January 13, 2013 6:02 AM

Today's nominee for "Headline of the Year"

A James Holmes Admirer Opens Up About Her Crush: ‘He’s Not an Animal’

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

(apologies to Keith Olbermann)

Misty Benjamin

[A]s a riveted courtroom heard grisly new details about Aurora, Colo., shooter James Holmes’s July rampage—this time that he scoped out the movie theater in advance, snapping photos along the way—there was one woman, her hair dyed red in solidarity, who was firmly on the gunman’s side…. “It seems crazy, but I’m not crazy,” Misty Benjamin, 30, says of her hair. “I wanted something that if he saw me he knew it would be me—a supporter.” An Aurora resident who lives just four miles from the apartment Holmes set up as an explosive booby trap on the day of the massacre, Benjamin has been watching the trial from an overflow courtroom at the Arapahoe County courthouse.

Today’s “WTF??” moment is brought to you by the proud patriots of the National Rifle Association. The NRA: Because the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a whole buncha good guys with guns firing at anything that moves.

I won’t argue with Misty Benjamin’s contention that James Holmes is a human being in need of a supporter. I suppose we could all use a friend. Still, when you’re openly supporting- and arguably in love with- a murderer responsible for one of the worst massacres in modern American history…well, doesn’t that seem a wee bit inappropriate?

Not only did Holmes kill 12 and injure at least 53 in a premeditated shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, CO, he also booby-trapped his apartment in the hope of distracting police so he could kill even more people. The evidence is overwhelming and there’s little doubt Holmes is guilty. That Ms. Benjamin could choose to express her support in the way she has is not only monstrous, but it pours salt into the wounds of those who lost someone that horrible night.

I won’t profess to understand Ms. Benjamin’s motivations, and I was even prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt until I came across this gem:

Benjamin admits that she keeps photos of Holmes in her wallet and on her bedroom wall. “When I get upset, I look at his picture and I calm down.”

Yep, in order to calm herself down, she looks at a photo of a mass murderer. Stay classy….

So who’s the monster now?

Written in Misty’s yellow notebook, which she carries to court each day: “We are not supposed to go through life alone, so why should James go through his trial alone? James is not alone, he has me.” On her wrist she wears a pink plastic bracelet with the word “besties.” Her best friend from Michigan, whom she met on the Facebook page “James Holmes is Innocent,” wears a matching bracelet….

Benjamin is just one of a macabre group of Holmes supporters who have found their way to the courthouse to voice their solidarity with the man accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 others at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

But don’t mistake her for a “Holmie,” she says. That’s the name generally given to Holmes’s online groupies, a following that, since July, has banded together to send letters to Holmes in jail, wear plaid shirts, drink Slurpees (Holmes made reference in an earlier video that he wanted to own a Slurpee machine after senior year), and eat at Subway, the sandwich shop where Holmes ate regularly when he was a student at the university.

“I pretended to be a Holmie in the past,” Benjamin admits as she takes a small bite of her egg-salad sandwich at a Starbucks a few miles from the courthouse. “On a couple of days I wore plaid and ate at Subway.” But then, even in the safe haven of the Internet, she says she became disillusioned with what others thought of her.

Really? You visibly act out in support of a man responsible for visiting death and unimaginable suffering on a small town…and you’re disillusioned by what others think of you?

I’m not surprised that the Internet is host to a community that openly supports James Holmes. Some speak of his innocence and advocate for an attempt to break him out of jail. Some are convinced that the government is framing Holmes in an effort to deflect attention from…well, who knows what? When you associate yourself with people like that, you can’t claim to be surprised when people question your humanity.

Benjamin admits to being physically attracted to Holmes, which only adds to the creep factor. She talks about what Holmes’ actions prior to the massacre as a “cry for help,” but it would she lacks the self-awareness to understand that her feelings and actions are indicative of someone who’s in need of some serious help. No matter how much Benjamin tries to distance herself from Holmes’ actions, her devotion to Holmes’ is not merely disturbing; it borders on monstrous. What she seems willing to gloss over are the victims and their families and loved ones. James Holmes is responsible for an unimaginable amount of pain and suffering; that someone would openly support and express her admiration for him is as unconscionable as it is inhuman.

I can only hope that Ms. Benjamin will be able to live with herself once she realizes (if she ever does) how monstrous and hurtful her behavior is.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on January 13, 2013 6:02 AM.

Ya gotta have chart: The NRA's shrinking influence and relevance was the previous entry in this blog.

Another great moment in imaginary friendship with invisible cloud people is the next entry in this blog.

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