James Holmes Was "An Unusually Bad Intern"

       The most vexing question of all in the face of such a senseless tragedy is why? What made this young man who seemingly had so much to live for plan furtively for many months to kill and hurt so many of his fellow human beings?

       We look for clues in his background, his parents, school experiences, anything that might shed some light. We also touch on the old nature-nurture debate. My guess is that at least some of it is nature.

       However, there on the surface seems to be so little "dirt" on Holmes. He was outwardly a well adjusted young man who had excelled academically and had excelled at a very tough major in neuroscience. His background growing up mostly seems impeccable.

       There seems to be so little smoke. You know the saying "Where's there's smoke, there's fire" but what is striking about Holmes is there seems to be so much fire with so little smoke. Are there any clues at all? Could he have just "snapped?"

       My guess is no. He didn't just snap that this is someone with long term troubles. One piece of information about James seems to hold some clues. On the face it might seem like a reach. Someone he worked for as an intern back in 2006 notes that he as "an unusually bad intern."
  
      This might seem like small beer. I mean no one's perfect right? Certainly it's hard to see why being a poor intern might be a precursor becoming a mass murderer. But it seems to suggest a comment a commentator left me on another post about Holmes-in that one I ripped those that rule out gun control out of hand. Still, I think this commentator is right:

     "It seems obvious that this individual, James Holmes, was sadistic on such a level that he led a seemingly normal life just so he could obtain the firearms, ammunition, explosive materials, trigger mechanisms, chemical weapons, body-armor, and the knowledge needed to use all of these things to strike exactly when, where, and how he wanted. He clearly isn't just some loser who "snapped." I bet he spent months, possibly over a year, planning this."

      http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/07/james-holmess-47-who-needs-gun-control.html?showComment=1343138311977#c8906518626901733397

     I think that's true. And it is underscored by the story of his time as an intern in 2006:

     "His summer internship at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, in 2006 might have been impressive on paper, but his supervisor described him in an interview as "an unusually bad intern."
John Jacobson, supervisor of the neurobiology lab at Salk, said he asked Holmes to create several online demonstrations of the lab's work on temporal perceptions. Jacobson said he repeatedly tried to explain to Holmes exactly how to do the computer programming, but Holmes kept insisting on a different approach -- one that did not work."

     "He was really, oddly, stubborn," Jacobson said.

      "Jacobson said he made a point of sitting down to lunch with Holmes at least a half-dozen times, trying to draw him out and encourage him, but found it impossible to make conversation. "He was extremely shy," he said. "It was really hard for him to say anything. You had to ask yes or no questions."

     "At the end of the summer, Holmes had to make a presentation to his fellow interns about the work. A video, widely circulated online since the shooting, shows him smiling shyly and talking with some confidence."

     "But Jacobson said he spent an entire day going over that presentation with Holmes and never got the sense that he understood any of the basic science."

     "He was very undistinguished," Jacobson said.

      "After the internship ended, Jacobson said he emailed Holmes to ask if he wanted to try to finish up the project. Holmes never responded, he said."

       I see that the President has chosen to go along with this ban on saying his name in public. If people think that's for the good, fine. I don't myself practice this obviously, I want to get to the bottom of what happened and such self censorship is a judgement call but it's not to my personal taste. I don't see how not saying his name is going to solve anything.

       Colorado does have the death penalty and the prosecutor, Carol Chambers, will speak to the victims and their families in the next few days to decide this. I myself certainly have no problem with them using it in this case. However, it might be more trouble than it's worth. Since it was made legal again since 1977, the state has only used it once with three currently on death row.

       I fully understand why they would want to go for it and if they do more power to them. But you have to ask yourself how long it would take even if he is sentenced to death? With all the appeals, the back and forth, the whole long process that needs to be exhausted when is the earliest date he could even optimistically be executed at?

      And it requires the victims and their families to have to go through this long process. So maybe they'll decide it's not worth it.

      The brother of that young aspiring sportscaster, Jessica Ghawi didn't go to yesterday's hearing for fear of what he might do when he saw Holmes.

      If he goes to prison he'll probably have to be separated from the rest of the prison population for his own safety.

      P.S. If you really want to understand James Holmes, your best bet might be to watch a few seasons of Dexter.