I posted this on Facebook earlier today. They are now claiming that he is crazy.

James Holmes' Lawyers -- Our Client Is INSANE | TMZ.com

I seriously see a huge flaw in how they are dealing with this. Look at the evidence against him and whether or not he is crazy, he should not be treated respectfully. I'm not against the death sentence, because he murdered 20 people, at least that's what sources say. If they make him rot in jail, fine. If they inject him to "the deep sleep" that's fine too. He should not be able to walk away unharmed.

I am against the death sentence either way, we are not in the stone age anymore. He may have done an truly awful thing, but the death sentence is wrong either way, no compromise. That being said, my imperfect and raw reactionary self ( despite the fact I don't like conflict and have never been in a fight) would probably slit that guys throat if it was someone I loved that he had killed. I still think the death sentence is wrong. He can suffer in a ****ty American prison for the rest of his days.

Wow really so it's a lie that European countries do it?

Its not something we can enforce with law. You need to remind people (via an ad campaign or whatever) that many of these issues could have been nipped in the bud if someone had just said "you know, I think theres something wrong with this guy."

Columbine, Virginia Tech, Denver...people knew these people were off, but everyone wants to mind their own business. Well, fine, mind your own business, but don't be shocked when a large auditorium is shot up by that same nut bag.

We track terrorists constantly for Christ sake, how about we do a quick sweep to see if the guy people think is off, and tried to join a gun range isn't buying 60,000 rounds of ammo.

The number of mass shootings in the states often dwarfs those in one year by the remaining first world countries combined. I think gun culture and the right to bear arms are dangerous in and of themselves. I'm not trying to be controversial about the constitution, but I don't know where to point when the rest of the world doesn't appear to have nearly the same problem, and guns as a human right seem like a root of it.

Am I the only one who thinks the Sihk Temple shooting was far, far worse than this one? It is awful to compare the two and call any act of mass murder "better" or "worse" than the other, but due to the media's very different reactions to both events, I'd say it's justified in this instance.

The Aurora shooting, despite having a higher death toll, was the work of someone who is very clearly disturbed, with no other motivation than whatever rationale his deeply disturbed mind came up with. James Holmes is clearly not well. Regardless of your opinions of his courtroom appearance and whether or not he's faking his erratic behavior, the very fact that there was no apparent motivation beyond inflicting as many deaths as possible should tell you that this man's brain alone is responsible for his actions. It was, in this sense, unavoidable.

The Sihk Temple shooter was motivated by hate. Hate for those of another race, of another religion. He associated himself with hate groups and violent White Supremist culture. He was in full control of his faculties. If either men were to be called evil, it would be him. Holmes may very well be insane, this man was full of hatred for his fellow man, simply because they do not fit his vision of an ideal person.

Unlike the James Holmes case, we can actually prevent these types of hate crimes with education about tolerance and respect. This case should have recieved more attention, but it didn't. It should have opened up a huge dialog about hate groups in the United States — it didnt. Instead we get 2 hours of experts speculating on what Holmes had for breakfast on the morning of the murders.

I don't know. I think Page was fairly mentally disturbed too, just in a different way. I mean the guy was such a horrible alcoholic that he couldn't even hold a job. He clearly had some issues beyond a lack of tolerance education. Like Holmes he was estranged from his family and, like Holmes, he had apparently metamorphosed into a completely different person during the separation.

lolwut?

What are you confused about?

That's fair. I think any individual who would commit a random act of mass murder has to be fairly disturbed, I'm just making the point that the attacks weren't entirely random, so I wonder how much racial hatred acted as a catalyst to the event.

Why you think that'd work, or how it would even work. I find the entire notion absurd.

So you'd rather people not be educated? That seems like it'd be worse.

Why would it work? That's fairly straightforward. Educated people are far less likely to be hateful, bigoted, racist, and violent. This is because they're far less fearful of what isn't like them.

As for how, I don't really have a specific tolerance curriculum laid out and ready to demonstrate at any given moment. I suppose more time could be spent encouraging respect for other cultures at young ages in our public school systems. There's a lot that could be done.

We had a neat program in my elementary school called "Around the World". Each classroom was dedicated to a country/place, and the few representatives in that class were either from there or were directly descended from people who were. They had food, gave a bit of history, and most had some sort of craft you made in every class. China, I remember, was one of those paper lanterns. I loved it.

I'm just playing devils advocate here but one could use the knowledge they learn for something not so good. To be honest, I agree with you fully, but there's also that fear of giving the knowledge to the wrong person.

Well, I think pretty much any person could use exstensive knowledge of a subject for selfish gain. I don't think that's any kind of reason not to encourage getting an education. And I certainly don't think tolerance education could in any way be used against anyone.

These kinds of programs are great for kids. Exposing them to different cultures at an early age generally helps quell the fear of that which is not familiar.

I completely agree. There's definitely a lot of good that comes from educating yourself on certain things. Of course, with anything in life, there are always some precautions that one should take. But that's a given.

I think it played a big role in why I'm so interested in culture today.

I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no idea what you're trying to get at. Care to elaborate?

Just when you thought Dave Mustaine couldn't get any crazier:

Dave Mustaine: Obama Staged Aurora, Sikh Temple Shootings | Billboard.com

Dude...what? I knew he was this Born Again Right Wing type these days, but...what? Him and Ted Nugent should get together and protest outside Planned Parenthood clinics.

Edit: Oh, and Ol' Dave is lookin' kinda half dead these days. :laughing:

http://www.billboard.com/photos/styl...nn-617-409.jpg

Heh. I was thinking the same thing.

The funniest thing about his little conspiracy theory to me (aside from the obvious insanity) is that it sounds like he doesn't even know what the "Fast and Furious" scandal was actually about.

Maybe he should get back on the hard drugs again, that'll put a bit of colour in his cheeks.

He friggin annoys me on facebook though, I wish I never clicked Megadeth as a favourite band on there, as I'm now inundated with his comments on a daily basis. He along with a old school friend of mine (who I wish I never got in contact with now) just litter my page on there with redundant comments and jokes.

Well, he is a narcissistic egomaniac. I once saw him on a thrash metal documentary claim to have influenced Metallica (which is obviously true), Slayer (since Kerry King once played in Megadeth), and Anthrax (which is also pretty true since Metallica influenced them when they came to New York to record Kill 'Em All). And since he is Megadeth, he pretty much took credit for the Big Four and, though he never explicitly said it you could hear it in his voice, basically took credit for the entire thrash movement.

Yeah someone on facebook posted a link to that particular conspiracy theory, which sadly isn't the most retarded one I've heard this year...

Is that Tim Robbins in a wig?