Roger Ebert on the Aurora shooting: "We've Seen this Movie Before"

[Chiyo-chichi]

JAMES HOLMES, who opened fire before the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” could not have seen the movie. Like many whose misery is reflected in violence, he may simply have been drawn to a highly publicized event with a big crowd. In cynical terms, he was seeking a publicity tie-in. He was like one of those goofballs waving in the background when a TV reporter does a stand-up at a big story.

James Holmes must also have been insane, and his inner terror expressed itself, as it often does these days, in a link between pop culture and firearms. There was nothing bigger happening in his world right now than the new Batman movie, and in preparation for this day, or another like it, he was purchasing firearms and booby-trapping his apartment. When he was arrested after the shootings, he made no attempt at resistance. His mission was accomplished.

I’m not sure there is an easy link between movies and gun violence. I think the link is between the violence and the publicity. Those like James Holmes, who feel the need to arm themselves, may also feel a deep, inchoate insecurity and a need for validation. Whenever a tragedy like this takes place, it is assigned catchphrases and theme music, and the same fragmentary TV footage of the shooter is cycled again and again. Somewhere in the night, among those watching, will be another angry, aggrieved loner who is uncoiling toward action. The cinematic prototype is Travis Bickle of “Taxi Driver.” I don’t know if James Holmes cared deeply about Batman. I suspect he cared deeply about seeing himself on the news.

Should this young man — whose nature was apparently so obvious to his mother that, when a ABC News reporter called, she said “You have the right person” — have been able to buy guns, ammunition and explosives? The gun lobby will say yes. And the endless gun control debate will begin again, and the lobbyists of the National Rifle Association will go to work, and the op-ed thinkers will have their usual thoughts, and the right wing will issue alarms, and nothing will change. And there will be another mass murder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/opinion/weve-seen-this-movie-before.html?_r=1&hp

[Stuart G]

1. Outstanding Post....thanks...K and R.nt

[young_at_heart]

2. Every American needs to read this

Thank you Roger Ebert---an intelligent, sane voice about guns!

[tridim]

3. He's right nothing will change, no matter what happens.

The NRA is unbendable, and that's the problem.

[redqueen]

4. K&R

[southmost]

5. great analysis

Hit so many points

[Va Lefty]

6. Right on the mark-nothing will change

We seemed doomed to repeat this tragedy.

[zappaman]

7. Big REC!

So much better than hearing armchair know-it-alls throwing around terms like "stochastic terrorism" without having a clue.

[myrna minx]

8. K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. Uncoiling toward action...

So well said.

K&R

[Myrina]

10. Why is "insane" always the default answer?

The world, culture and society are completely assbackwards and upside down right now. Saying that any & every person who decides for whatever reason that they've had it & are not going to play by the current rules is simply a whitewash & makes us feel better ("oh, he was just crazy&quot than if we actually stop and ask each other what could drive someone to that point of "I don't give a shit" and how did we as a society get there?

[Posteritatis]

13. It's the simple, satisfying answer, pretty much.

And we've been trained for generations to believe it's okay to ride the whole "mental illness = inherently broken = let's dismiss this non-person" train of thought.

Every time something like this happens a few more people board that train.

[drokhole]

14. It allows society to absolve itself from any responsibility and self-reflection.

A society that breeds hatred, alienation, ignorance, and distrust. Heck, our holiest-of-holies "American Dream" is one based on ruthless competition and materialistic acquisitiveness. And our most glorified institution is the military - which is currently raining death down half-way across the world from remote-controlled planes on the innocent lives of people whom we never mourn.

"What is society? Is it not the relationship of one individual with another? If individuals in themselves are ignorant, cruel, ambitious, and so on, their society will reflect all that they are in themselves. We all see the necessity, the importance of social change. Wars, starvation, ruthless pursuit of power, and so on, with these we are all familiar, and some earnestly desire to change these conditions. How are you going to change them? By destroying the many or the few who create the disharmony in the world?

Who are the many or the few? You and I, aren't we? Each one is involved in it, because we are greedy, we are possessive, we crave for power. We want to bring order within society, but how are we to do it? Do you seriously think there are only a few who are responsible for this social disorganization, these wars and hatreds? How are you going to get rid of them? If you destroy them, you use the very means they have employed and so make of yourself also an instrument of hatred and brutality. Hate cannot be destroyed by hate, however much you may like to hide your hate under pleasant sounding words.
Methods determine the ends. You cannot kill in order to have peace and order; to have peace you must create peace within yourself and thereby in your relationship with others, which is society.
----
Individuals are the result of varied forms of influence and limitation and the relationship of one individual with another creates the world - the world of values. The world is the social, moral, spiritual structure based on values created by us, isn't it? The social world, as well as the so-called spiritual world, is created by us individuals through our fears, hopes, cravings, and so on. We see the world of hate taking its harvest at the present. This world of hate has been created by our fathers and their forefathers and by us. Thus ignorance stretches indefinitely into the past. It has not come into being by itself. It is the outcome of human ignorance, a historical process, isn't it? We as individuals have co-operated with our ancestors, who, with their forefathers, set going this process of hate, fear, greed, and so on. Now, as individuals, we partake of this world of hate so long as we, individually, indulge in it."

