, but transform to a celebration of life – both theirs and yours. Peace, love and long life.
Gene H.
NOTE: For those of you waiting for the next Propaganda installment, I’ll either publish it tomorrow or publish next weekend depending upon time constraints. I thank you for your patience in the face of breaking news.
Elaine, there has been a lot of talk of the volume of ammunition. I bought a box of 500 rounds of .22 long rifle ammo at a local gun show–in one box. I can shoot up that much in a day at the range and have time left over. Holmes had about 1K rounds in his possession. He might have that much on hand, but there is no way he could have reloaded that much into weapons before being stopped. Kind of like having six cars in your garage. You cannot drive them all at once.
Another thought. When filling out the paperwork to purchase a weapon from a dealer, you have to certify that you are not mentally ill or have been committed to a mental institution for treatment. How are they going to know if you are lying or not? Lying on a Federal form is a crime, but with HIPAA laws, there is no way to check and HIPAA prevents names from being in a database.
Needs no comment:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-11/nra-raises-200-million-as-gun-lobby-toasters-burn-logo-on-bread.html
Elaine,
very interesting article. It is amazing how easy it is to buy this dangerous stuff without a hint of law enforcement interest, but if I mention the word bomb online, I could have agents visiting me.
Woody, put your tinfoil hat away. There are walking mentally ill all around us and the mental health care system is well neigh broken. Many local mental health centers are oxymorons. When a mental health problem is diagnosed, the medications are often not covered by insurance, and are too expensive for people on fixed incomes to purchase. Additionally, there is no way to force people like Holmes and others like him into treatment.
I read a news article last night that said Holmes tried to join a local target shooting club, but was turned away because the club admissions people realized he was mentally unstable. Some are mentally ill due to a brain malfunction. Charles Whitman, the Texas Tower shooter was found to have a brain tumor pressing on the part of the brain that controls feelings of rage. Some mental illnesses are hereditary. Some occur for no reason we can determine epidemiologically, but with enough digging, can sometimes find grandparents or cousins who had similar mental problems.
These krazies pop up unexpectedly every now and then…is there a
Manchurian Candidate ….component to these mass killings…Are there
Krazies in society that are subject chemical and mind altering drug manipulation…by some unkown entity?????
Remember the Manchurian Candidate Hollywood movies…with Frank(Sinatra),
Lawrance Harvey, and more recently…Danzel Washington…and the numerous books that have been written on the subject of mind control by the communist and ower own government…????
… http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056218/ …
@Otteray: (Re thermobaric bomb) This was precisely my own point earlier. Chemical explosives have been getting invented for a hundreds of years and the recipes are everywhere; anybody with enough money to buy the weapons Holmes had could have used that money for equipment and raw materials needed to build a bomb.
It may not be C-4, but it could be as powerful as dynamite (nitroglycerin) or black powder.
I do not believe this particular incident could have been prevented by legislation. Legislation creates consequences; but people intent on killing no matter what the consequences will find a way to do it.
Suspect Bought Large Stockpile of Rounds Online
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/us/online-ammunition-sales-highlighted-by-aurora-shootings.html?_r=1&hp
Excerpt:
DENVER — Unhindered by federal background checks or government oversight, the 24-year-old man accused of killing a dozen people inside a Colorado movie theater was able to build what the police called a 6,000-round arsenal legally and easily over the Internet, exploiting what critics call a virtual absence of any laws regulating ammunition sales.
With a few keystrokes, the suspect, James E. Holmes, ordered 3,000 rounds of handgun ammunition, 3,000 rounds for an assault rifle and 350 shells for a 12-gauge shotgun — an amount of firepower that costs roughly $3,000 at the online sites — in the four months before the shooting, according to the police. It was pretty much as easy as ordering a book from Amazon.
He also bought bulletproof vests and other tactical gear, and a high-capacity “drum magazine” large enough to hold 100 rounds and capable of firing 50 or 60 rounds per minute — a purchase that would have been restricted under proposed legislation that has been stalled in Washington for more than a year.
Mr. Holmes, a graduate student in neuroscience with a clean criminal record, was able to buy the ammunition without arousing the slightest notice from law enforcement, because the sellers are not required in most cases to report sales to law enforcement officials, even unusually large purchases. And neither Colorado nor federal law required him to submit to a background check or register his growing purchases, gun policy experts said.
A few states like Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and cities like Los Angeles and Sacramento, have passed restrictions on ammunition sales, requiring permits for buyers or licenses for sellers, or insisting that dealers track their ammunition sales for law enforcement.
