Holmes’s mother’s words twisted by ABC

James Holmes’s mother, Arlene, says that ABC twisted her words:

Reading a statement she attributed to James Holmes' mother, Arlene, San Diego-based attorney Lisa Damiani said Arlene Holmes' comment "You have the right person" to an ABC reporter referred to herself, not James Holmes as some media have suggested.

Arlene Holmes made the comment when the ABC reporter phoned her early Friday morning and asked if she was Arlene Holmes and if James Holmes was her son, Ms Damiani said. Her comment has been misconstrued to suggest she was not surprised by her son's alleged involvement in the shooting.

This is relevant because people have been saying that the mother knew her son was crazy.

I think the real portrait emerging of Holmes is that he gave off absolutely no evidence of schizophrenia or other type of mental health problems. I don’t think he's any more mentally ill than a Muslim suicide bomber. I think that Holmes’s Joker shtick is an act and that maybe he thinks the Joker is a really cool character (because nerds think stuff like that about comic book characters), but he knows that his Joker shtick is an act and that he’s not really the Joker.

Comments

[Dan]

To get halfway honest news, you need to go to the British press, which is wholly superior to ours.

[Inkraven]

Between this, Brian Ross' wrongly reporting Holmes being tied to the Tea Party, and Matt Gutman's many multiple goofs regarding George Zimmerman, you'd think ABC would learn to avoid being caught with their britches down.

I guess the bias is getting in the way.

[Sheila Tone]

Half, the reason he didn't give off any signs of schizophrenia for most of his life would be because it hadn't kicked in yet. For men, it usually comes on in young adulthood. You have a guy who is functional, decent, even bright. Then his behavior starts getting bizarre. It usually takes a few months of downward slide before the break.

[beta_plus]

NBC with Zimmerman and now this? The networks are just shameless.

[rob]

It sort of seems as if there are a few varieties of schizophrenia onset. Some people with schizophrenia were odd as children, and seem to slowly decline to schizophrenia. But there's another chunk of people where schizophrenia seems to come out of the blue, and they seem to go from normal to psychotic in a few days or weeks.

[Melykin]

She may well have known her son had schizophrenia and yet still been deeply shocked by the shooting. I would bet anything I own that this guy is mentally ill.

[AnneKavkaz]

If he was really hearing-voices crazy, there would have been previous episodes of not necessarily violent but bizarre behaviour. I'm thinking fake too.

[Anthony]

AnneKawkaz - some of the reports indicate that his neighbors thought he was somewhat odd.

Like Sheila Tone says, schizophrenia in men manifests relatively rapidly at about that age. My guess is that his impaired mental functioning led him to drop out of school, and it just kept getting worse.

[nebbish]

"If he was really hearing-voices crazy, there would have been previous episodes of not necessarily violent but bizarre behaviour."

Not necessarily. Some schizophrenics are normal into early adulthood and developed psychosis over a short period of time.

[not too late]

NBC with Zimmerman and now this? The networks are just shameless.

Posted by: beta_plus | July 24, 2012 at 11:41 AM

For the sake of argument, let's assume Holmes is a schizo.

So, the media will make a field day of it, as though a schizo white guy somehow means something. Schizo aren't typical. And killer schizos are very rare. So, he isn't part of some growing trend or anything. Just a straight up freak of nature.

Meanwhile, NAM dysfunction and murderous violence like we see in Chicago is somehow to boring to warrant much of their attention. Gangbangers killing kids day in day out. Ho hum.

[anonthistime]

Slightly OT: Sacramento wigger with 3 previous DUI's kills 4 dogs and takes man's leg driving 80 mph through residential area.

http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/Man-arrested-in-hit-run-that-killed-dogs-severed-man-s-leg/-/12969376/15607614/-/32eb9t/-/index.html

[Melykin]

Neighbors and people close to the family said Arlene Holmes had confided to friends that she was very concerned about her son’s social isolation and had sought counseling for him years earlier. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

-------------------------

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/suspect-in-colorado-massacre-due-in-court/2012/07/23/gJQAa3oN4W_story_1.html

[Comrade]

"I don’t think he's any more mentally ill than a Muslim suicide bomber."

Now that is just silly talk. I would wager that Richard Reid isn't even half as crazy as Holmes.

"I think that Holmes’s Joker shtick is an act."

So it's all an act to avoid the death penalty? I really doubt that.

[Melykin]

According to reports, the neuroscience graduate was adopted and Mrs Holmes, 58, and husband Robert, 61, a software developer, raised him as one of their own.

