Mass Killers and Mass Media Malfeasance: Proof and Conclusions

This is a composite shot. I participated in lonegurkha's excellent thread; and so was in a good position to witness the effort put in by other members who fully brought the evidence to back this assertion up. It is pretty sobering stuff, and the implications are weird. I'll go ahead and summarize.

This shot has been extensively and somewhat sloppily shopped. The corners of the mouth have been free transformed, which leads to the distortion of the nose. There are a few other facial details that show signs of tampering, and that gets broken down in the video below. Kudos also to user Xaphan for his stellar work (that's where it starts, it only gets better), because here's where it starts to take a turn for the weird.



That is a side by side comparison of the shots most commonly used in the media of Loughner and Holmes. Yeah, notice something?



And it wouldn't be the first time the media has been caught in this sort of tomfoolery:



The original images available here and here.

So far, so good. Both images of the American mass killers have been shopped, and this is a common practice.

Stretch a bit with me now, and ask yourself if the evidence doesn't suggest something else? Does it not suggest that these images have been altered to make the killers look alike? At the very least, they were aiming for the same expression, but I think there's a strong argument to be made that their features were altered to make Holmes resemble Loughner.



If this is true, why would the media do this? To shape public perception, but to what end?

Okay, stay with me, I know it's getting bumpy.

I'm about to get into the speculative end, and depart from the evidence. Because you know who else resembles the shopped images?



And this character, too:



That's Tate, a mass killer (school shooting), from a popular television program, American Horror Story.

I conclude that we are being conditioned to expect a mass killer to look like this. And judging by the general trend of "You can just tell he was evil, look at that expression" comments on lonegurkha's thread, I'd say it's working.

There is certainly some directed actions about how to present mass murderers going on.

Breivik as Hitler was one of my favourite examples of this expectation programming. Like shooting a pile of people wasn't quite good enough for the moulders of western society.

But with Breivik there was also the "2011 People of the Year" example, where they took his already prettied up pictures and improved them to really make him shine. Not the only example of a publication doing this.

www.time.com...





I'll dig out an original later. I don't want to download 2083 at work. The picture isn't nearly as slick in it. But it does prove out my next point, because the original of this is no longer available outside 2083.

Having followed Breivik extensivesly (and Ghaddafi's fall as well), I can attest that in my obsession I have been able to watch as photos disappear and are replaced by new photos. You'd think that online particularly this phenomena would be very difficult to pull off, but you'd be wrong.

The excuses for this behaviour are that individual journalists are overly invested and add their own flair. Or that there is a rush to get a picture out, which makes no sense when this should mean that they don't have time to mess with the photographs.

Slight of hand of the magician - look at the right hand and not the left while I replace something!

The nicest explaination of this behaviour is an attempt by the media ownership to suggest that mass-murderers aren't like the rest of us. Like what is happening in their head is somehow visible on their face.

Does adding a layer of lies onto this stuff actually help? I doubt it.

The other possible explanation is that they are attempting to create an accessible mental avatar of a mass murderer for people to identify with. Not quite so laudable.

Yep, I agree that picture appears to have been a composite and have stated so in other threads about Holmes. LoneGurkha did a great job at analyzing those pictures in his thread. I think the faded color is another clue that this is not an original photo as it's much easier to doctor them up when they're in black and white (or severely muted monochrome as this one is).
S&F

I believe we are being conditioned to think that an individual that has the same feature profile of Holmes/Brevik is more likely to commit heinous crimes against others.

Similar to how medical 'science' in the Victorian era was convinced that people with abnormal bone structures were likely to be killers and rapists and should be sent to a sanitarium to be 'treated'.

Everything old is new again, eugenics is raising it's ugly head once more.

Originally posted by Aeons
There is certainly some directed actions about how to present mass murderers going on...

The other possible explanation is that they are attempting to create an accessible mental avatar of a mass murderer for people to identify with. Not quite so laudable.

Well, you know, that is where I instantly went with it. Setting up a template for the public to resonate with. Not to induce identification with mass killers, but to become conditioned to respond uniformly to them, maybe.

Increased numbers of disaffected sorts who suddenly have a powerfully reinforced template to work with could be an unfortunate by-product.

