If James Holmes has Asperger's, the rest of us are DOOMED.

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There's now a documentary about the Colorado incidents I've just noticed...
There's a topic on this on Television, Film and Video for those who are interested... which was done by Yours Truly.

Schizophrenic people and other delusional people don't have to take medication if they don't want to, for one thing, which is too bad for those who need medication for safety purposes.

Assassin-type mass murders are usually carried out by regular neurotypical White men in their late 20s who have had a series of life disappointments. It just doesn't seem that way right now because we've had some big news breakers lately with delusional guys.

Simon Baron-Cohen wrote a book called The Science of Evil (if I'm remembering correctly) about what makes people able to do terrible things. He contrasted autistic people with other types of people who lack empathy in order to determine the true significance of empathy. One of the things he found was that people on the spectrum replace empathy with sympathy, which functions in almost the same way, socially. So generally, having either empathy OR sympathy makes you a good person, but if you don't have either you are more likely to have a disorder that makes you a bad person.

Here's another way to look at it:

Empathy: I can't look at a person or animal who is hurt because it makes me feel the same hurt.
Sympathy: I don't like looking at a person or animal who is hurt because I don't want them to be hurt.
Psychopath Noncriminal: I feel nothing when I see people or animals hurt.
Psychopath Criminal: I like seeing people and/or animals hurt.

Before I read this book I had overestimated the function of empathy. But really you don't have to be able to feel what someone else is feeling or "connect" with them in order to want them to be treated well.

Isn't empathy strictly the recognition of how others are feeling? When did the definition change to recognizing those feelings and being affected by it? Empathy and sympathy seem to be almost the same in the above example.

Taking a stab in the dark as an amateur, I'd think that his failure in the oral exam was the stresser that sent his already fragile psyche over the edge.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I'd say that this event did play a role here but he began purchasing weapons and Ammo in May.

As of a few days ago there is no longer doom.... Because we learned that if you move to Norway you only get a month or two in prison for every person you kill.

So if you had AS and did it, they would probably feel bad for you and give you full credit for time served. Now let's get over there and start the massacre!!

Here is an extensive article on James Holmes revealing new information about his mental state, including this: