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Shooting in Aurora, CO

Speed Daemon

Speed Daemon

Android Expert
Another senseless mass murder. I don't know what else to say other than to recognize that this tragedy has happened, and to wonder why.
 
A co-worker informed me of this this morning. It is a horrible thing that has happened.

The man calling himself the joker.

There are no words to describe what happened, it is something that should not happen ever. My heart goes out to all who are affected by this tragedy.
 
I'm a strong advocate of free speech, but sometimes I wonder if our collective attraction to dark thoughts is something that needs to be examined and sussed out in a serious manner. Art is one thing. Monetizing harmful things is completely different.

I'm old enough to remember when the first martial arts and revenge films became mainstream. Bruce Lee was already dead before people in the US could walk into a movie theater and see people beating the crap out of each other. After Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry character, Charles Bronson's "Death Wish" series and other films that glorified things that used to be unthinkable hit the "big screen in your neighborhood" it seems like things changed. When I was a kid there was horseplay, but the TV and movie stares that we emulated were the kind that never killed people.

As someone who has lived before and after the rise of really violent stuff on film and TV, and has seen video games go from cute little abstract things to realistic first person shooters, I wonder if those of us who are now the responsible adults that are supposed to lead society need to say "No! This is not acceptable! Not even for pretend."

We live in a nation that's been at war, is still at war, and has real people spilling real blood right now. It seems so obscene that someone can dress up like a SWAT team member, throw grenades and fire weapons, and the first thing that people think is that it must be a publicity stunt.

I think it's time to reign in some parts of our society.
 
I too have seen the rise in violence in video games, I remember playing as a pixelated tank, later as a gorilla running around with a little chimp. Now there are some fairly realistic games out there. Do I blame the video games for "corrupting" the mind of children and turning them into killers, no. Truth be told, there has always been crazed people out there that one day decide to do the worst. Before TV was even thought of.

This man is just another one of those that lost the thought of reason. This is something that should not have happened, but it has and we cannot change that.
 
AP Source: Colo. shooting suspect not cooperating

"Holmes graduated from University of California, Riverside, in the spring of 2010 with a bachelor of science degree in neuroscience, said university spokesman Sean Nealon. No other details were immediately available about his life on campus, Nealon said.

In 2011, Holmes enrolled in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the University of Colorado-Denver but was in the process of withdrawing, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery. University officials earlier said he was a student at the university's medical school."
 
pbf98 said:
I too have seen the rise in violence in video games, I remember playing as a pixelated tank, later as a gorilla running around with a little chimp. Now there are some fairly realistic games out there. Do I blame the video games for "corrupting" the mind of children and turning them into killers, no.
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You know the saying "guns don't kill people; people kill people." The fact of the matter is that it's the bullets fired from the guns that kill people. The moral of this is that it's a matter that needs closer examination before closing minds and taking sides dogmatically.

The problem isn't as simplistic as the realism of video games. (Note that I never cited that as a contributing factor.) It's about a complex and expanding culture of violence and rationalizing things that have no valid excuse. It includes all media, from "graphic novels" and movies to immersive pseudo-reality technology and beyond. Every aspect needs scrutiny IMO.

I know that what I'm saying isn't going to be popular in a forum with a vast majority of members who are really into some of the things that I'm asking them to question. I challenge those people to do that scrutiny: If your favorite pastime really is that harmless, then you can be secure in the knowledge that you're right. Nothing to fear, then.
 
I know I will not be the only one giving their little ones extra hugs & kisses tonight before bed. You never know it might be the last time you do. My thoughts & prayers are w/ these families.
 
I live about five miles out from the theater. A few friends were there last night, luckily they made it out alright.

Hearing about things like Virginia Tech on the news is definitely different than it being so close to you. Makes you think about the what ifs and how a few small choices being made different last night could've changed my life forever. Very eerie and creepy having been to that theater countless of times and that something like that could ever happen.

It seems the guy booby trapped his apartment with explosives and trip wires were everywhere. It's possible he tried to lure his neighbors into the trap since music began blaring from his room around the time of the shooting. Neighbors banged on the door, but luckily none of the neighbors opened the door to go in.

For the argument of gun control, I don't think it'd do much. Considering how complicated this man's plan and intentions were, I highly doubt he would've found any challenge in finding illegal weapons. Plus his whole apartment, there's zero guns involved and a whole complex could've been wiped out. Unfortunately, even if you take guns away, these evil people will still find other ways to hurt others.