If I'm correct, and we're being imprinted with an expectation, I think it might be helpful to examine what we're apparently being imprinted with. I think that the culture shapers are working with a very specific and potent archetype: the Fool.

As a culture, we share a symbolic vocabulary. And just as with spoken language, our shared pool of symbols has a continuity with the past. Here is a visual survey of the Fool, and the mutations it has undergone in Western Culture throughout the centuries.

This Fool is from the Visconti Tarot deck, 15th century:



The Lord of Misrule, late 19th century:



Standard card deck, mid 20th century:



From Arkham Asylum, wherein the author explicitly identifies the Joker as the Lord of Misrule:



And the latest incarnation:



Key concepts associated with the fool include: chaos, disorder, entropy.

Originally posted by Dreine
I believe we are being conditioned to think that an individual that has the same feature profile of Holmes/Brevik is more likely to commit heinous crimes against others.

There may be something to that. We'd need to get into where these guys intersect in other ways: young, male, highly intelligent, socially isolated, into gaming, politically marginalized, chronically unemployed.

I know a lot of guys like that (it's a fairly large demographic), and none of them wear trenchcoats, or have creepy distorted expressions. And there's probably only one out of millions in that demographic with the right combo of mental aberration and conducive circumstances to become a mass killer. And you wouldn't be able to read that on their face.

So, what the hell? Why the visual snowjob? If they did it, we don't need to be shown someone who "looks like the kind of guy who'd do that" to be convinced.

To me, the most fearsome implication lies in the notion that the entertainment industry and the media are vertically integrated to the extent that this template is being disseminated in films, television, and news stories simultaneously. It is being fed out and reinforced by every medium.

Since the same parent companies own these industries, this could be easily accomplished.

If intentional, what possible purpose could this serve?

Originally posted by Eidolon23
Well, you know, that is where I instantly went with it. Setting up a template for the public to resonate with. Not to induce identification with mass killers, but to become conditioned to respond uniformly to them, maybe.

Increased numbers of disaffected sorts who suddenly have a powerfully reinforced template to work with could be an unfortunate by-product.

I've had a hard time making sense of the "whys," until I read that. Say it was something that came out of, oh let's just hypothetically say Tavistock for example, then being "conditioned to respond uniformly" would seem to make sense. Instant public acceptance, no questions asked.

Tres cool avatar, btw.

Give them an identity they recognize so that they can be found.

reply to post by Aeons


Way to bring Occam's Scythe.

Of course. Homogenize them, and draw them out. Good to see you back in action, lady.

Originally posted by The GUT
I've had a hard time making sense of the "whys," until I read that. Say it was something that came out of, oh let's just hypothetically say Tavistock for example, then being "conditioned to respond uniformly" would seem to make sense. Instant public acceptance, no questions asked.

And like most feats of this kind of engineering, there is a certain amount of either shortsightedness or callous disregard for unintended consequences. Seeking to isolate and contain a certain social pathogen, they just end up loading nutrient into the agar, so to speak.

reply to post by Eidolon23


Ridiculous.

Entirely different head shape, entirely different eye brows, different nose, totally different chin, 100% entirely different hair, totally different width of neck. The only remote similarity is that smirk on the mouth, the mouths are somewhat similar..but all the rest is different. So how can this be a composite?

reply to post by flexy123


I encourage you to view that video in the OP, as well as the evidence presented on lonegurkha's thread. Like many members who hung out on that thread; I was convinced of it's having been digitally manipulated, and therefore presented it as a given in the OP. Whether or not it is a composite is not the issue being discussed here.

There are several other threads open that address this issue, please feel free to express your opinion on that topic where it is the focus of discussion.

For expediency's sake, this is the last time I will reply to comments not related to the thread's topic: why is the public being groomed to expect a mass killer to look a particular way?

reply to post by Eidolon23


or perhaps how to do i put this
provide an image of what a bloodthirsty psychopathic mass murderer
is "supposed" to look like...




as opposed to what they really look like:







be back in a while with more on the symbol aspects
oh,
and F&S

excellent post

reply to post by DerepentLEstranger


Ooooooo. You just gave me an idea.

Hold on.

Let's say we, as a people, as a culture feel a tremendous deal of guilt and anxiety about the casualties we are indirectly responsible for when our country is at war. I'm sure it's immense, and if not given a target erupts into anti-war demonstration.

