MOTIVES For the Colorado Theater Murders ?

They just threw him in a hole in the ground. The casket was needed for his guns, which they had to "pry" from his cold dead hands.

No way. He surrendered without putting up a fight (which would have been an invitation to be shot down). He was wearing body armor to make sure some trigger-happy movie-goer didn't pot him. This guy did not want to commit suicide. He wanted to enjoy his brief fling with fame. As he's doing now. Man of the hour, everybody's talking (and writing) about him. That's what he wanted and he wanted to be around to see it and enjoy it.

Is this what made you such a top notch newspaper guy, Merry - your dedicated stance against relying on speculation?

I did mention on the other thread that Rush Limbaugh had been attacking the film because the main villain was called Banes.

I agree, Lustig, this was not about suicide. This nutjob saw this as his moment of acknowledgement and infamy. I'm sure he was fantasizing about the event and the resulting attention for a long time before grabbing his ammo. Just the fact that he did it in a theatre during an action hero film makes it all part of a fantasy. Guns certainly make people feel powerful and I think he felt invincible carrying out his executions expecting (and probably getting) a big crazy high. People like this don't think about long term negative consequences, only about how they will be the person in control of life and death as long as they are shooting their weapon.

I usually don't follow these kinds of stories. I know they're isolated incidents that one shouldn't dwell on. I hardly ever watch the news. But I can't seem to shake this story.

I think it's because by all accounts this is the kind of kid parents are supposed to aspire to raising -- brilliant, athletic, quiet, never caused any trouble. What the hell happened? What went wrong?

I can tell you right now what happened.....he felt that is life was going nowhere, was going to go nowhere, that he was nothing. Celebrity culture and victim culture taught him that if he wanted to be somebody right now all he had to do was shoot up a crowded movie theater during a popular movie thus making a lot of victims in a dramatic fashion.

He did it! Now he as finally done something, he has impacted the collective and become a celeb all in one decissive move. You Boomer have been around, you know how many unformed people will work to get negative attention if they can not get positive attention. This is not that, but it is the same idea.

Everybody who has ever called for the building of monuments to the victims instead of the heros or bought a trashy celeb hype mag at the checkout counter has had a hand in misforming this guy, has been part of his very bad education.

my two cents worth of loose speculation: clinically depressed/angry/booze/sad/drugs/more angry/repeat

if crazy then no booze/drugs

Do you think maybe he got into graduate school and he was no longer the wunderkind, he wasn't getting the attention he thought he deserved and it caused some kind of psychotic break?

I've heard about brilliant kids doing a big burn out when the competition gets stiff.

Hmmmm..... wunderkind... The Boy Wonder..... Robin..... Batman..... (mind riffing)

I haven't really thought about monuments to victims. That's kind of interesting. I'm going to chew on that a bit.

I fully expect that we will find out that he could not hack the education course he was on....the long expected road towards rewards and making an impact closed and he had no plan B. Empty, going nowhere, with no idea of how he was going to get somewhere through hard work he decided to go the celeb route. Tonight there are hundreds of thousands of young males thinking "cool idea dude, and you were the first one to think of doing a Nicholson Joker stunt in a movie theater....TWO THUMBS UP!"

The fact that this young man never in his life ( apparently ) caused any trouble is probably a clue as to " what went wrong". It's normal for girls and boys to get into some sort of trouble as they're growing up. By trouble, I mean accidentally throwing a baseball through a window, or getting drunk on prom night. Not big time trouble like stealing cars or selling drugs.

Apparently, I would guess, that at home James was brought up to be a good kid. His parents sent him to good schools and probably emphasized the importance of getting good grades.In college, James was on the honor roll.

Unlike most kids today, James does not appear to have been active on social media sites, as far as anyone can tell. He has been reported to be the silent type. Some observers have said that James was a loner.

But do all of these personality traits really add up to a mass murderer?

