Do you blame Batman? (Updated with readers’ debate)
Trash and popcorn dropped by fleeing theatergoers littered the parking lot of the Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colo. The shooting took place during the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the latest Batman movie. Credit: Bob Pearson/European Pressphoto Agency
Are the makers of The Dark Knight Rises responsible for the massacre at a movie theatre in Colorado?
12 Are Killed at Showing of Batman Movie in Colorado
According to some reports the masked shooter said “I am The Joker” before he opened fire. The shooter was going for his PhD in neuroscience so his actions can’t be attributed to ignorance (he knew Batman was fiction).
Do you think Batman should be held accountable?
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Every country has, along with its core civilities and traditions, some kind of inner madness, a belief so irrational that even death and destruction cannot alter it…In America, it has been, for so long now, the belief that guns designed to kill people indifferently and in great numbers can be widely available and not have it end with people being killed, indifferently and in great numbers.
Read One More Massacre by Adam Gopnik in TNY.
Yes, but why do they reach for the guns?
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 21st, 2012 at 15:25
I have friends in Colorado right now, and they’ve mentioned that there are friends of friends of theirs who were among the victims. That just hits too close to home.
The last thing I would like to see is to have this turned into another “moral” debate where film-makers and the media would get castigated for not promoting the right “family values.” I don’t know if now’s the right time to bring up that angle of the argument.
July 21st, 2012 at 16:43
Eh. It’s not because of any movie. They’re just batshit crazy and fucked up. It has happened numerous times before and will happen again and again.
They have done research on index of happiness and poor countries like ours score higher than Western countries. I think all the wealth has created a culture of low tolerance for pain and extremely high expectations and all sorts of anxieties that lead to easy disappointment. They’re so used to getting what they want. Instantaneously. Privacy and being left alone are more important than anything else. (Corollary to that is what they insist is their constitutional right to bear arms.) People are more isolated and lonelier than ever. They’re disconnected from their families. They don’t know their own neighbors. Everybody’s on antidepressants, anxiolytics and pain meds (and/or alcohol and illicit drugs) like they’re vitamins. And pissed off with the littlest things. Poor countries just learn to cope and be content with the little that they have…because that’s really all they have.
July 21st, 2012 at 21:21
Technology is supposed to connect people but we’re seeing more alienation.
July 21st, 2012 at 22:51
Okay, so we don’t have psychos open fire in theaters (not yet anyway), but are bombings (Rizal day bombing, valentines day bombing to name a recent few) or massacres better? And why do we always glorify poverty by stating that we may be poor but we’re happier? I’m poor and I’m not happy at all being one.
July 21st, 2012 at 23:16
I’m still haunted by this sentence from Christopher Nolan’s original statement in reaction to the shootings:
“The movie theater is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me.”
July 21st, 2012 at 23:31
We’re not allowed to bring an umbrella in our cabin baggage on flights to the US, but a guy wearing a mask and armor and carrying guns is allowed into a movie theatre. What did they think it was, cosplay?
July 22nd, 2012 at 02:16
Pokerface, you have to note that this is a largely Western (mostly American now) phenomenon and wonder what the REASON is behind the killings. Yes, we have crimes of passion, revenge, murder associated with robbery, rape, gangs, politics, terrorism, etc. but those happen everywhere in the world. It is only in this country (I live in the US) that random people get killed for no apparent reason at all. Of if there is, it’s for pure psychological/sexual gratification. Have you heard of a Pinoy serial killer recently or at all for instance? The FBI estimates that there are at least 50 active ones in this country at any one point.
And regarding your being poor and unhappy, then you are not happy and obviously not part of the mean. That doesn’t mean the curve is not real; you just happen to be in the lower end of the spectrum. All I’m saying is studies prove happiness is not positively correlated to material possession and technological/economic advancement. It’s a stretch to say: ergo it is better to be poor.
July 22nd, 2012 at 02:20
Jessica, regarding guns in theaters, malls, schools, etc. I just suggested to co-workers that we have security with metal detectors before we get into ours over there and that they probably should start implementing that here. Of course everybody will be horrified at the thought of their liberties being violated yet again.