------------------------------------

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2178304/James-Holmes-Gunman-used-police-evidence-bags-hand-puppets-mother-admits-feared-disturbed-years.html

[esqy]

The environment that surrounded the despicable murderous rampage astounds me. Some of the brightest brain experts going to school with or teaching Holmes didn't recognize or intervene. The instructors probably failed him on his first year oral exams. Aurora, Colorado has the following gun laws (of special note is item 4):

Aurora

1. "Dangerous weapon" includes firearm

2. Revocation of license for furnishing a firearm to a minor or someone under the influence.

3. Window displays cannot include firearms with barrels less than 12 inches long.

4. Unlawful to carry concealed "dangerous weapon"

5. Unlawful to discharge firearms, unless by law enforcement on duty or on shooting range.

6. Unlawful to possess firearm while under the influence of intoxicant

7. Unlawful to have loaded firearm in motor vehicle.

8. Unlawful for a juvenile to possess a firearm.

[Conquistador]

@ anonthistime

I'm familiar with the Sacramento area. North Highlands is a trashy place. No surprise at all the wigger was from there.

[AE]

Neuroscientist debunk idea Colorado suspect was supersmart:

http://www.wbir.com/news/article/227993/16/Neuroscientists-debunk-idea-Colorado-suspect-was-supersmart

[Not Joking]

"Gangbangers killing kids day in day out. Ho hum."

Hardly ho hum. Nits make lice.

[Nicolai Yezhov]

Absolutely right as usual.

That all people who do crazy things must be "mentally ill" is an assumption of ideology and the just world phenomenon.

Ted K was perfectly sane, was a terorist seeking publicity, and it worked, hos manifesto was published. Read it. He was a modern day Cynic with a capital C. Perfectly sane as far as the manifesto is evidence.

[whiskey]

Yes, only stupid White guys get National Science Foundation grants totaling $26K to study neuroscience at the University of Colorado. Why, its so easy anyone can do it.

The guy was smart. Competition for is intense, only 9.2% of applicants funded. Yeah, I'm sure Holmes was not smart, every kid on the block gets NSF Grad funding. And oh no, the Obama Administration is not demanding fewer (White) males in math and science and more "diversity" and females. Certainly not.

[eggwhite]

Are we seeing a rise in a certain kind of violent nihilism among white males? For every guy who actually does this, how many think of it?

[asdf]

There are a ton of people like Holmes. When I was in college I played WoW, and I knew a lot of people in my guilds real life story. Many of them were like Holmes, and used WoW as an escape.

There are a ton of Holmes out there but most just become herbivores. They get some shitty job, live in a shitty apartment, eat shitty food. But with an internet connection, the world is theirs. Medicate on videogames, porn, and cheap carbs. No status in real life? Get some in game status. Joke in real life? Become a guild leader and boss people around. There was a show called "The Guild" which went through that these people's lives are like, and is probably way to sympathetic because its meant for entertainment.

As perverse as it sounds, Holmes decision to take action (misguided, pointless, tragic) at least took more balls then most of the herbs I knew just waiting to die in WoW.

[Conquistador]

"That all people who do crazy things must be "mentally ill" is an assumption of ideology and the just world phenomenon."

Agreed. These people may loath liberalism but they still cling to egalitarian falsity in many other areas regarding human nature.

[asdf]

whiskey,

It's all a matter of scale. Holmes is probably on the right side of the bell curve, and probably smart enough for college material. His lack of AP classes and other red flags say he was no genuis neuroscientist. No curing alzheimers. He may have been able to get a job in a lab doing the grunt work for someone that was curing alzheimers though. You're right that he probably could have gotten through life with a fairly average science lab job and a lot of gaming when he got off at 5.

I rented one of my rooms to a guy like that. Biology PhD, working in a lab on a grant making $40k/year at 33. Was a complete anti-social wierdo. Had to kick him out after a month.

[Just Speculating]

Is academia for beta type males? I don't want to make the assumption it is; because aggressive go getters would want to go to the real world and make money, instead of hanging around the college campus.

[Black_Rose]

Could we just give him an IQ of 130? That's enough to be called "smart" by the average person. That happens to me, and I don't consider myself smart.

[asdf]

Just Speculating,

Academia is pretty high status if you become a tenured professor. But that path is way harder today then it was.

[asdf]

IQ 120-130 sounds about right to me, assuming he was weak in other areas (social skills, motivation).

[Dr X]

FoF filed with university of Illinois which provided the press with Holmes' application materials and emails:

"In addition to graduating with Phi Beta Kappa and other honors from the University of California at Riverside, according to his application, Holmes garnered near-perfect scores on the Graduate Record Examinations. The accomplishments won him highly positive references."

Probably didn't aim high in undergrad because he was already dealing with problems.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-colorado-shooting-uofi-20120812,0,1985744.story

Perhaps I missed some in my cursory search, but it appears that all of my comments on this subject have been scrubbed.