It was bound to happen. Just as Ayn Rand loved sadistic serial killer William Edward Hickman, fans of James Holmes have emerged online. Just as Rand admired the fact that 'other people' didn't exist for Hickman, young women and men admire Holmes' 'courage' for eliminating what they call weak and stupid people from the earth.
It's amazing that people are already mocking the victims and comparing Holmes adoringly to the likes of Ted Bundy and the UT Clock Tower killer. One such blogger on Tumblr posted a photo collage of the theater shooter with the caption "My future baby daddy!" beneath.
It's not uncommon for portions of the population to admire cold-blooded killers. After all, Holmes himself rooted for the villains in superhero movies. Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer...all of them have their admirers. But the callous disregard for the victims, some of whom were military veterans and people protecting their loved ones is striking.
One meme being batted around shows a scene with Heath Ledger as The Joker that says, "It's simple. We kill the audience." Another shows a photo of victim Jessica Ghawi, who had escaped the Toronto mall shooting last month, mocking her death. "Jessica Ghawi, unemployed, couldn't even keep a job as a waitress. Tell me again about the loss of potential?" How people can be so cruel, so absent of any empathy is beyond comprehension. The fact that Holmes is being hailed as a hero in one meme is nothing short of offensive.
Holmes carefully plotted and planned his attack over the course of a two to four month period, authorities say. He purchases thousands of rounds of ammunition, four lethal guns, body armor and rocket propellant in preparation of the attack. He had become more and more withdrawn from society after he started school in Colorado.
Questions were raised about how he was able to fund his attack, because it must have cost him about $20,000. He was one of six students at the university who received federal grants for his program, and his parents probably gifted him with money. Conspiracy theories are also suggesting he was a government agent, which seems too far-fetched. He most likely acted alone, meticulously mapping out his every move, which his fans believe proves his superiority over his victims.
There are plenty more photo memes and fan sites out there, reviling the victims as worthless and commending James Holmes for cleansing the earth of them. It doesn't matter to them that one of these victims was an innocent little 6-year-old girl. They don't care. Unfortunately, more sites and photos like this will pop up and there's not much anyone can do about it.
©2012 Reno Berkeley for Gather News.
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Comments: 72
Jo Jo has not often taken Mother's advice...
Oh...I do presume my self superior to you and you have shown no reason for me do doubt that presumption...
Could it be...
The pressures and complications of modern life stuffed in our faces in unrelenting quantities???
The glorification of violence in the media and gaming industry???
The tenious grasp on reality that seems to be blossoming like a Red Tide???
The absolutely horrible work product of public schools???
A completely inadequate mental health system???
The fact that certain American phenoms (like college football) have taught us the ability to suspend reality???
Or, perhaps, ALL OF THE ABOVE...
Don't worry, though, we will have to go some to catch up with the mass murders of the 20th Century...Stalin, Hitler, Pal Pot...
And, Obama isn't doing so bad with his hit list and indiscriminate Drone Strikes...
In the 1920s media frenzy following Hickman's brutal murder of an innocent child, the 23 year old Rand wrote in a personal journal that Hickman was a "monster."
But Rand noticed that public reaction seemed to express more outrage by Hickman's anti-social attitude than by the horror of his crime.
His anti-social attitude, not his sadistic evil, was something that Rand wanted to portray in a character in a novel "The Little Street" which she was planning.
To describe Ayn Rand's writer's interest in Hickman as "love" is bizarre, unjust and frequently motivated by an anti-Rand animus.
Clinton was a master...
They don't want to be educated...just have their simplistic world view validated...
Sorry, Reno...I love ya but I gotta be me...
"...the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. … Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should." She called him "a brilliant, unusual, exceptional boy," shimmering with "immense, explicit egotism." Rand had only one regret: "A strong man can eventually trample society under its feet. That boy [Hickman] was not strong enough."
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2009/11/how_ayn_rand_became_an_american_icon.html
Read your own quote...it expresses no love or even admiration...only description...try again...
Holmes is a wingnut with no importance who tried to aggrandizement himself by taking the lives of others, a moronic decision. His "followers" vapid idiots who value infamy over their boring anonymity.
Altruism is the Mythology...Enlightened Self Interest is just a fact...It is neither moral nor immoral...
