A Plea for Internet Sanity

As you are all no doubt aware, there is a man in Colorado jail charged with murdering twelve people in a crowded Aurora, CO theater during their midnight showing of The Dark Knight.

His name is James Holmes, and he has a fan club.

I know I shouldn’t be surprised anymore with the internet. There are sites out there that thrive on the strange and morally-questionable. As an American, I accept those things because of my belief in Freedom of Speech.

So when I saw a New York Post article talking about Tumblr sites supporting James Holmes, I tried to brush it off. These “Holmies”, as they tag themselves, support him for a multitude of reasons.

On one site I went to, which I will not name, but if you look you can find, I read that the Tumblr’s creator supports Holmes because the moderator feels “sad for him… it seems he was suffering and it breaks my heart” [sic].

Another Holmie wrote a comment on the site, saying that “the people that got shot and their families are trying to get their 15 minutes of fame like attention whores and will be looking for free money now” [sic].

I know there are some people out there that may believe this, but I also know that there are people out there that are saying this in some veiled attempt to gain hits for their Tumblr.

Tumblr, and more broadly the internet, has become a haven for the socially awkward. As a nerd and a geek, I understand the plight that comes with being an outcast may sometimes come with a need to “rebel”.

This is bad rebellion.

If you believe in supporting James Holmes, fine. I don’t support it, but I believe that you have the right to say your piece. However, I beg you to think of this logically. Yes, James Holmes may be mentally disturbed. Maybe the world abandoned him. Maybe he needs help. But he killed twelve innocent people in a crowded movie theater. He is not a martyr for the social outcasts.

He’s definitely not going to be any martyr that I believe in.