THOUGHTS ON THE AURORA MASSACRE
I'm no news reporter, you can ask anyone. But when I heard of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater massacre last Saturday...well I didn't know what to think. I was at a hotel and the news just sort of stunned me. At the time it was reported 15 people killed and dozens more injured, and I was sort of in a state of shock. After learning more details, and seeing the suspect's disturbing profile, confusion and frustration quickly transferred into anger and melancholy.
As I said I'm not a news reporter, but I'm a movie critic. I'm not even a real movie critic, I see films I want to see and write my stupid opinion about them. But I am an avid moviegoer, and that is why I'm talking about this....because it hits home; hard. The movies are a place to relax and avoid the drama and complications of everyday life while watching someone else go through those things. Going to the movies is as American as it gets, and not even being able to do that without worrying about a psychotic figure shooting up the place is not only depressing but scary. 9/11 made us afraid to fly...so is James Holmes going to scare us into not going to the movies?
Of course not. And his name shouldn't even be mentioned. I'm keeping with CNN and other outlets in the refusal to make him anymore infamous than he already is. The focus is on the victims, not some cowardly scum who decided senselessly to slaughter people. The acts of heroism in the theater show that, despite what you may think about the human condition, there is always good in evil places. The stories of boyfriends shielding their girlfriends from bullets, the story of Stephanie Davies, who put pressure on her friend Allie Young's neck to stop the bleeding, who refused to leave. These are the names we should remember. And as long as there are people like these true heroes, not some caped crusaders, evil people like Holmes will never win. The goodness in human spirit is too great, America's ability to come together in grievance for the families is too strong to ignore.
If the ridiculous "Dark Knight" curse worries you, don't let it. The only reason the movie has any relevance to this massacre is that the shooter called himself the Joker, which was just vile. If he wanted to call himself the Joker, he should have remembered how it ended for Ledger's version in "The Dark Knight:" finding out that there is goodness and righteousness in people's hearts, instead of evil, which only resides in his cold heart. And look at his mugshot for God's sake: besides hiding behind some armor and guns what fear does this man, not even a man, a pathetic excuse for a human being, provoke? He's nothing. He looks more like a circus clown then he does the Joker. It's OK to laugh too, it takes the fear out of us. It's like the father of a victim said on CNN when asked why he came to Holmes' hearing: he just wanted to see the man who killed his child, and to let him know he wasn't afraid of him. Tighter gun control and other things might prevent future occurrences, but I'm not going to delve into that now. The way to prevent ourselves by getting bogged down by this horrific, heart-breaking tragedy is to remember who really matters: the heroes who gave their lives for one another, and pray to whatever deity you pray to that they can find the strength and courage to move on. And in time, the orange stain you see above will eventually become what we'll make him: faded.
THE 12 VICTIMS:
As I said I'm not a news reporter, but I'm a movie critic. I'm not even a real movie critic, I see films I want to see and write my stupid opinion about them. But I am an avid moviegoer, and that is why I'm talking about this....because it hits home; hard. The movies are a place to relax and avoid the drama and complications of everyday life while watching someone else go through those things. Going to the movies is as American as it gets, and not even being able to do that without worrying about a psychotic figure shooting up the place is not only depressing but scary. 9/11 made us afraid to fly...so is James Holmes going to scare us into not going to the movies?
Of course not. And his name shouldn't even be mentioned. I'm keeping with CNN and other outlets in the refusal to make him anymore infamous than he already is. The focus is on the victims, not some cowardly scum who decided senselessly to slaughter people. The acts of heroism in the theater show that, despite what you may think about the human condition, there is always good in evil places. The stories of boyfriends shielding their girlfriends from bullets, the story of Stephanie Davies, who put pressure on her friend Allie Young's neck to stop the bleeding, who refused to leave. These are the names we should remember. And as long as there are people like these true heroes, not some caped crusaders, evil people like Holmes will never win. The goodness in human spirit is too great, America's ability to come together in grievance for the families is too strong to ignore.
If the ridiculous "Dark Knight" curse worries you, don't let it. The only reason the movie has any relevance to this massacre is that the shooter called himself the Joker, which was just vile. If he wanted to call himself the Joker, he should have remembered how it ended for Ledger's version in "The Dark Knight:" finding out that there is goodness and righteousness in people's hearts, instead of evil, which only resides in his cold heart. And look at his mugshot for God's sake: besides hiding behind some armor and guns what fear does this man, not even a man, a pathetic excuse for a human being, provoke? He's nothing. He looks more like a circus clown then he does the Joker. It's OK to laugh too, it takes the fear out of us. It's like the father of a victim said on CNN when asked why he came to Holmes' hearing: he just wanted to see the man who killed his child, and to let him know he wasn't afraid of him. Tighter gun control and other things might prevent future occurrences, but I'm not going to delve into that now. The way to prevent ourselves by getting bogged down by this horrific, heart-breaking tragedy is to remember who really matters: the heroes who gave their lives for one another, and pray to whatever deity you pray to that they can find the strength and courage to move on. And in time, the orange stain you see above will eventually become what we'll make him: faded.
THE 12 VICTIMS:
- Gordon Cowden, 51
- Rebecca Wingo, 32
- Jesse Childress, 29
- Matt McQuinn, 27 (shielded girlfriend)
- Alex Sullivan, 27
- John Larimer, 27
- Jon Blunk, 26 (shielded girlfriend)
- Jessica Ghawi, 24
- Alex Teeves, 24
- Micayla Medek, 23
- AJ Boik, 18
- Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6 (This upsets me the most)
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