For the psychological violence/abusive backgrounds, that's all it is is psychological and people's best theories, not hard facts. Some people can come from extremely abusive childhoods and grow up to the the nicest person out there. Other people can have a perfect life yet still turn out to be extremely violent. Some kids know violence in a video is just fiction, while others take it seriously. We just never know about any of it since everything affects everyone in a different way. We can follow trends from psychological studies, but trends also show most people don't go on massacres. You can just never know what's going on in someone else's brain deep down.
 
i am just amazed of how intelligent the shooter is. he was quiet and not involved in any online social sites.. he was a smart ghost in society.

what set him off??? why why why??
 
dan330 said:
i am just amazed of how intelligent the shooter is. he was quiet and not involved in any online social sites.. he was a smart ghost in society.

what set him off??? why why why??
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I think smart people seem to be more prone to mental illness, and of course if you're intelligent and well-read it will be easier to plan and conduct such an operation.

As for the why.. lets not ask that. These guys are nuts. Asking why only adds fuel to the fire. I still see, to this day, people arguing that Brevik shows the scale of the "problem" of immigration into Europe.
 
I don't get this, there has to be something wrong, these kinds of episodes are getting each time more common here in the US, there has to be something done regarding this. I don't know what the requirements are to buy a gun, but as far as I know, it's not too hard to get one.

In my opinion, every person that wants to buy a gun should get a deep psychological examination, and once they posses a gun/weapon, they should get an examination in a certain period of time (say, 12 months, or 24 months) to be able to legally posses the gun.


 
There's already a conspiracy theory going around the 'net that this guy is the product of government mind control and was financed/trained by the feds. I loathe conspiracy theorists.
 
Speed Daemon said:
Another senseless mass murder. I don't know what else to say other than to recognize that this tragedy has happened, and to wonder why.
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We may never know why it happened. All I know is it will happen again and again until we find a way to raise smarter, happier children. Or perhaps that will not work, either.

There will be those that want guns banned and that will not work. Others will say we need armed guards in movie theaters. We cannot stop these things from happening unless we are so locked down we can't breathe.

It is a crying shame with no solution, I am afraid.
 
I saw an interesting point on the news yesterday in discussion over the shooting. There was a man that who use to be a psychiatrist and he use to give psychiatric evaluations. He said that in todays time we have gotten very loose with our rulings for people who may not be mentally fit for being exposed to the whole world, and he compared to in the 60s and 70s how he would evaluate someone and have them sent into a psychiatric ward. He said the Civil liberties have gotten in the way of being able to do that now.

I do agree that everyone should be treated equal, but maybe something like he was comparing to would help with the up-rise in shootings. Though he did say from everything he was able to review with out actually being able to interview the man himself, the former psychiatrist said that he seemed to be normal. But outer appearances can be very vague.
 
martingroso said:
I don't get this, there has to be something wrong, these kinds of episodes are getting each time more common here in the US, there has to be something done regarding this. I don't know what the requirements are to buy a gun, but as far as I know, it's not too hard to get one.

In my opinion, every person that wants to buy a gun should get a deep psychological examination, and once they posses a gun/weapon, they should get an examination in a certain period of time (say, 12 months, or 24 months) to be able to legally posses the gun.
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Not a requirement of the Constitution and that my friend is all that matters. You are not talking about a decent, sane and normal person in the recent case.

The vast majority of gun owners are decent people. If the shooter wants a gun and can't get one from a dealer, he can buy one from a gang member.

Do we really want to go outside the Constitution and decide that gun owners need to be evaluated? No, we certainly do not.

What about licenses to have kids and once you have one, you must be investigated and evaluated every six months or so? Bad idea to be sure.

Face it, until we know why people do these sorts of things, we must simply accept that it will happen from time to time.
 
Whatever about gun control, this guy could have pulled this off in Europe too. This isnt someone shooting a neighbour or something, its an unhinged, intelligent nut who planned something for months.
 