July 22nd, 2012 at 11:19
Dr. Feelgood, you are assuming here that the perpetrator, James Holmes, did this for no reason at all or for psychological/sexual gratification. I’m not sure if that has been established already by authorities this early. Second, you might want to check data from surveys on happiness (e.g. World Values Survey). There you will see that many rich countries, including the US, are also among the top “happiest” countries and many poor countries are at the bottom of the list.
July 22nd, 2012 at 11:51
@Jessica: Unfortunately, there were many people in that theater – including young children and teenagers – who actually thought it was cosplay, and part of the promotion for the movie.
@Dr. Feelgood: As much as I want to argue about the quantification of happiness – which will take a full day to explain, up to and including the possible skewage of wealth distribution and mental health and whatnot – I say that I’ll have to agree with you on this one. Statistics “glorifies” nothing; it only states the tendency of where the majority is, regardless of sentiment. Yes, it’s too bad that it does not represent the larger population, but in most cases, a larger sample would be more likely to prove the measure of central tendency, which then further validates the presence of both the curve and the spectrum of possibilities. And, I’m sorry, but every time I hear someone bitch about the results of a survey or psychology test I just want to give them the side-eye and say, “Why don’t YOU try to develop your own test, and YOU find the sample, and YOU run it past the many levels of committees that will help YOU fund the test in order to prove its unbiased validity. And then tell me if your test is any better.”
[This rant is brought to you by a researcher.]
Also:
1) Is terrorism the same thing as serial murder?
2) Andrew Cunanan may have had Filipino blood, but he’s a serial killer with US citizenship committing murders on American soil, and with the misfortune of having Gianni Versace as his last victim before killing himself.
July 22nd, 2012 at 15:56
Hi Jessica – I read on one account that moviegoers thought that the shooter was part of some promotional campaign. They only started raising alarm bells when he proclaimed he was the Joker.
And I think this is not the first time I’ve heard accounts of people mistaking a shooter as part of some promotional campaign or training exercise. Living in a world where the line between reality and fiction has become thinner than ever is becoming dangerous…
July 22nd, 2012 at 17:59
Regarding mistaking him for a promotional campaign: Well, many theatergoers thought John Wilkes Booth was part of the performance.
July 22nd, 2012 at 18:01
Pokerface, even if we assumed this was for, say, a “terrorist/political cause”, which would then make it less nonsensical (although one could tell from his profile, location, MO, etc. alone that this is just another garden variety Virginia Tech/Columbine style massacre), you cannot deny that the numerous other similar cases in the past make the phenomenon still peculiarly “theirs”. And we could cite different data sources that emphasize different parameters for happiness thereby showing different results or cite long-standing facts like Scandinavian countries for example having the highest suicide rates, etc. but we will still end up with the same finding that it almost always happens only to them.
In any case, I am all for discussing gun control because it is indeed a big part of the issue but what irks me is that it is all that the media seem to be focusing on and ignoring the big elephant in the room probably because it is the hardest, maybe impossible issue to tackle: Why? Why does it happen at all? And keeps happening? And what could be done to prevent people from getting to that point in the first place?
I also notice that what I had just pointed out in my posts are almost never discussed in the media because of how politically/racially charged that discussion will be. The fact that my own American friends and coworkers get so shocked when I point it out to them and then become defensive (before eventually succumbing to a reasonable discussion) only proves how sensitive of a topic it really is. When we start discussing genetics, race, culture, mental illness, and how they relate to each other, one will realize how ugly the debate is going to get. And I can understand why that is being avoided.
July 22nd, 2012 at 18:12
Stellahua, I completely agree with you regarding scientific/statistical data and how frustrating it is that lay people could not differentiate scientific vs. anecdotal evidence, and insist that the latter proves their point even when confronted with the hard facts of the former. (Sigh)
Terrorism is definitely not to be lumped together with serial murder. Terrorism has a political/religious cause for its implementation whereas serial killing is for pure psychological gratification of the perpetrator. Cunanan is considered a “spree killer” and not a serial one based on his timing and sudden burst (and end) of activities. Anyway, I am less concerned about definitions by the number of victims and their timing than I am about their fundamental motivations.