- Jiddu Krishnamurti, An individual and society

"Can you and I, then, bring about in ourselves without any outside influence, without any persuasion, without any fear of punishment - can we bring about in the very essence of our being a total revolution, a psychological mutation, so that we are no longer brutal, violent, competitive, anxious, fearful, greedy, envious and all the rest of the manifestations of our nature which have built up the rotten society in which we live our daily lives?"

- Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom From the Known

[Nostradammit]

15. Does a sane person walk into a crowded movie theater and begin slaughtering people?

Saying he must be mentally ill does not absolve society for its failure to present such behavior but it does call attention to the need for better, more easily accessible mental health care, does it not?

[SoCalDem]

17. The definition of sane is fuzzy at best

There are levels of insanity too.. All the way from the relatively harmless ones who talk to themselves as they wander through society, to the ones who may think they are Jesus-reincarnate, to the ones who feign "insanity" to allow themselves to indulge in evil.

Legal insanity tends to veer off into "he/she did not know what they were doing..they did not know right from wrong".

Once can be "insane"/mentally ill/disturbed and still know what you are doing is wrong.

In cases like this, the result is always the same. Dead people are still dead, and the shooter's motive becomes the benchmark of discussion. After the photos of the dead, and the interviews with bereaved family members have all blurred into one long sad, and familiar, story, ALL the focus goes to the one person who sought to garner attention.

Until the next one..and there will always be a next one.

[Nostradammit]

18. Let me bring it into focus for you -

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sane



Definition of SANE

1: proceeding from a sound mind : rational



If walking into a crowded theater and shooting a bunch of total strangers is not INSANE then the word has. no. fucking. meaning.

[SoCalDem]

19. That is correct, but oour society seems to feel that it's okay to arm those people

and as long as our tv-people put on their "sad-face", and play some sad music every time it happens, we are doing enough ..

Locals put balloons, candles & teddy bears at the scene, and the ones left behind bury their dead..and everybody else goes to Starbucks & has a latte, or heads to Walmart for their $2 flipflops..

and of course the senators & congresscritters open their pockets for the gun lobby money ..

Books will get written & Ole Cliff VanZandt gets another paycheck or two..

Step right up....Spin the Cosmic Wheel of Misfortune & see which community gets blasted next by some vengeful miscreant looking for attention.

[Sparkly]

21. Mental illness and gun ownership aren't mutually exclusive (unfortunately)

No doubt the guy is mentally ill. That's one problem.

He got a lot of firearms. That's another problem.

[charlie]

11. Nothing will change, except

our fear and suspicion of each other will ratchet ever upward, making us ripe for pols who are foisting a security/surveillance state on us, and gun merchants who'll be thrilled their MORE GUNS = MORE BETTER message gets firmer traction.

Alienation Nation, here we come.

[YOHABLO]

12. This is what we get from our politicians ...

by not putting in REAL legislation to control these sellers of weapons in our country ... we continue to see this scenario played out again, again, and again. And no one seems to give a damn. Oh well, just another crazy young person who needed some mental health counseling .. (and why didn't the mother try to do something about his obvious mental health issues?) That would take up too much space here. Funny how any lunatic can walk into a gun store and buy not just a gun, but many, including explosives .. and then go kill innocent people, in mass, and the public just becomes more complacent with the fact that it could happen to them one day .. or one fun night out at the movies. The NRA will be in full throttle to disparage any criticism; the gun freaks will be chanting "second amendment", and the insanity will continue. The country has fallen apart folks and in total melt down. We are a culture of violence and we lack the leadership needed to make any real change. It's amazing when you talk to people about this recent mass killing ... and they shrug their shoulders. It's all too common place to now get this reaction. Now get your ass to your nearest gun dealer .. or Wal-Mart, and stock up .. cuz, you know, Obama's gonna take your guns away. Right?

[ananda]

22. How easy is it get good, affordable mental healthcare these days?

Wasn't that an albatross Ronald Reagan took off of society's back,
so to speak?

[lame54]

16. saving for later

[xchrom]

20. Du rec. Nt