James Holmes

[Goodrum]

I am particularly noticing the 'change' in his environment, a smaller area, community, network where everyone almost knows everyone, growing up together, 'used to each other' and any idiosyncrasies, or perhaps a natural shyness....a community, almost a family, extended family community.

Adam Martinez and Chris Elkins, Castroville Elementary School classmates of accused Colorado shooter James Holmes, were in shock over the weekend, unable to reconcile their childhood memories of a young man they both agreed was “an exemplary person — he never gave any trouble, and never got in trouble himself.”

“It’s such a small community. Everybody knows one another. We’ve all known each other since we were kids, and it’s such a shock that someone you knew personally would end up in Colorado doing something like that,” Elkins said.

Martinez, now 24, was clear on Holmes’ early promise as an intellectual.

“I remember him being exceptionally intelligent. He excelled in academics. He always was in the top of the class ... He was a pretty good athlete, too. But he wasn’t a loner back then — he played, he got along well with all the kids. He was a nice, quiet kid. You’d never think that something like this ... But in thirteen years, a lot can happen.”

Elkins, also 24, affirmed his friend’s assessment of Holmes as gregarious. “He always got picked first, for flag football, for example, because he was fast. He was friends with everybody else, too. I had detention quite a few times, and I never saw him in there.”

Although neither Martinez nor Elkins had heard anything from their classmate since then, they both were firmly in agreement there was no way to see this tragedy coming.

“You know, there’s kids, like bullies, they don’t get along with other kids, or the whole population, or just the student body. Like social outcasts, that you can tell, but he wasn’t like that. He got along with everybody,” says Martinez.

When asked if they had ever noticed any false notes, Martinez and Elkins emphatically said no.

But Holmes was a competitor academically even at a young age, especially with classmate Chris Chun. “They were always challenging each other to get the best grades,” Elkins said, “but that didn’t make Jimmy skip recess. He was really active. He played with all the other kids.”

And at age 11, Holmes was also very good with computer programming. “He set up our class website. He did that along with Chris Chun” Elkins said.

Both Martinez and Elkins, now strapping young men, thought it was strange how well the descriptions of Holmes from his high school days fit the way they remembered him from elementary school.

“Nice kid, great in academics?” that’s Jimmy Holmes, Adam Martinez said. “I don’t think anyone ever had anything bad to say about him. Ever.”

So it seems his younger years, his high school years relatively smooth, he is achieving, people know him, he has respect for not only being 'clever' in the intellectual sense, even competitive academically, but gets along with others, and does okay at something like running, participates in other fields apart from scholary activities. This is backed up by other schoolmates saying he was able to go into classes and often not even take notes but still achieve 'A's.

As Shytiger points out this later on grinds to a halt-for whatever reasons. Smart up until a point, maybe some involvement with drugs, increasing alienation? Getting out of a former, more comfortable social network?

[Goodrum]

“Lone-wolf terrorists are extremely intelligent and often come from very good socio-economic backgrounds,” said Todd McGhee, a former Massachusetts state trooper who is now managing partner of Protecting the Homeland Innovations, a security training firm in Braintree, Mass.

“But they become despondent. They become isolated from family members. Then they grab on to an ideology. Some people find religion. Some people find anti-government,” he said.

There is no doubt the accused shooter knew the theater well, McGhee said.

“He had a level of comfort to walk in to the theater. He had been there before. He knew the layout.”

He planned his attack well enough to create what is called “a fatal funnel.” When people hunker down to avoid bullets, he throws the tear gas to flush them out and shoots them when they do.

But, he said, Holmes took his attack one step further.

“His mission wasn’t to end it right there at the movie theater,” McGhee says. “There was a part B to this attack.”

Part B was the booby-trapped apartment.

“He can see what he was a part of,” McGhee said. “He can view the response. This is what his claim to fame would be.”

