The news out of Colorado was horrifying as soon as the first reports began to come in. The more we learn, the more heartbreaking and devastating it becomes. In one act of unspeakable evil, a mentally deranged individual not only spoiled what was supposed to be a night of celebration for the CBM community, but he took lives, destroyed families, and stole the innocence of a community. As Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and thousands of commenters on this site have already articulated, there are simply no words to explain how devastated we all are. There is nothing we can do to bring back those who have been lost. Instead, let us honor the memories of the victims of this senseless crime. Let us extend our sympathies and whatever measure of comfort we can to the wounded, and to the families of all the victims. As a small start to that end, let's stop giving the animal who committed these crimes the attention he so desperately craves.
I'm a firm believer that "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." To that end, we must educate ourselves about what happened and have open, honest discussion about the incident, the aftermath, and how it affects each and every one of us. What we don't need to do is show this maniac's picture at every turn. His evil, arrogant smirk is getting plenty of airtime on all the major news outlets on tv, on the internet, and in print media. Do we really need to have it appear anywhere on CBM, let alone on the main page? Does that photo add any kind of education or important element to understanding what happened? I'd argue that it does not. I'd argue that posting his picture gives him the attention he sought. This piece of garbage is a terrorist, plain and simple. He wanted to hurt people, and to cause fear and panic. The best thing we can do is to report the facts, and don't give him any more exposure than that.
I understand this incident happened at a comic book movie event, and is therefore tangentially related to CBMs. An argument can therefore be made that CBM has something of a duty to report on the matter; I get that. But let's take his pic DOWN.
When I was a small child, about 8, I discovered Batman. Soon after, I discovered Spider Man, then Captain America. All of their friends and enemies soon followed. And throughout the years, when life got difficult or ugly or overwhelming, I could turn to the pages where my friends lived, and they allowed me to escape the ugliness, even if only for a little while. If some child or young adult in Colorado turns to CBM.com for a similar escape, do they really need to be greeted by that maniac's evil grin? I'd say no....
To paraphrase Bruce Wayne, "As a man, I can be ignored, trivialized, destroyed. But as a symbol, I can be everlasting." Let's not turn some piece of garbage into a symbol of fear. Let's trivialize the hell out of him....