July 22nd, 2012 at 21:47
Dr. Feelgood, you were trying to correlate earlier the shooting incident to the fact that “research on index of happiness and poor countries like ours score higher than Western countries” and how “wealth has created a low tolerance of pain…blah blah blah. I’m saying that that correlation is dubious at best because research shows that many western and rich countries are also in the top of happiest countries list, and in fact, the US is in that list too. Now if you could show me a research clearly stating that majority of poor countries are happier than the rich ones, then I might agree to what you said earlier.
And still on your earlier comment, I say that poverty should not be “glorified” with statements to the effect that poor countries are better because they have learned how to cope and be content with what they have (hence they won’t randomly open fire on people). That’s too simplistic of looking at poverty.
July 23rd, 2012 at 03:43
Pokerface, did you miss this statement from my previous post: “we could cite different data sources that emphasize different parameters for happiness thereby showing different results or cite long-standing facts like Scandinavian countries for example having the highest suicide rates”? Parameters are key.
Take this survey for example: http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/united-nations-announces-world%E2%80%99s-happiest-country-247768
“The United Nations Human Development Index 2011 measures happiness in different countries based on factors such as income, education, health, life expectancy, economy, gender equality and sustainability.” None of it was subjective, which is what happiness really is.
Of course Norway and other western countries predictably topped the list. Is a country with great GDP, per capita income, health care delivery, etc. truly happy when it also has the highest suicide rates?
On the other hand, the Happy Planet Index of 2012 was dominated by poor countries in Central and South America: http://www.happyplanetindex.org/assets/happy-planet-index-report.pdf
Guess what the main parameter was? Subjective life satisfaction.
In any case, I do agree with you and Stellahua about the measurement of happiness being highly problematic and we could go on debating its merits and demerits ad infinitum. But I live in a country that should be the happiest country in the world and yet it’s not. I work in the health care industry and all I see are people on multiple neuro drugs to numb themselves. Doctor prescribed narcotics are actually a bigger source of addiction now than street drugs, which are in themselves another big problem altogether. I had never seen a population with such a diverse and abundant flower field of psych problems until I got here. All the diagnoses on DSM IV that I had only previously studied academically in med school, now I get to see in actual clinical practice. No wonder they had to create DSM to begin with.
If being able to cope with pain and having more patience for the iniquities of life without having to resort to narcotic addiction and and killing random people in theaters is “glorifying” the poor, then I’m all for it. But that wasn’t even the point. What I was mainly suggesting with the data is that economic/technological advancement may be bringing with it – alongside all the parameters that make them top other happiness surveys – a set of neuro-psychiatric problems that are unique to countries with high levels of it and the possible genetic susceptibility and cultural disadvantages (e.g. privacy is most important, loosely knit families, etc.).
July 23rd, 2012 at 06:01
BTW, as much as I myself find the possible explanation simplistic, I’m still a firm believer in Occam’s Razor.
July 23rd, 2012 at 10:59
It doesn’t matter if he’s got a utility belt, a hand axe or a crown of thorns, but that Christian Bale’s just the hottest piece of um umm man ever.
Lighten up, nerds.
Haha, muahness from Pasig Cirehhh!
July 23rd, 2012 at 11:14
You guys are still into the poverty shit? How about we talk another P word?
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Man questioned at airport over ‘unusually large penis’
A New York man said he was questioned by security at a San Francisco airport for a bulge in his pants that turned out to be his unusually large penis.
Jonah Falcon, 41, who has been featured in multiple documentaries about unusually large penises, said he was preparing to depart San Francisco International Airport to return to New York July 9 when he was stopped by Transportation Security Administration agents who noticed an unusual bulge in his pants, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.
“They wanted to know if I had something in my pockets, and when I said no, they asked if I had some sort of growth,” he said.
—————————————————–
http://ascology.com/news/green360/odd-news/26329-Man-questioned-airport-over-unusually-large-penis.html
Wahaha! Muahness from Pasig Cirehhh!
July 23rd, 2012 at 11:14
“The shooter was going for his PhD in neuroscience so his actions can’t be attributed to ignorance (he knew Batman was fiction).”
