Books do not make you a deranged killer.
The Catcher in the Rye did not make Mark David Chapman kill John Lennon. The Catcher in the Rye did not make John Hinckley shoot President Ronald Reagan, nor did Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver despite those letters the gunman wrote to Jodie Foster. They shot people because they were crazy.
To try to make sense of the senseless, the media has analyzed the favorite books list in the YouTube profile page of the suspect in the Arizona shooting rampage. Pundits cite the presence on the list of anti-government novels such as Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 as possible clues to the gunman’s state of mind.
George Orwell and Aldous Huxley did not pull the trigger. Neither did Homer, Karl Marx, or Plato, and while it would be convenient to blame the deaths on Hitler even he didn’t do it. The freak with the gun killed those people in Arizona. Books didn’t turn him into a freak. But there is a likely connection between the books and the freak’s mindset: He read them out of context. He took them literally. Literalism Kills.
Photo: Morgan Freeman at the library in Se7en.
What worries me is that some numbskull will propose to ban the books on the list. Riiight, save the people by making them stupid. (This reminds me that when we saw the movie Seven the scariest part—after the room full of pine air fresheners—was the bit about the FBI flagging certain books in the public library.)
As for those numbskulls who censored Huckleberry Finn, our only response can be What The Fuck.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 15th, 2011 at 01:02
I’m guessing Sarah Palin will propose some sort of book ban — she who “refudiates” and “misunderestimates” their “North Korean allies” and believes that Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience.
January 15th, 2011 at 01:33
It is very true that “Literalism Kills”.
So many fights are ensued. So many people are killed. So many people die because of this stupid mistake.
Why people don’t take time to study figures of speech or even use a little part of their brain to think deeper about what they’ve just read, I cannot fathom.
I’ve written my reaction to that topic of removal of the word Nigger in Huckleberry Finn. If anyone’s interested in this, just click this link: http://hindiakoto.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/dont-be-afraid-of-your-own-reflection-huckleberry-finn/
Jenn
January 15th, 2011 at 10:51
They censored Huck Finn because it used the words Nigger and Injun. So what? I still use my all time favorite word, and that is niggerfaggot. I got it in this youtube video, and I fell in love with that darling combination right off the bat. Meanwhile, I’ve read Huck Finn twice before, and I own two copies, too. I suppose I don’t mind the redaction; I’ve read and enjoyed its immaculate Twain-ness.
Muahness from Pasig Citehh!
January 15th, 2011 at 12:31
Let’s start with how easy it is even for the mentally ill to buy guns in the states. Next, where were Loughner’s parents? News reports about this tragedy only mentioned his parents apologizing to the families of the victims but I still have to come across a report that says they actively intervened in his drug use or sought help with his mental health.
January 15th, 2011 at 22:56
Hi Kaye,
we may never get that information. or if we do, you may still think it’s not enough. either way, it wouldn’t have been easy for his parents. check out the article below written by another parent whose adult son is mentally ill.
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/teen-ya/2011-01-17-column17_ST2_N.htm
Also, no one can predict the damage he can do. “On the morning of the shooting, a mumbling Jared Loughner fled after his father asked him why he was removing a black bag from the trunk of a family car, said Capt. Nanos and Rick Kastigar, chief of the department’s investigations bureau.”
from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/arizona-shooting/father-of-arizona-shooting-suspect-confronted-son-hours-before-massacre/article1866805/
What’s scary and sad is America’s gun culture which is not about to change. In fact, sales of the gun and extra long magazines went up during the days after this event. To the Americans, it is part of their constitutional right.
January 17th, 2011 at 11:12
After the V-Tech shooting, the media made the same “connection” between the shooter’s reading preferences and “disturbing” creative writing class submissions. (Which were poorly written angst-a-thons anyone who kept a diary during their angry teens would be familiar with). It made me think, man, if they profile people based on their bookshelves and on their angry scribblings, I’m a shoo-in for detention for sure! Fahrenheit 451, Helter Skelter, American Psycho, Catcher in the Rye, 1984 – they’re all in there! Plus Maus (NAZI CATS OH NO) and Persepolis (Iranian girl lit – MUST BE A MUSLIM SYMPATHIZER!)