Mass Mumblings and Crass Actions
People need other people, right? With some rare exceptions, humans generally seek out the company and acceptance of others, whatever that may look like for an individual. In the context of larger social movements, this leads people who may consider themselves “individuals” in the context of their daily life to behave very much like sheep. The more momentum a social movement gets, the less connected to the reality of a situation it needs to be. Humans generally don’t need to see something with their own two eyes to believe it; they don’t need a genuine personal understanding of a concept or issue to form an opinion. All they need is some feeling of consensus; even if that consensus is formed in opposition to another group’s consensus, there is a comfort in shared identifiers. Not only is shared identity a comfort; it is a driving force in human behavior that has contributed to every major conflict in human history, from primitive society to the fall of empires. If we are so in the grips of our own cultural identity as a species, how then can people so brashly divert from the interests of their fellow man?
Obviously, not everyone is satisfied with getting in line and following status quo. If there weren’t such people, then this world would be a much less interesting place. But where does the mind of somebody like James Holmes, the perpetrator of the 2012 Aurora theater shootings go so far from what should be an ingrained sense of societal belonging? It is difficult to speculate what exactly goes through someone’s mind when they cause a tragedy like he did. Regardless, there is something in this person that caused him to flip. Perhaps he felt like in trying to belong, he only set himself up for disappointment. Perhaps, he was just trying to cut through the thick clouds of media and culture to drive home a point, through the most shocking methods he could possibly conceive. But this man had no agenda, besides a hatred of humanity. A quote, pulled from his diary for the trial, says as much.
"'Anxiety and fear disappears. No more fear. No more fear of failure.... No fear of consequences. Primary driver, aversion to, hatred of, mankind. Intense aversion to people, cause unknown. Began long ago. Suppressed by greater fear of others. No more fear. Hatred unchecked. Start small.'
This man made a personal decision to disconnect himself, to stand up against humanity and say FUCK YOU as loud as he could. His methods, unquestionably reprehensible. But one must try and understand the circumstances that created this person, to try and prevent the past from repeating itself.