I don't think any kind of gun control laws or other attempts at preventive measures would ever be effective against this kind of lunacy. But I do believe there is one thing that might be effective. The guy walked up to the authorities and turned himself in. He admitted to doing the whole act. Why? Because he knows how our legal system will work to make any possibility of having to be held responsible for his acts into a decades long media circus. There is a far less expensive solution. He should have already been executed. Persons like that don't deserve anything more. If those considering such actions could know beyond a doubt, through seeing it happen, that to do so is an instant death sentence when they are apprehended, they might think twice about doing it. I'm betting he just wanted "his 15 minutes", as the saying goes. The media has already given him worldwide recognition by instantly plastering his smug photo everywhere. That should not have happened. He should be quietly done away with as a question mark, not made famous by our legal system. His name and photo should never be publicly released. Eradicate him quietly, as one would have a cancer removed.
 
Zoandroid said:
The guy walked up to the authorities and turned himself in. He admitted to doing the whole act. Why? Because he knows how our legal system will work to make any possibility of having to be held responsible for his acts into a decades long media circus. There is a far less expensive solution. He should have already been executed. Persons like that don't deserve anything more. If those considering such actions could know beyond a doubt, through seeing it happen, that to do so is an instant death sentence when they are apprehended, they might think twice about doing it. I'm betting he just wanted "his 15 minutes", as the saying goes. The media has already given him worldwide recognition by instantly plastering his smug photo everywhere. That should not have happened. He should be quietly done away with as a question mark, not made famous by our legal system. His name and photo should never be publicly released. Eradicate him quietly, as one would have a cancer removed.
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What a terrible idea. You are saying just do away with the legal system? And freedom of the press? What about you? We "know" you killed someone, we just know. So we execute you quietly. See anything wrong with that?

Sorry, try again. The killing was terrible, but it is nothing compared to doing away with the courts.
 
ElasticNinja said:
Whatever about gun control, this guy could have pulled this off in Europe too. This isnt someone shooting a neighbour or something, its an unhinged, intelligent nut who planned something for months.
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As I type this reply, chances are, someone is planning something just like it. A few will succeed and there is nothing we can do about it. Sorry, but these kinds of tragic events seem to occur more frequently and so far, nothing stops it.
 
Bob Maxey said:
What a terrible idea. You are saying just do away with the legal system? And freedom of the press? What about you? We "know" you killed someone, we just know. So we execute you quietly. See anything wrong with that?

Sorry, try again. The killing was terrible, but it is nothing compared to doing away with the courts.
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I never said to 'do away' with the legal system. Now 'freedom of the press', that's a whole 'nother ball of wax, and I won't waste time arguing that one, because neither of us can win. I have no respect for the media. Period.

Now, that said, had I been witnessed by untold numbers of people, and then walked up to the swat team with a smug smile and said "yea, I did this", you would be right in doing so. But apparently you did not READ what I wrote. You just knee-jerk reacted.

When the case of whether someone is guilty or not is clearly defined by the fact that he SAYS he DID it, dragging the issue through the legal system is unnecessary. But.........that is precisely what is about to unfold. Untold thousands of tax dollars will be spent defending these kinds of crimes when it is so obvious to all involved who did what and when. This is not a "we know you did this" situation. This is HIM saying "I DID IT" and then smugly smiling for the camera. Is there a single soul on this planet who thinks for even a second he did NOT do it??? WHY he did it doesn't matter to the dead.

Kudos to president Obama for respecting the tragic loss of the community, and not mentioning the criminal's name on national TV. We need more of that kind of thinking. But I'd bet tomorrow's arraignment, which I understand will be televised (bad choice) will just fuel the media circus that is to follow. All this is shameful and a waste of our legal system when they could be doing things to better this country instead of tying up our courts with such filibustering. Cut to the chase. He is obviously guilty. No question about it.
 
Zoandroid said:
... WHY he did it doesn't matter to the dead. ...
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Why he did it matters to the living. Do not throw away data that may lead to learning if this can be prevented or foreseen.

Summary execution is too kind. I think being locked away in maximum security prison for life is far more fitting. One can kill his body only once, far better to kill his mind over and over again.
 
OutofDate1980 said:
Why he did it matters to the living. Do not throw away data that may lead to learning if this can be prevented or foreseen.

Summary execution is too kind. I think being locked away in maximum security prison for life is far more fitting. One can kill his body only once, far better to kill his mind over and over again.
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I can appreciate that. But history would indicate it more likely there will be a book and movie made from it. That's the part that sickens me the most.

@Dan330 - we posted this at the same time. Like minds.
 
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