When the Horror happens, as it inevitably does, we look for the simple explanation, something to salve our fright and disgust.
So it is with the Colorado shooter. Some say he’s crazy, a madman that no law could stop. Which, sadly, is all too true. One of the virtues of our country is also a danger, that we are so free and open. That freedom, of course, comes with the risk that some will abuse it. But no imposed limit on the freedom will deter someone like that shooter.
Or we say it’s the degradation of our culture, that Daniel Patrick Moynihan had it right decades ago. Then, he said that our pop culture was “defining deviancy down,” that we are so inundated with the disgusting that it becomes commonplace and thus more acceptable. Which then leads to even more shocking behavior, and the spiral continues. We are a coarser society, and that no doubt can contribute to the madman’s propensity to act in the horrific manner the Colorado shooter did. We have kids at home playing the most violent video games hours at a time; who can actually believe that being immersed in that video violence wouldn’t have an adverse effect on some? Plus in a bizarre manner, our culture celebrates the shooter, giving him 24/7 notoriety, thus in his twisted mind giving him his moment in the sun.
Or we say, “Look, how can guns like the assault weapon he was carrying be even legal? Why does someone need to own a gun like that?” And they’d be right; our gun culture too often is absolutist, that any restriction is too much. One result of that is the weapons turned on us, used against our police or on innocents in a crowded Colorado theater. But we also know that a determined madman will not be deterred by stricter gun laws, no matter how much they are needed.
Or we say it comes from the dissolution of the family. Once again, there is truth to that. But all too often shooters like the one in Colorado come from loving parents, so while we know the parentless kids are almost certain to suffer as adults, we also know that a dysfunctional family isn’t determinative.
No, we look for the simple when we can’t explain the sudden burst of unspeakable violence we all too often are subjected to in our society. In the midst of chaos like this, we look for some comfort. But to highlight one reason in attempting to understand this evil, we are simply looking to point a finger. Maybe in the swirl of our society, the madman sent over the tipping point is the result of that swirl. Soon enough, we’ll know more about him, satisfying our curiosity, but also knowing that knowledge won’t prepare us for the next incident. Or the one after that.
Because maybe, maybe, author Joseph Conrad had it right a century or so ago in his masterpiece Heart of Darkness. In it, the novelist writes, “The mind of man is capable of anything -- because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future.”
• Mike McClellan is a Gilbert resident and former English teacher at Dobson High School in Mesa.
Accuracy posted at 8:41 am on Tue, Jul 24, 2012.
In Aurora, Colorado, Police say James Holmes walked into the mall theater around midnight that Friday night and opened fire. He wore body armor, dyed his hair red, and even wore a mask and goggles.
Holmes is suspected of shooting 70 people. Twelve died from their injuries.
How did Holmes devolve from the first guy to the second guy? And the question of why he did it continues to go unanswered.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:11 am on Tue, Jul 24, 2012.
I think it is a fairly simple situation.
A very bright mind went over the edge into madness.
It has long been said that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.
This young man provides some evidence for that claim.
We may never know what caused him to cross over that line. Whether it was the stress of his academic efforts, or a chemical imbalance in the brain, or something physically wrong with his brain such as a tumor.
There are many possible causes.
But it all boils down to that old old saying ... " that's life ".
chuckles3 posted at 11:17 am on Tue, Jul 24, 2012.
Evil exists, in one form or another. Some may not believe it, but I do.
I do think Pop Culture and our instant Social culture plays a part as well.
I am speculating of course.
Well done article Mike.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 5:52 pm on Tue, Jul 24, 2012.
Best column in the EVT in a long time. Give it a B+.
Would have been an "A" but then the writer had to show off a little and mention Joseph Conrad of all people. Talk about "peering into the Life's Black Hole". If you aren't psychotic before you read Conrad....you will be afterwards. Mr. Rogers would turn into Hannibal Lector after reading "Heart of Darkness" or the "Alchamy" book.
Dale Whiting posted at 8:09 pm on Tue, Jul 24, 2012.
We may never really "know" what made Holmes cross over the line. But we all know how our lax gun and shooting parafenalia laws, all restricted by Second Amendment Rights nuts, make killing people easier once the line is crossed. Just how do these restricted laws foster a militia? And how long has it been since any milicia was organized using second amendment rights principles? 1776 by my reconning! Certainly not much more recent that 1812.
Anybody got an update for us on Jan Brewer's Arizona Militia?
