Buffy the Vampire Slayer, oh, and also: What the Fuck, People? An eloquent paean to the sanctity of life.

Joss Whedon, giant manbaby and hit or miss genius behind such great shows as Firefly, Doctor Horrible’s Sing a Long Blog, about 65% of Buffy the Vampire Slayer… and some, uh…other not as great things.

How did you, of all people, fail at acting like an emotionless, mindwiped robot thing? You had it ACED as Faith. Just sayin’.

One of the good things was an episode of Buffy from Season 3 called “Earshot, and another good one was the two part episode from Season 4, "Graduation Day". Though Jonathon was criminally misused in Season 6 of Buffy. (Ugh. The Troika. Worst. Villains. Ever. Adam was the only villain I thought sucked more at his job.) "Earshot" brought Jonathon into full focus, and made you maybe feel a little guilty for not really 'seeing' him before. Let's just say that it looks like he is going to do a Charles Whitman, when he is actually commiting suicide. The Columbine High School massacre occurred one week before 'Earshot' was originally scheduled to air. The WB (sensibly) preempted it with, though they did so with a rerun of "Bad Girls". The second part of "The Graduation" was also delayed due to 'concern over images of violence' All sensible decisions. What is odd is the timing…Joss is a really good writer, and schemer of plots in general. It wasn’t exactly a unique idea, but it was unfortunately timely. Almost prescient. What really sucks about it all now is how common this has become.

I’m trying not to read too much about Aurora. Honestly, the headline of the Onion today pretty much sums it up:

Sadly, Nation Knows Exactly How Colorado Shooting's Aftermath Will Play Out

JULY 20, 2012 | ISSUE 48•29

http://www.theonion.com/articles/sadly-nation-knows-exactly-how-colorado-shootings,28857/

They nailed it, even down to the inevitable wrath-invoking statement by some shrill propagandist or another. Yeah, we are WAY too familiar with this. But let’s be clear about one thing. Any conversation about this that doesn’t begin with putting aside our political bullshit, and end with a clear goal to re-funding and prioritizing mental health in this country is simply dishonest.

I’m not going to say that there isn’t a valid time and place to have a conversation about firearms. There is. But as a great guy I know presciently said, “You know those guns were legally purchased, so it kind of takes that off the table.” They likely were. The shooter is an intelligent person. . If the fragmented, chaotic, horrible reports can be believed, he had a degree in neuroscience.  You don’t just crap out a degree in neuroscience with one hand in the funyuns and the other on the tv remote. Or your junk So he would have been more than smart enough to make this event a bomb...or mustard gas...the method doesn't matter right now. The madness does.

What's important is…there are more than 12 dead and 59 wounded. Every person in the theater was wounded as well. Deeply. The first responders as well.

 CLACKITY CLACK! HERE COMES A GREAT ONE!-My Mind

Every person at that scene is hurt forever by this. A single frame of time…a quick reel on the old mind projector of a few seconds of hell. There are moments you can never unsee. They float up at you, unbidden. Mine is a pair of gloved hands sliding over my son’s chest, coaxing him back to life. Every wounded and dead person is surrounded by a net of other people, who right now are sobbing for them. Worrying for them. Waiting tensely in cramped rooms...giving blood…hoping…praying. In a real sense, it is the connected world that Buddhists speak of. Or the Force, if you swing that way. Or both, if you can unlearn the prequel movies.

“ It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together."

But seriously, we have to un-fuck our methods of treating mental illness. All of those people are mentally injured right now. We have to separate prison and mental health facilities, and set clear goals for each. But more than anything, we need to re-think our priorities on the subject of mental health, and destigmatize it. Even our military vets are discouraged by a culture of shame attached to mental health, and our recent wars have been some of the worst in PTSD rates and suicide.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/brain-and-behavior/articles/2011/12/29/even-today-the-stigma-of-mental-illness-wont-fade

This is as good a time as any to put our swords and cynicism aside, stop shitting on each other for political or religious reasons, and stand together as Americans, god damn it. How 'bout from here out, we all stop saying what sucks about the other guy, and just offer some solutions? Start with mental health. Let's talk about guns when everyone isn't so upset, k?