[Goodrum]

From the Telegraph, but news media is picking up all this anyway:

James Holmes has reportedly claimed he does not know why he is in prison as he awaits trial accused of killing 12 people in a massacre in a Colorado theatre.
The 24-year-old repeatedly asked prison guards "Why am I here?" and said he had no recollection of the killings during a midnight premiere of the new Batman film, according to the New York Daily News.

Holmes, a former neuroscience PhD student, also apparently complained about the food in the Arapahoe County Detention Centre in Colorado, where he is being held in solitary confinement to protect him from possible vigilante justice by other inmates.

“He’s claiming his belly hurts him,” the prison employee said. “He complained once that he didn’t like the food . . . The guy killed 12 people, and he’s upset that he’s not getting a four-star meal?”

I'm asking the questions in my own head, is he playing the stunned blocker, is he also being contentious (where is some decent food), and, at this point I want to add some basic rumination info, I only have laptop to do this, no paperwork on temperament madness with me:

Rumination is usually defined as repetitively focusing on the symptoms of distress, and on its possible causes and consequences.[1]. Extensive research on the effects of rumination, or the tendency to self-reflect, shows that the negative form of rumination interferes with people’s abilities to focus on problem-solving and results in dwelling on negative thoughts about past failures.[2] Evidence from previous studies suggest that the negative implications of rumination are due to cognitive biases, such as memory and attentional biases, which predispose ruminators to selectively devote attention to negative stimuli [3] However, three forms of rumination were proposed by Mikulincer (1996): state rumination, action rumination, and task-irrelevant rumination. State Rumination involves dwelling on the consequences and feelings associated with the failure. Action rumination consists of task-oriented thought processes focused on goal-achievement and correction of mistakes. Task-irrelevant rumination utilizes events or people unassociated with the blocked goal to distract a person from the failure.[4]


State rumination is more common in people who are pessimistic, neurotic, and who have negative attributional styles. The tendency to negatively ruminate is a stable constant over time and serves as a significant risk factor for clinical depression. Not only are habitual ruminators more likely to become depressed, but experimental studies have demonstrated that people who are induced to ruminate experience greater depressed mood.[5] There is also evidence that rumination is linked to general anxiety, post traumatic stress, binge drinking, eating disorders, and self-injurious behavior.[6]

Rumination was originally believed to predict the duration of depressive symptoms. In other words, ruminating about problems was presumed to be a form of memory rehearsal which was believed to actually lengthen the experience of depression. The evidence now suggests that although rumination contributes to depression, it is not necessarily correlated with the duration of symptoms

[Goodrum]

The Real Deal:

“Though this is madness,
yet there’s method in it”
—Shakespeare—

MADNESS IS RITUAL NONSENSE

Varying in accord with inborn TEMPERAMENT

Enacted in a trance STATE

Therefore unintentional and involuntary

Entranced rituals Distract COMPANIONS

From detecting THE SHAMEFUL FAILURE

to live up to expectations

And finding a person UNWORTHY OF CARE

Distracting RITUALS serve DEFENSIVE ROLE ENACTING

Which is used only in threatening situations

To control the DEFINITION OF interpersonal RELATIONS

THEREFORE MADNESS IS TWICE GAINFUL

IN AVOIDING abandonment AND

IN ACHIEVING escape from RESPONSIBILITY

SO SHAKESPEARE GOT IT RIGHT—

THERE’S METHOD IN MADNESS

http://professorkeirsey.wordpress.com/2 ... hod-in-it/

[Goodrum]

I am working through this for my benefit:

THE PAYOFF

Some of us use words and tools in such a way that appears to others that we cannot control our use of words and tools. We do this when under threat of being exposed as unworthy. Being found out as unworthy of the concern of our companions is something very few can stand. Whenever the threat arises, something must be done to ward off this dread discovery. This book is about what we do when so threatened.