James chose Neuroscience as his major in college in California and then went on to a PhD program in neuroscience in Colorado. In some ways this is a strange major. Usually, as far as I know, premeds may major in neuroscience befor they apply to med school. As far as a PhD program in neuroscience, students frequently combine a PhD in neuroscience with an MD. No mention has been made of whether James ever applied to med school.

Finally, James quit school ( grad school ) after one year. Why did he do that?
Usually, the first year is concerned with course work and an introduction to the lab. The student must chose an adviser and usually pick an area in which he will do his research.

I think that for some reason, James woke up one day and realized that neuroscience research was not his cup of tea. But did this drive him over the edge? Maybe.

Why? Just maybe, James decided to do one thing that he wasn't being forced to do. He was going to be his " own man".

The causative factor...the missing link was probably the total lack of communication between James and another human being, who would be willing to listen to him.

Sometimes, individuals are silent types, because no one cares enough to listen to them. Not because they have nothing to say. And sometimes, these individuals end up killing many others because of that.

For those who think "hawkeye is nuts, real males don't think that way" two of my wifes Iraq tours were with Stryker brigades....some of these young infantry guys would certainly be illegally blowing stuff up and going off on people if they did not have a collective sanctioned outlet. JTT is not completely wrong about the moral worthiness of some military members.

hes created his need for celebrity status. I agree with the "wunderkind" status that he may have owned in his undergrad days.
Whenever a kid with a 4.0 and 800 GREs comes for interviews nd begins puffing about accomplishments, I always used the phrase that "We will make sure that you are better challenged with us"

I dont think hes nuts. His planning and completion of his task,

followed by giving up so meekly isnt consistant with the "death by cop" snipers and mass killers

His makeup and deployment of a hypergolic propelant at his apartment was a very competent job as far as Ive been able to see on the breaking news .

These are very touchy and contact between two or more liquids would have set off that entire building in a chemical fire with enough overpressure to blow out the first walls and then allow the rapid oxygenation to make this **** really setroy that building in a short time. People would have been trapped.

This was not kitchen (clenaser and steel wool in a icrowave) bomb. This was "Sons of ANarchy" intended bombing

He really wanted to do major dmage and had really thought this out

ALSO, the way he hooked up a loud sound system nd blared some rock music each evening as the music was set off by a timer. HE was looking for someone to come in and trip the whole thing.

If it was limited to a few members of the military, that would not be out of the norm, Hawk. That this level of evil extends to and so thoroughly permeates the highest levels of US governments is the major problem.

Agreed. One of the really interesting points about this whole thing is the meticulous amount of planning that apparently went into this bizarre enterprise. From his costume to the extra ammunition and smoke bombs to the booby-trapped apartment, everything points to a lengthy period of planning and preparation. In light of that it's significant, I think, that none of the people he came into contact with suspected anything unusual.

I 'll be serious too:
there is no sex involved in the freedom of gun possession movement.
At meetings, its a very wholesome environment, at local meetings & at national meetings.
Sometimes families attend.

Attribution of sexual ideas to the movement,
comes only from its opponents; thay r illusions, contrary to known fact.

I have NEVER gotten any sexual notions, nor feelings,
from any of my guns, the same as I don't from my gold coins. Its a different kind of satisfaction.

Addressing the concept of EMOTIONS, more broadly,
I might add that since I got my first gun,
I have never held any of my guns
with emotions of malice, toward anyone,
except only that lethal force 'd be applied on a purely DEFENSIVE basis, if attacked; not unless.





David

in the last year, dave, how many times have you been to the shooting range. or some other venue and fired your guns?

and how many times have you had sexual relations with another human being?

Well, it sounds like the producers were trying to annoy Republicans.

Not enuf.

Not enuf.
The 2 concepts are completely unrelated.

In all the conversations related to guns ( use or possession ),
in which I have participated, or which I have overheard,
it has NEVER happened that sexual ideas have entered the conversation.

We usually discuss the law, or actual functioning of guns or ammunition.