Like a dummy, I've been watching the news about the Batman shooting, and just shaking my head. Sure, this is tragic, and the guy who did it is something of a mystery at the moment, but you don't have to be afraid to go to the movies because...
BATMAN IS NOT A RELIGION!!!
Only a religion can spur copycats or fund groups of sleeper cells to attack people because for an idea. When a lone individual becomes obsessed with Batman and wants to make a violent splash, that does not in any way indicate that other people will take the same violent actions. It just indicates that one psychotic individual came up with a plan to kill lots of people at one time for his own reasons. It doesn't mean that movie theatres can't open tonight. It doesn't mean you have to wear bullet proof vests to get your popcorn. It will be okay. Really.
4chan is not promising an afterlife peopled with big-busted cartoon whores to mass killers. Comic Con will not give out free tickets to autograph signings to terrorists. Stan Lee isn't pulling strings behind the scenes preparing a cabal of cult followers to do his evil bidding. (that we know of)
It takes a religion to create an army of like-minded murderous terrorists. When the tear gas settles, it will turn out that the shooter is a paranoid schizophrenic who had been unhinged for awhile before concocting his plot. There will not be a spate of movie theatre killings, just as there has not been a spate of shopping mall killings after the few rare shopping mall shootings.
It is safe to eat at Luby's. Or McDonald's. Or at the food court at the local mall.
Crazy people are everywhere and only some of them have a gun and a chip on their shoulder. They are like lightning or tornadoes. They are not organized terrorists looking for "soft targets" just so they can kill YOU.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, there may indeed be another movie theatre shooting. Or maybe someone will decide he can get a bigger body count at a high school football game. Maybe a college graduation ceremony. Anywhere you can find "targets," some nut case with too many bullets may decided to wipe you out. But what are the odds?
So American Media, settle the fuck down.
6 comments:
i didn't get a chance to check out the media coverage before work (I woke up at, like, 11:30 am), but now that I'm off...it's on yo. Been thinking about this all day. Wasn't there fear after the movie Taxi Driver came out that there would be copy cats...I think so. I know that dude was a neuroscience student but he was in the process of dropping out. Other than that..I dunno.
Kriss
I wonder if he diagnosed himself & realized he'd have a crappy future.
Although the facts are not yet made up by the media, I don't think this had anything to do with Batman specifically or that movie house it was just a large crowd of easy targets.
He is now famous and in the limelight ad will be for the next few time periods. He has what he wants and will relish it for sometime.
At least he hasn't said that jesus or darwin told him to do this.
I had CNN on for awhile this morning and I couldn't stand it. They were gratifying his desire for fame and setting yet another example for the next nutter that the path to fame is mass murder. For some reason I have zero interest in this situation. Perhaps it's because our media pay so little attention to the bloody murders in the middle east and Africa. Those people live with threats every day.
I wonder how many people will stop going to movies over this. Of course, it will never last, since people still fly everyday despite 9/11, but I think theaters can expect slightly lower patronage for a few months, anyway.
Possibly. I think having rent-a-cops on hand may give people a sense of security though
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