Your inability or unwillingness to acknowledge that fact is akin to refusing to believe that 2+2=4...Ok if you want to remain obtuse to the obvious but don't try to build a moral code on the premise that altruism is a common human trait...you will fail every time...Specific examples too obvious and numerous to require enumeration...
If you want to continue to live in la la land, keep on believin'...
Who would you rather spend a cold winter night with...Jo Jo or that other dweeb???
You know I would protect you from tigers and bears and things that go bump in the night...
Well, I don't know whether guns should be more or less controlled than they are, but I know Jo Jo should never be allowed to have one.
BTW, it is Reno, not Rene...
Reno... not one of the choices in the paradigm...you wouldn't be my FIRST choice, either...not as long as Angie is still young(isn)...
can i send u my add.
thanks
How come many sarial killers are from the far right?
He was a Marxist in name only and...
He was a totalitarian...
If you libbies say he is a lefitst then you own him...
If youusay he is a rightist then you admit that the ultimate result of collectivism is totalitarianism...
Which was he???
This is a question to iillustrate that your simplistic two dimensional view of politics is invalid...
Now...let's try Mao, Kim il Sung, Castro...
Far right or far left???
I'm always amused by how completely "the progressive left" have forgotten that traditionally the left is opposed to authority and biug government and entirely in favour of individual freedom.
Liberals don't debate...they just have contests to see who can talk the loudest fastest and longest...makes me tired...
Just as [Ayn] Rand admired the fact that 'other people' didn't exist for Hickman, young women and men admire Holmes' 'courage' for eliminating what they call weak and stupid people from the earth.
So you are saying this 'far right nut job' Ayn Rand was an evolutionary science purist? I have been told many times everybody on the right is a creationist nut job and only the progressive left is smart enough to accept evolution.
All I'm saying is, you can't have it both ways.
There are many conservatives who are not creationists. This is one reason for the distinction between a fiscal conservative and a social conservative. There are also libertarians on the right with whom neither the fiscal nor the social conservative identify as a whole. There is lots of overlap amongst these groups and numerous other distinctions as well.
The left is easily as diverse as that if not more so.
Only a moron would see either "side" of the spectrum as a monolithic whole that can be described effectively in one soundbite. While there seem to be a lot more morons on the right, both sides have plenty.
Which leaves the question of Ayn Rand. I think she was your basic, garden variety. sociopath who spent her life trying to find a moral justification for selfishness and at the end threw all her "ideals" under the bus to suck off the government's teat.
As tired and as a futile of a subject, as it may be, the accessibility of firearms has got to be added to the discussion.
Stricter gun control may not stop mass murder--but it could help.
How many men and women, who are carrying, would be at a location, at any given time, where a mass muderer is about to unleash his malice?
How many of those private citizens would be able to lock, load and unholster, in a responsible, unnerved manner?
How many private citizens might use their weapons, irresponsibly--especially in situations where they are trying to be excessive heroes and have literally 'jumped the gun"?
How many more, or less, violent crimes would there be with stricter gun control?
Why aren't background checks, in some circumstances, much stricter?
Why do Democrats in Washington genuflect to political pressure, on the firearm issue?.....
And by the way, when Jeffrey Daumer trading cards were available, would it not have been hard to have all of our Free Speech values tested, at the moment we found out about that bit of rancid commerce?
My guess is that, as we speak, there's a chance that a buyer and seller, on Ebay, might be involved in such a memorabilia transaction.
Those gun advocates who talk about self defense seem to think a gun can stop bullets as well as fire them. A properly stored guys.(i. e. one not in condition to fire) would be of little use in a home invasion. An intruder will not likely wait while a trigger lock is removed and ammunition separately stored is retrieved and loaded.
The bottom line truth is the the USA has the most liberal gun laws and the highest murder rate (by far) in the industrialized world. These facts are closely related.
My alarm system actually tells me which window or door has been violated, which tells me where the intruder is...The the alarm sounds, seconds later, which is likely to scare away the intruder in most cases...It takes about 3 seconds to open the safe and remove the gun that is prepared to be used...Don't assume that gun owners are idiots and are not careful and safe with the storage and even plans in place...Just making a point...
If you have children, don't assume they don't know where the key to that cabinet is.