Dale Whiting posted at 8:19 pm on Tue, Jul 24, 2012.
P.S.
Did anyone see last week's "Through the Black Hole" episode? It talked about means looked into for eliminating "evil." Where "people kill people, not guns, can we look into this a bit more? Seems to me that our civli rights would be better served if we left the "evil" in our minds alone and concentrated on meaningful limitations on access to the sort of weaponry which nut jobs like Holmes find so easy to obtain! Automatic rifles, large magazine hand guns galore, and even tear gas or some grenades and a gas mask. My unit armory was not that well equipped. We have lost all sense of balance here. We are just about as far out of balance as we can be! And no politician dare take this issue up. It's as if the NRA owns politics.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 2:01 pm on Wed, Jul 25, 2012.
As usual...the Ultra-Liberals are on their....."ban assault rifles not abortions" rant.
Sadly, we only have to go back a dozen years or so to see that guns are not the only means that the...."nut jobs"....out there in Society use to kill their fellow Americans.
Timothy Mc Veigh used barrels of ........"ammonium nitrate fertilizer"...that you can find on any farm or ranch in America.
The 9/11 Hijackers used box cutters and folding utility knives to commandeer the commercial jet planes that they flew into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
You can go into any Costco, Sam's Club, Winco, Sear's, Penny's, Lowe's, Home Depot, Smart and Final...........AND ANY SUPERMARKET.....in America and see box cutters and folding utility knives being used.
13% of all the murders committed in America are stabbings. 14% of the murders are poisonings, beatings and other means = more that 25%, 1/4 of all the murders are committed by means other than rifles, shotguns and pistols.
There are 300 million weapons in America....if assault rifles are the main cause for killings and there are tens of thousands of these assault rifles out in the Public Domain....then why aren't there......tens of thousands of assault rifle massacres taking place if the gun is what's at fault..........BECAUSE IT'S NOT THE GUN THAT PULLS THE TRIGGER.....IT'S THE ...NUT JOB...THAT PULLS THE TRIGGER.
StrongChristian posted at 10:55 pm on Wed, Jul 25, 2012.
Yes, chuckles, unfortunalte, evil exists. People like Engaged Voter might deny it - because to deny that someone good, like God, does not exist, that's like saying that we do not exist, because we CAN'T exist without God.
As for this terrible shooting, I hope this Holmes lunatic spends the rest of his life in prsion. Solitary confinement might be a good idea. For his own safety as well as for others. I'm sure that even some of the inmates want to tear him apart for what he's done. Or we could just put him to death and be quick about it. He's spending an eternity in hell anyway - we might as well send him there now.
StrongChristian posted at 11:00 pm on Wed, Jul 25, 2012.
Tell me something, Engaged Voter, if we really do "go back to what we were before we were born" why does it matter what we do in real life? Putting someone to death for an evil act (Timothy McVeigh comes to mind) would, according to you, "put him back into the nothingness from whence he came".
You have zero evidence, by the way, to back up this claim. I know you've said that I've yet to provide you with any evidence that God is real. But actually, I have. And so has mrconsrevative, for that matter. We may be two different people, but we sure do think alike.
"unfortunalte"? How'd I miss that goof? The word is supposed to be "unfortunately".
Hee hee!
StrongChristian posted at 11:01 pm on Wed, Jul 25, 2012.
"Unfortunately" I'm not too good at noticing my own mistakes when I type them up here; until it's too late, that is. But I'm pretty good at spotting mistakes in published books.
VofReason posted at 1:00 pm on Fri, Jul 27, 2012.
Evil definitly exists and needs to be avoided or stopped depending on how it emerges. Somehow the "more gun laws crowd" never questions how millions of people own guns and only a very small number ever use them for evil. Limilting people from having guns with laws will ensure that people who follow the law will not have them, but people who do not will. Why would this make sense?
pd posted at 10:37 pm on Sat, Aug 4, 2012.
All we can really rely on is hope --hope that if we keep trying to achieve a culture of mutual respect and selflessness, one day these episodes of evil will cease to occur.
ChillbertAZ posted at 3:06 pm on Tue, Sep 18, 2012.
The media is a front for many many entities. You are being fed lies. This is what happened, and every fact can be proven. Most of it's in the police reports, and the taped 911 call in Aurora....Educate Yourselves Please:
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/powersbatmanmassacre28jul12.shtml
Devil's breath is the new weapon of the CIA. This is fact and it's well hidden in the USA.