Batman Massacre

The shooting massacre 

With this recent massacre we have a moral obligation to reflect on this evil crime. Last night, twenty four year old James Holmes went to a midnight showing of Batman and proceeded to kill people at random in the theater. What would bring a man with a middle upper class background, education ,and son of software engineer and a mother with a psychology background to commit murder. It's simple: art. More specifically, life imitating art. There have been many cases in history of men taking inspiration to do acts of good and evil from what they seen in plays of drama of ancient Greek plays or Japanese samurai and the 40 Ronin. In the Romance period (18th-19th century)  of Europe, star crossed lovers of middle to upper class backgrounds would commit suicide to dramatize or express their "true" love advertising to their parents that disapproved of their relationship. They received this inclination from the plays of Shakespeare such as Romeo and Juliet and the Romanticism of death in poetry and literature at that time. If you advertise something or an action in mass media there will be people that copy it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not slighting Romance art or literature or Japanese Kabuki or Noh which is beautiful in its own right but I am stating a simple fact there have been men and women that replicate drama off screen as well as on it. From video games to rap music, and movies; they all are art that can be negative or positive to man kind. 

Which brings to my second observation, who or what is to blame for this tragedy? Is it the Batman movies, where after the shooting and James said "I am the Joker", or perhaps the guns he used themselves hold the burden of guilt? No. The moral responsibility and shame lays on Mr. Holmes alone. Not any one else or any thing else is the cause of this horrible sadness: he is. He is the one that thought of the murder, used his money, planned it and executed this heinous act. Every pull of the trigger was his sole responsibility no one else s. Didn't matter if he idolized and looked up to the Joker as a "hero" he is the cause of the victims deaths. You can't shoot innocent people because you feel wronged by society. That's what Hitler did when he committed the Holocaust on the Jews. He externalized  hes slights by society by killing people; perceived real or other wise is not a reason or moral defense to shoot up babies and average movie goers. That's what villains do, like Bane and The Joker. They blame everyone else for their problems, therefore they can harm or kill them.

Does this mean would should have  more laws censoring and controlling what we hear, watch or listen to? No. Each man holds in his power his own free will to control his actions and destiny. But there will be people that use this incident as a means of political ends for gun control. The 2nd amendment clearly states : "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". The reason I underlined that part is that I show that people have a right to keep and bear arms. Many people die from gun violence every year in this country and it's sad and disgusting. But our freedoms ranging from the little to the large should not be impeded or demolished when society is in state of shock or outrage. That is when you have to protect them even more in extreme circumstances. Because once you lose them it is very hard to get them back. I doubt there will be any major talk about how their should be more FCC regulations on movies and how they can motivate people to do acts of violence, but there will be calls for more gun control. 
This act was done probably in a gun free zone where the theater had signs telling people not to bring in guns. But what if someone disobeyed this sign and brought in a concealed hand gun. I'm not saying it would have helped since the assailant was wearing some form of body armor but that would have maybe had more people had a chance, perhaps a few seconds more to run away or even a shot to kill the gunman and save lives. There have been cases all across the country where mad men have tried to commit mass murder and have been stopped by law abiding citizens who have stooped them with guns. What would you rather have, a monopoly or should I say duopoly where only policemen and criminals, or where all citizens have the same freedoms to protect themselves and their families? I think I would choose the latter, where all men have a right to defend themselves from aggressors, not wait 10 minutes for police to show up and put them in a body bag. I'm sure blacks in the south after the civil war liked the 2nd amendment against the KKK, or maybe if Jews in Europe had a right to defend themselves besides Nazis the number might have not reached so high, or Sudanese Christians would have liked to have an A47 as well to stop their sisters, mothers, and wives from being raped and killed. I'm also pretty sure some people in that Batman audience would have wanted a gun to protect their family and friends. The point is simple: empower yourself and do not wait for government to protect you. Because they cant.  
With this tragedy and nation wide grief I hope we can come together as one and let the healing process begin.