A Few More Observations on James Holmes

As the James Holmes saga unfolds, I find it hard to ignore a few things about him which seemed to have been missed by most other bloggers. Here is a short list.

1. Unlike Sodini or even Breivik, this guy did not write or distribute a list of his grievances. But he also planned his shooting carefully and over a period of months. I find that to be very odd as people who methodically plan massacres rarely do without telling the world why they did it. Even Jared Loughner and Seung-Hui Cho did let the world know why they did it. So why have we not heard anything about a note, video, photo or manifesto where Holmes explains us about his reasoning to shoot up a theater. Moreover this guy was very intelligent and tech savvy, more so than most people of his age group. He could have easily communicated his views to the rest of the world had he chosen to do so. So why did he not?

I believe that his decision to not tell the world why he did it was as deliberate as his buildup to the shooting. But why? What could he gain from such obfuscation? My guess is that he wanted to evaluate public reaction to craft his message. Putting it all down on paper’ before shooting lots of people makes it hard to alter your story later. For him the shooting is likely a means to an end, but what end? He was certainly aware of how people view mass murderers but he chose to be caught alive and even went to the trouble of suiting himself in head-to-toe body armor just in case the police accidentally shot him. It is also odd that he did not resist arrest at all. It is almost as if he wanted to be caught.. but why? and why did he tell cops that he had booby-trapped his apartment when he could have just let them find it out the hard way? I have a feeling that there is a very definite method to his ‘madness’.

2. Why does this guy have no social media footprint? I have not heard about any of his friends or frenemies digging up any suspicious or foreboding communication with him. I find this to be rather odd, especially in the age of Facebook and its ilk. It is worth noting that he spent tons of time online, so he was not a techno-recluse. But what did he do during all that time on the intertubes? Did he just play RPGs, MMORPGs and browse for porn? What is his alternate identity or more likely identities? Why would a lonely guy not join some site like Facebook, even with an alternate identity? Even more oddly, he was not some shut in or total recluse and was certainly capable of carrying out a civil and average interaction with people around him in bars, at summer camps and with neighbors. Many who are introverted or reserved in ‘real’ life are often quite active on the ‘online’ world, but this guy has apparently no significant online footprint.

Is his lack of a significant online or social media footprint a deliberate choice? but why? Had he considered doing something similar for many years prior to actually doing it? His deliberate online silence, both online and on social media sites, tells me that he was fully aware of what he would do one day. I am willing to bet a small sum of money that he had been thinking of doing what he did at that theater for a few years. but once gain.. why? What drives a guy like him to consider mass murder? He has no real history of torturing small animals as a kid or displaying obvious sociopathic traits. What is the source of his anger at the world? and yes it is anger, not madness, that made him do what he did.

3. Some have wondered if he was disillusioned with his education or future career. In my opinion, the even more important question is- why did he not change his career path? The guy was young, intelligent and had good grades. Why did he not just go into something like nursing, some medical technician certification, occupational therapy, pathology or something like that to get a decent job. Why did he continue in Neuroscience? Why did he not go into an educational/certification stream which would ensure a better job, especially given his difficulty in finding jobs after finishing his undergrad? It is not like his parents were poor, uneducated or unwilling to support such a decision. I find his choice of entering a PhD program in Neuroscience very odd, especially given his experience after graduating with an undergrad degree in the same.

4. Why have we not heard anything about or from an ex- girlfriend, even one from his high school days. The guy was tall, not fat or ugly, not stupid, not a couch potato, not a shut in and still I have not heard about even one ex- girlfriend! Am I the only one who finds this very odd? and it is not like he was gay.. he obviously preferred female sexual attention and was willing and able to pay for it by the hour. How does a guy with no obvious physical or overt behavioral disqualifications avoid relationships with women when he is clearly attracted to women. What does it say about our society when an ugly motherfucker selling weed on the corner can get tons of nice ass but a guy like Holmes has to pay for it?

and how did a guy of his age (24 yrs) start using escorts anyway? Where did he get that idea in our highly femcentric society? He certainly did not get it from mainstream media or even ‘game’ blogs. My guess is that he found out about the whole world of escorts through the web, as his fiends and acquaintances do not mention about any discussion or interest in procuring sex by the hour. But what led him to search for paid sex on the web in the first place? Men who get lots or even enough sex through “normal” channels do not spend their time researching whores on the web. I can bet you that this guy considered hiring a whore years before he acted on it. Given his age, I would not be surprised if he had first considered using the services of an escort in his late teens. But why? Why can’t a guy of his age who is better than average in so many ways not get even a plain-looking girl who is willing to suck his cock a few times per month? Could he not get even an asian girl? What is wrong with this picture?

5. Why did the shrink he supposedly saw at the university become concerned about his potential for violence, but was then unable to take the threat further? Could it be that he was just very angry rather than mentally ill. It might not have occurred to most of you that she was concerned about him as a threat, not as a mentally ill person. Why has his shrink gone into hiding if she had enough proof that he was mentally ill? She could have easily said that she was treating him but he did not apparently respond to treatment and went on a rampage. Her unwillingness to say that he was mentally ill, even after the massacre, is a real “mystery” to me.

What do you think? Comments?