You know what a really effective way to lance that guilt might be? Give us a scapegoat. Give us a target we can wipe the blood onto from off our own hands.

Oh God.

reply to post by Eidolon23


You wouldn't even need to orchestrate anything, you'd just need to be quick enough to take advantage of an event, and mold the public perception of it. Maybe:

More vertical integration: draw out the potential threats, provide a valve for our collective guilt, reinforce a platform for anti-gun legislation, create a climate of perpetual insecurity, distract from the real trouble brewing in Syria... none of these things are mutually exclusive.

Multiple agendas fulfilled in a single act, when well spun.

reply to post by Eidolon23


YUP.

might there not be some hidden tome, something like
Jungs Red_Book en.wikipedia.org... , or the Bene Gesserit's Panoplia Prophetica
en.wikipedia.org...

With the Lady Jessica and Arrakis, the Bene Gesserit system of sowing implant-legends through the Missionaria Protectiva came to its full fruition. The wisdom of seeding the known universe with a prophecy pattern for the protection of B.G. personnel has long been appreciated, but never have we seen a condition-ut-extremis with more ideal mating of person and preparation. The prophetic legends had taken on Arrakis even to the extent of adopted labels (including Reverend Mother, canto and respondu, and most of the Shari-a panoplia propheticus). And it is generally accepted now that the Lady Jessica's latent abilities were grossly underestimated.
—from Analysis: The Arrakeen Crisis by the Princess Irulan [Private circulation: B.G. file number AR-81088587][2]

The Bene Gesserit practice "religious engineering" through a faction called the Missionaria Protectiva, which spreads "infectious superstitions on primitive worlds, thus opening those regions to exploitation by the Bene Gesserit."[13] Collectively known as Panoplia Prophetica, these myths, prophecies, and superstitions provide the opportunity for a Bene Gesserit to later cast herself as a guide, protector, or some other figure in fulfillment of a prophecy in order to manipulate the religious subjects for protection or other purposes. These myths also exploit religion as a powerful force in human society; by controlling the particulars of religion, the Bene Gesserit have a manipulative lever on society in general. The Bene Gesserit also employ the Missionaria Protectiva to prepare the Empire for its Kwisatz Haderach.

In Dune, Jessica and Paul take refuge among the Fremen after the attack on House Atreides. With his mother's guidance, Paul is able to make use of the planted myths by claiming to be the "Mahdi", a messianic figure from legendary material planted among the Fremen by the Missionaria Protectiva. That the Mahdi legend has been planted on Dune indicates to Jessica that conditions on Dune are truly awful, since this legend is reserved for only the harshest environments where a Bene Gesserit would need the maximum advantage over surrounding influences. Paul's meteoric rise to power is greatly facilitated by his association with the Mahdi legend. Later in Heretics of Dune, the Bene Gesserit plan to use Reverend Mother Sheeana's ability to control the great sandworms to build her into a religious figure around whom they can fashion a mass devoted following, uniting many factions in the universe under the Bene Gesserit and against the forces of the Scattering.

perhaps you've seen the hand of an editor at work, hmmm?

as for symbols well...

there is a form of meditation known as
Astral projection/Clairvoyance by means of the Tattwa(tattva) symbols which i briefly detail here www.abovetopsecret.com...

it can be used after some practice
[and proper precautions taken in some cases]
with any symbol, corporate logos and definitely tarot cards, runes etc.

you use some pretty visual metaphors
if you're good at visualization this should make a nice addition to your "bag of tricks"

alas, before my fall i had even jumped into comic books in a couple of lucid dreams...
still you're the second poster today [with your tarot reference] who's reminded me how good i used to be with the cards, runes, and pendulum. so i'll leave you for now to dig them out of a box i have somewhere in the back of the house.

Originally posted by Eidolon23

edit on 26-7-2012 by Eidolon23 because: off-topic

tsssk [youve deleted your post]

more synchromystic especially if you haven't followed the link to my post
as that thread is about sungazing in general

in india people will throw away "perfectly good" food
if they see someone stare at it for too long
as it now lacks prana through visual vampirism
similar for blood which is often conflated with the soul in some cultures
the mosaic prohibition against eating your meat bloody being an example