The mythologies from which killers emerge can be studied and thought through as bids to shape and control cultural narrative, penetrating patterns that put lives in danger. This is Bluevolution in the world, slowing things down to a grieving pace, and taking the reins of the cart of interpretation out of the hands of progressive helpers, media promoters, and away from the criminal attempting to control perception through infamy. This will not be a reduction of a horrible crime to comic book significance, but may end up being a fable about failures of imagination due at least in part to comic book notions. There may even be a temptation to over-simplify this analysis itself into caricatures and comforting conclusions, reading-in a causal diagnosis and configuring ways to make progress on a solution. For instance, it is true to say that effective gun control and attention to ammunition purchases would go a long way in reducing the epidemic of mass civilian violence in the United States. The world beyond the United States has demonstrated this for quite some time.[i] It is also true that cessation of international munitions manufacture and sales would impair the ability of states to make war on their own people and their neighbors. It is likely not true to say that a diagnosis of psychosis or a spate of new legislation will make for less violence, in any combination of countries. Where the status quo in place can shift, it is the shared narrative of the people who keep the status quo in place which can make it shift. As a result, mass domestic and international violence is likely to continue until we blue the stories behind it.

 

New Yorker blogger, John Cassidy, suggests that “as long as his name and his heinous acts live on in the public consciousness, there may be some chance of reform. Admittedly, it’s a slim chance . . . but that’s better than nothing.”[ii] I agree with Cassidy that chances are indeed slim, but not that a slim chance is better than nothing. Very few people know Holmes well, and the full truth about the crimes of July 20^th may never be uncovered, but what is accessible is the series of cultural patterns into which any “Holmes” fits, transformed into “The Shooter.” What matters is that sense be established in working with possibilities—the images and beliefs that make actions like this possible. Then one may make better sense of mass violence and not get stuck, as Aurora Fire Chief Mike Garcia does with “I just don't want the shameless and senseless act of one man to make this difficult for families to move on . . . Go out. See a movie. Go out into your city. Don't be afraid.”[iii] Instead, don't move on. Don't go to the mall. Stay home and think about what makes this possible beyond “the shameless and senseless act of one man.”