Though what we do under threat doesn’t seem to make sense, it really does make sense. There’s a payoff. Shakespeare told us this a long time ago. It was said of Hamlet’s bizarre antics: “though this is madness, yet there’s method in it.” However hidden from our inquiry, nonsensical habits always have a reason, a purpose, an aim, an end, an objective, such that they, given the circumstances, make sense. In other words, given the double-bind situation, it’s reasonable to act unreasonably.

Nonsense, as B. F. Skinner would say, is “reinforced;” or as Robert Thorndike would say, has an “effect;” or as William James would say, has “cash value;” or as Eric Berne would say, has an “ulterior payoff.” Note that only Berne alerted us to the possibility of hidden gain. A more current way to put it is that, upon acting crazy, a person gets “to cry all the way to the bank.” But all would say that what appears to be nonsense makes sense behind the scenes, because it is there that the payoff is to be found. So to understand “madness” or “insanity” we have to go backstage and see what’s going on behind the scenes.

Since the reward, effect, payoff, gain — the cash value — of such action is not obvious, where are we to look for it? Pragmatist William James would counsel us to look for the “practical consequences” of such action. The question is, who does what in response to nonsensical action that appears to be unrewarding to the actor? The answer is that the payoff to ritual nonsense is the response it evokes. Assuming that ritual nonsense—nonsensical use of words or tools—entails hidden payoff, consider the following declension—
■nonsensical use of words or tools is distracting
■distraction is annoying
■annoyance evokes censure
■censure of automatic action is unwarranted
■unwarranted censure is abusive
■abuse is exculpative
■exculpation provides an escape from responsibility

Why escape responsibility? Because those who feel unworthy doubt their ability to solve the problems of life: mating, friendship, work. Thus nonsense pays off in three ways:
■The immediate payoff is distraction
■The intermediate payoff is exculpation
■The remote payoff is escape

Not that all of us can use the same methods of distraction, exculpation, and escape. Our methods depend on the kind of knowledge and skills we have acquired, and the kind of knowledge and skills we acquire is predetermined by the kind of brain we inherited. And our brain enables us to use one method of escape while it limits our use of the methods our companions can use. In making nonsense, just as in making sense, we are confined to our own way.

http://professorkeirsey.wordpress.com/2011/08/

It is not easy to act-as-if-mad because such action requires ability. The more complicated the action, the more ability required.

There are countless rituals, rituals being the only means of face-to-face communication between humans. Any ritual, whatever its intent, is composed of certain sounds and/or certain signs performed in a certain sequence. Any deviation from that certain sequence violates the ritual and disrupts the trade. Trading cannot occur without certain rituals on the part of both traders. Of the three kinds of rituals practiced for thousands of years—magical, practical, defensive—the latter, the defensive ritual, is the least understood.

The reason defensive rituals are not understood is that they are not intended to be understood.

Their intent is puzzlement.

Witnessing a person acting-as-if having been, say, invaded by alien influences can only puzzle the witness. And so it is with all defensive role-players—Stranger, Zealot, Invalid, Striker, Mourner, Worrier, Cheater, Vandal, Binger, Derelict, Checker, Ruminator, Fugitive—ritually acting-as-if helplessly invaded, sacrificed, sick, tired, sorry, scared, unscrupulous, malicious, reckless, perverse, programmed, spellbound, or derailed. While magical and practical rituals make sense to witnesses, defensive rituals confront witnesses with total nonsense and therefore total puzzlement.

[Goodrum]

Some are more able to comply with norms than adapt to circumstances, others more able to adapt to circumstances than comply with norms.

Some are more able to interact proactively with others, others more able to interact responsively with others.

Proactive compliance differs extremely from responsive adaptation, just as responsive compliance differs extremely from proactive adaptation.

Finally, proactive preempting differs from proactive contending, and responsive collaborating differs from responsive accommodating, just as diplomatic ability differs from logistical ability and tactical ability differs from strategic ability.

[Goodrum]

[Goodrum]

Driven to succeed:

SAN DIEGO -- A pastor for the family of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes recalls him being a shy boy who was driven to succeed academically.