But in Colorado, and across much of the United States, the markets for ammunition — online and in storefronts — are largely unregulated, gun-control advocates say.
Someone mentioned Paris Hilton as the next headline grabber. TRUE.
But I was thinking instead of how we need our spice, our dose of entertainment. The need to expand the envelope to obtain the same chock effect. And our willingness to drink the concoction over and over again.
My point???
In the meanwhile we ignore far greater killers, caused by far greater evil, and do less to remove the pootential cause of statistically certain future deaths at random.
What is that? Industrial pollution. It is causing cancer deaths of unusual types, traceable to working or living in the vicinity
It is an old story, centuries old but still with us and still deadly. If that branch of your kin lived there they are effected. Listen to youu family and friends.
Not very entertaining. The guilty are skillful at hiding. Their defenders too. And for us it is kind of like playing russian roulette, by all.
Cleanups are cosmetic. Just as EPA has become. And FDA too. Agencies to protect the criminal from suits.
Why now? A frinds relatives have all got bile duct cancer diagnoses. And like all cancer patients they ask why me. In some cases we can get a general answer, but in this case no one to sue. And god can not be sued nor the EPA (I guess).
Shano,
Thank you greatly for bringing the smell of life into this salon. It is needed.
——————-
! 117 shano
1, July 22, 2012 at 7:29 pm
Today the people were chanting “the cops, the courts, the Klu Klux Klan all a part of the master plan” “the cops and the Klan go hand in hand” “No justice no peace” etc etc
What happens when the police are immune to the law unlike ordinary people. When the police are the violent armed and dangerous actors in society!
———————-
Thank God the people live yet.
MikeS.
Crazy as a loon, is a good description. But does it cover the legal aspect?
In a private comm:
“If in fact Holmes was NOT CRAZY but was a narcissistic psychopath (and by definition SANE)……”
Would he be tried as a sane person, temp dement, or
what is your take.
Mespo, this Aurora thing will last right up until the next shiny object comes along to distract the MSM. Maybe Paris Hilton or some starlet we never heard of shows some side boob or scandalous cleavage and the news will be all over it. And I see that a celebrity couple I never heard of are getting a divorce that promises to be messy.
Gene H:
I meant to comment earlier on your topic but it’s just so damn depressing. Thanks for showing us the “monkey see” in all of us. Sad but true.
OS,
That is a horrible feeling for a parent or loved one who has a child or spouse deployed with the military to not know if your loved one is alive or dead and to get the call or the knock on the door. So sad and such a waste.
When do we start selling personal grenade launchers? Anti aircraft guns? After all, you might need to blow up a plane before it crashes into a crowded theater.
I understand your point completely. Dead is dead. It does not matter whether is it some sheep herder halfway around the world, or the kid next door. As for our being in Afghanistan, it did not work for the British in the 19th century; it did not work for the Soviet Union in the 20th century and is not going to work for us in the 21st century. Afghanistan: where empires go to die.
I want to bring them home. Now. It is time. It is past time. Did you know we lost a couple more in the past few days, one of them a woman soldier? IGTNT means, “I Got The News Today,” referring to that terrible knock on the door.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/22/1112626/-IGTNT-Two-Brave-Young-People
OS, I think there are parallels, especially when looked at from the perspective of the victims families. My point doesn’t negate yours, it just broadens the sphere.
OS,
I wasn’t equating a military operation to this shooting. I was merely adding Bush to the list of killers. George W. was intent on invading Iraq within hours after 9/11.
bk & raff,
I understand, but your reasoning falls into the trap of the fallacy of false equivalence. One cannot equate a military or paramilitary operation to a domestic terrorist or hate group that might enable them. As far as we can tell, Holmes was a lone wolf. The truly frightening thing about him was the fact he had the education and means to kill and wound a lot more people than he did. I suppose that it did not occur to him–he was focused on firepower rather than ordnance. Thank goodness.
This brief video of a simple thermobaric bomb was prepared as evidence to be presented in a court case. If he had used this instead of his gun that jammed (large capacity mags tend to jam), how many would he have killed?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjeMlSlHhgg
OS, Raff and I were thinking along the same lines: mass killers. Different weapons, different victims, but mass killings all the same.
Raff, I think it is a myth that the purpose of the NRA is to advance gun sales. Their mission now is a combination of money and power. They have duped the majority of their membership into supporting the aims of the 1% and are using fear as a tactic. The NRA is now no better than the US Chamber of Commerce in their unabashed politicking for the well to do.
I dropped my lifetime membership more than thirty years ago when the RW nutcases took over leadership and started sending me stuff that made the swiftboat crowd look like Sunday school teachers.