That Dark Night

It is a tragedy that people sitting in a darkened movie theater were randomly shot by an armored man who created his own killing field. We are all so vulnerable in a theater, the lights darkened, the sound intensified, our trust in our safely implicit as we sit next to, in front of, behind complete strangers whose only bond to us is the purchase of a ticket.

No one expects to be killed in a movie theater!

Or in a mall. Or at a school. Or while attending church services. Or while walking with a new baby through a family-friendly neighborhood. Or while dining in a fast-food restaurant. Or while sitting in a car at a stoplight, waiting for the signal to change. Or in any of the thousands of other locales where people with weapons turn innocent civilians into instant crime statistics. With a pull on a trigger a hardened criminal, a youthful gang-banger, a vengeful spouse, a jealous lover, an envious neighbor, a fellow student, a psychopath, or a mentally unstable loner can end countless lives and secure a place in the media's face book of crime. The media shines a spotlight on the killer's act of violence, replaying it a thousand/thousand times so everyone can relive the terror of that moment, an endless loop of media fame that takes the focus off the victims and puts it onto the perpetrator of the senseless crime. The most recent killer's crime is quickly fact-checked to see where it ranks on the "most famous" list, placement that gives the talking heads more to talk about when they can't think of anything that has not already been repeated many dozens of times.

Since the "Murder at the Movies" coverage began, far too much time has been spent on the killer: who is he, who knows him and will talk about him on-camera, who will speculate on the motivation for his killing spree, and who will keep this killer viable for the world's media that depends on a "good get" for ratings. No one in that theater could possibly have deserved this pernicious attack by a complete stranger, no matter how the killer's deranged mind may justify what he did, and asking victims to speculate about a killer's motivation on-camera is not healthy. Reporters sitting by the bedside of a shooting victim hours after the attack and asking a stream of inane "How did it feel?" questions may also create a scenario in which other latent killers fantasize about recreating the scenario to see how it feels ... to be the shooter. For some deranged people, the incessant, intrusive media coverage becomes a blueprint for violence, not a time of shared grief.

I don't want to hear one more commentator dissect the crime, discuss the killer's possible motivation for the crime, or speculate about the potential court proceedings that become the focus of the media for however long it takes. It disgusts me to know that the talking heads are counting down the minutes until the killer appears in court so another barrage of "coverage" can begin. The "first photo" of the killer will blanket the news channels, with news readers trying to find explanations in physical appearance, nonsense that will consume the airways for months, and perhaps years. In Pennsylvania, Jerry Sanduski was taken from his home, taken to court, taken to trial, found guilty by a jury of his peers, and confined to a prison within months of his arrest. Take this Colorado killer to jail: take him to court, find him guilty, and then execute him. No one cares why he did what he did, only that he did it: he was caught in the act and he needs to be held accountable.

Don't let his killing spree become his legacy; instead, let his crime be his death sentence.

As Dylan Thomas encouraged in a poem about death,

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This killer does not need our forgiveness nor our understanding: he needs to know our rage. We all should rage, rage against the killer and the media that glorify his crime! We all need to show the world that we are all sick of the killers living out their lives as stars of their own horrific reality shows, while the victims of their vicious crimes first must learn how to get through today and then pray for one more tomorrow.