Senior Pastor Jerald Borgie (BOR'-gee) of Penasquitos Lutheran Church in San Diego said Sunday he was always the one to start conversations with Holmes, who never approached Borgie and wasn't seen mingling at the church with other people his age.

Borgie recalls a proud, intelligent boy who was determined to go to graduate school. He last spoke with the suspect about six years ago.

The pastor says the family has belonged to the San Diego church for about 10 years. The suspect's mother attends services regularly and volunteers her time.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/22/464973 ... rylink=cpy

[Goodrum]

I do find I need to withdraw from studying him. Every now and then, to distance.

James Holmes' horrific attack at a midnight screening of 'The Dark Knight Rises' continues to sicken the world. And now reports suggest that Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway were his original targets...

James Holmes, who refers to himself as The Joker, shocked the world when he entered a midnight screening of 'The Dark Knight Rises' armed with a gun, killing a confirmed 12 people and injuring over 50 more.

However new reports now suggest that the cinema goers were NOT his original targets; in fact, James Holmes had planned to launch an attack on the cast of the Batman film.

A police source came forward to the National Enquirer, explaining that James Holmes wanted to "strike a blow on Gotham City":

"He [Holmes] wanted to kill Bale who plays Batman, along with the rest of the cast and God knows how many innocent people. In his sick fantasy he wanted to strike a blow on Gotham City which represents New York City in the movie. It was the fantasy of this deranged monster."

Had Holmes attended the New York premiere of the film, he would have had easy access to Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and countless other members of the cast and public.

The source continues to suggest that Holmes ended up changing his plans at the last minute "due to paranoia that police would catch him with a car-load of weaponry."

[Goodrum]

ACCUSED Colorado movie theatre shooter James Holmes was being treated by a psychiatrist at the university at the time of the massacre, a court has been told.

Defence lawyers for James Holmes, 24, made the disclosure in a court motion this morning. It sought to discover the source of leaks to some media outlets that Holmes sent the psychiatrist a package containing a notebook with descriptions of an attack.

The package was seized by authorities on Monday after it was discovered in the mailroom at the University of Colorado, Denver. It's unclear if it was sent before the attack at the July 20 midnight showing of Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises that left 12 dead and dozens injured.

The motion said the leak violated a judge's gag order and jeopardised Holmes's right to a fair trial.

"The government's disclosure of this confidential and privileged information has placed Mr Holmes's constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial by an impartial jury in serious jeopardy," wrote the lawyers.
The motion added that the package contained communications between Holmes and his psychiatrist that should be shielded from public view. The document describes Holmes as a "psychiatric patient" of Dr Lynne Fenton.
Calls to Holmes's lawyer, Daniel King, were referred to the head of the Colorado State Public Defender's office, Douglas Wilson, who was out of the office and did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
A message left with Fenton's office was not immediately returned. The University of Colorado's website identifies her as the medical director of the school's Student Mental Health Services.
Casmir Spencer, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's office, said she could not comment.
Authorities said Holmes legally purchased four guns before the attack at Denver-area sporting goods stores - a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and two pistols.

To buy the guns, Holmes had to pass background checks that can take as little as 20 minutes in Colorado.



A man walks on a hill near crosses set up at the memorial to victims of the Aurora, Colorado., movie theater shooting.

.State law bars from purchasing firearms people who have been found mentally defective by a judge or have been committed to a mental institution. The statute makes no restrictions on buyers who are being treated for possible mental illness.
Holmes spent a year as a graduate student in the university's intimate, competitive neuroscience program before dropping out without explanation three days after taking a year-end final, university officials have said.

They have refused to disclose more about Holmes, citing the judge's gag order on law enforcement agencies.

At a press conference earlier this week, they acknowledged that students in the program that Holmes studied in are carefully monitored. They said a graduate student experiencing problems would normally be referred to student support services.


http://www.news.com.au/world/james-holm ... 6437324088