james-holmes

Why James Holmes Has Fans On the Internet

Adrian Chen · 07/31/12 03:50PM

There are fans of everything on the internet. Even James Holmes, the 24-year-old accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 in the Aurora, Colorado theater shooting. What would drive a bunch of seemingly normal internet geeks to worship a mass murderer? To understand this, you'll have to journey to the dark heart of internet fandom.

Six Dumb Arguments We're Hearing About the Aurora Shooting

Mobutu Sese Seko · 07/25/12 09:20AM

The immediate aftermath of any American tragedy offers a heady potential for vile ideas. Details are scant, speculation is still wide open, motive is easily assigned—and in the rush to scoop other outlets, journalists don't have as much time to investigate claims, arguments or citations.

Is James Holmes a Nerd?

Max Read · 07/24/12 10:00AM

Here's something that almost all the mass killers of the last fifteen years or so have in common: they've been called "nerds." James Holmes, who allegedly murdered 12 people in a crowded Colorado movie theater on Friday morning, was described as a "nerd" by his uncle within hours of the shooting. Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is, in the Telegraph, a "puffy-faced computer game nerd." Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were "innocuous nerds," the Los Angeles Times claimed in 1999.

Columnist: If James Holmes Was a Muslim, The Shooting Might Not Have Happened

Hamilton Nolan · 07/23/12 11:30AM

By contrasting the ease with which Aurora shooter James Holmes ordered guns and ammunition online with the rapid FBI response when a Muslim would-be terrorist in Aurora sent a single suspicious email a few years ago, Denver Post columnist Chuck Murphy states the obvious in his column today: this mass shooting might have turned out very differently if James Holmes had been named Ibrahim or Mohammed.

There Is No Such Thing as 'Politicizing' a Tragedy

Max Read · 07/20/12 05:25PM

It hasn't even been 24 hours since a gunman opened fire on a crowded movie theater in Colorado and you can already predict the entire, familiar scene: the days and days of arguments about gun control, about mental health treatment access, about violence in movies and television. And, of course, the angry accusations that one person or another is "politicizing tragedy," unquestionably the worst sin in post-tragedy rhetoric.

A Roundup of Gawker's Coverage of the Dark Knight Shooting

Emma Carmichael · 07/20/12 03:55PM

A shooter walked into a late-night showing of The Dark Knight Rises early Friday morning in Aurora, Colo., and opened fire. James Holmes, 24, killed 12 and wounded dozens more. Read our initial report here and catch up on the following stories on the Dark Knight shooting:

What Is 9gag and Why Is It Being Blamed for the Colorado Shooting?

Adrian Chen · 07/20/12 09:57AM

As people cast about for some explanation for the horrific shooting in Aurora, Colo., rumors have spread on Twitter and other social networks that the meme-swapping message board 9gag was somehow responsible, and that the 24-year-old suspect James Holmes had posted about his plan to shoot up a theater yesterday. They're almost certainly false.