Maybe not ignorance, but possibly mental illness. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see. Besides, even if he had a PhD, many brilliant minds do crack up.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say these random “massacre shootings” is a US phenomenon, but it probably is more of a Western phenomenon as we’ve seen similar incidents in Norway, Australia, etc. Or perhaps it’s a “developed country” phenomenon?
We do rarely see, if ever, such incidents in Asia or Africa. At least, not to my recollection. Yes, there are terrorist attacks, genocides, murders, but these “lone gunman” massacres don’t seem to be prevalent in non-Western nations.
While I do not fully subscribe to Dr. Feelgood’s entire analysis, I think there may be some grain of truth in it. Maybe a good portion.
Westerners, having been spoiled (for lack of a better term) by “freedom” and wealth and convenience and a relatively more comfortable life, may tend to break down at the slightest inconvenience. Notice how, in the example provided by Dr. Feelgood, many Westerners will probably react negatively to our system of security measures in malls (which, by the way, is not really being executed properly unless a new incident occurs). To those who have… fragile minds, they may snap easily.
Or perhaps it’s also a culture thing rather than a class/wealth thing. Filipinos and many Asian nations have a culture of strong family ties, whereas Westerners tend to have a culture geared more towards independence and individuality. In tough times, to a fragile psyche, if problems abound and the support system is not strong, the feelings of isolation, etc. may cause one to snap in this manner.
Notice how many if not most of the perpetrators of such shootings have been kids or young adults who may not have had the right support structure to help them through difficult times (may be bullying, may be family issues, etc.).
I am, of course, no psychologist, but these seem plausible to me.
As for the movies? It’s unfortunate that this happened at a Batman movie, but there’s just no way anyone can hold it accountable – nor can any other action/adventure/violent film out there. At the end of the day, no matter how much exposure one has to these things, if fiction is enough to push one over the edge, something was probably wrong with one’s mind to begin with.
July 24th, 2012 at 09:56
this does not answer your questions but raises a good point.
The scariest innovation in the Aurora mass shooting isn’t guns or ammo. It’s SWAT gear.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2012/07/the_aurora_shooting_bulletproof_vests_swat_gear_and_body_armor_refute_the_nra_.2.html
July 25th, 2012 at 03:26
@Jessica: I think some of the super-fan moviegoers actually wore costumes (I’ve seen squealing teens in costumes on a Twilight premier), so I know it’s easy to overlook this guy.
@Dr. Feelgood:
“… they probably should start implementing [security theaters] here. Of course everybody will be horrified at the thought of their liberties being violated yet again.”
While I don’t mind better security, we all value our privacy and personal space. The advent of technology makes it harder and harder for people to maintain their privacy. It was different for me when I moved to the US. I used to care more for my physical belongings while in the Philippines (e.g. snatchers and pickpockets), while in the US, I have to exercise more caution for my online information. Poverty may be a factor, as not a lot of Pinoys (including me) had the luxury of accessing the Internet so readily; where I live now there’s a low chance of being physically mugged because people hardly carry cash — they carry plastic. There’s a much higher chance you’d get “mugged” in cyberspace than in person (I have gone slightly off topic with my rant).
It’s a fine line, however, but I understand how people would be horrified if the law started tightening their grip even so slightly. The TSA “horror stories” are the best example for “violation of liberties”. While we all know it’s there for the “war on terrorism”, the fact that there are cases where they f* up their procedures it basically makes everyone think it’s a joke, so while the TSA may have all the good intentions, if the execution was poor, the trust factor will be low (same case as I’ve never heard or known anyone say they trust the Philippine government). Just like banning guns will not make the country any safer (i. e. some people actually think the other way around — that having guns will make criminals think twice of making a move?).
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To answer the topic’s question, I don’t blame movie/game violence for this tragedy — or else everyone would shooting their brains out at this point. No one has mastered the intricacies of the human mind yet. The suspect’s perception of reality has deviated greatly from the norm. He should be judged in accordance with law. While hindsight is always 20/20 and there will always be “what-ifs”, the victims were unfortunately at the wrong place and the wrong time.
I don’t want to sound cold but we all can’t hide from our mortality. Like the way we trust a driver to let us cross the street without killing us, we inevitably place a small amount of trust with everyone else just by being outdoors.