"A tragic incident in Denver" Topic

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I'm sure this horrific and terrible episode by one selfish and demented individual will spark a nationwide debate on violence in movies/the media, gun possession and the Second Amendment, the lack of care and intervention for the mentally ill, and a host of other issues. My prayers and condolences go out to those families affected.

Very sad.

His mother apparently said something to the effect of, "You have the right one," implying that she knew in advance that he was capable of something like this.

I look forward to the day when enlightenment and sanity will rule, without ridicule and without hesitation.

It appears he was a former medical student at U of Colorado, so clearly highly intelligent. His apartment also seems to have been booby trapped with a variety of explosives— my guess would be home-made.

I predict we will hear a diagnosis of some sort of psychotic disorder, possibly paranoid schizophrenia, attached to sociopathy— especially since his mother did not express any sort of disbelief as to his guilt when learning he was arrested for the crime. To me, that implies she knew there was something wrong with him— and a mental disorder fits that situation.

A quick bit of research reveals that about 1% of the population in the US falls under the above mental disorder categories I mentioned— that's roughly 3 million people. If only 1% of those are truly risks for violent behavior of this sort, that makes over 30,000 violent psychotics lurking around the nation, not counting flat-out criminals. It's almost a wonder this sort of stuff doesn't happen more often.

But regardless of that, it is a horrible tragedy, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this.

We REALLY need more laws to make shooting people a crime.

he quit med school a month ago… my guess is that we will find out he broke up with his girlfriend and his life spiraled down, and he decided that only thing to do was kill people. as Parzival said, mental illness is most liekly a giant factor here.

but it will be blamed on violence in movies, comic books in general, guns, rock music, gaming (if he EVER played an RPG at any time), video games (whether he plays them or not)…

the media will grasp at straws to make headlines any way they can, and special interest groups will use it to promote their causes (ok… this has ALREADY happened, the head of the BRady campaign and Mayor Bloomberg of NYC already used this incident to rail against guns).

so, business as usual for the media/politicians, despite the huge number of peoples lives ruined (including the friends and families of the dead and wounded).

sorry.. I am sort of upset that already the pols and media are using this to push their agendas/drive traffic/ratings.

I used to think the media and politicians were terrible and wondered what the founding fathers would think of things today.

Then I read books that talked about how things were back in those days and found out that things really haven't changed. If anything, the media is probably more in check than at that time.

(reposted from the Other threads)

Thanks to Kevin Smith for Highlighting
One small but tangible way We can show
Solidarity and Support
to the Folks in Aurora who have undergone
this Terrible Ordeal->

I'd ask everyone to Please Share this information:
Even if you don't make a donation personally,
Even if you aren't a Movies or Batman kinda person;
THis is IMO Bigger than alla that.

For those who are still pondering the Impliations of the event
(Such as myself)
Kevin did a frank discussion on his 'Spoilers' show (on Hulu)
that seems to cover most people's initial reactions…

Worth watching, IMHO.

We can Reclaim ourselves from the Insanity.