Thank you for the article. 

You ask, What do you think? 

What I think is that unfortunately, sadly, even tragically, there is a very disturbing dark side that seems to be in play even as I write this. 

Here is a LifeSiteNews article that asks a very significant question:

Should We fear Imitation of the Joker?

http://www.lifesitenews.com/home/print_article/news/35472/

We should (instead) start treating mental illness the same as any other form of illness. Maybe if we had (decades ago), the Aurora tragedy might never have happened (and so many others).... and a brilliant mind might have been saved to contribute who knows what to the world?

I don't like fear mongering to promote hidden agenda (http://www.lifesitenews.com/message).

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. It was a little slow starting, and I loved the ending. I even teared up twice...lol.

(Now I know the last sentence is gonna cost me.)

I fully intend to read the book when it............oh crap.........I think I have this backwards.  

Yes, this is the crux of the matter.  Meanwhile, mental illness isn't even on the radar of some politicos; they reacted calling for gun control!

Should we fear imitation of the Joker was the question posed. 

"Fear Mongering"? "Hidden agenda"? Call it what you will, but I would argue LifeSiteNews did well calling these intense, morally, and psychologically chaotic movies socially unhealthy and dangerous.

Even with only a few of the details, it seems pretty clear that the deranged killer, James Holmes, was imitating the Joker.

Truly a very good movie; in fact he series as a whole was well done.  The ending though was pretty much what was expected.

The people in the theater clapped at the ending. . .

And if the answer is "Yes"?  Or "No"?

Today we mourn the death of 12 people and many hurt.....It's not a matter of "If".

I totally agree with the appraisal of the LifeSiteNews article about the two Batman movies. W've got a problem. Why am I not suprised? 

A friend told me that Warner Bros. pulled a trailer actually involving a blood bath in a theatre--it's the next big film, "Gangster Squad". It features a scene where mobsters go backstage and open fire through the screen at the audience. Automatic gunfire rips through the screen as horrified movie goers rush for exits and the cops try to stop the mayhem. It's only entertainment folks. It's just a movie.

Problem one: You see the movie (or a movie) as a cause. I do not.

I maintain that ill people murder people, not movies. Movies do not cause mental illness, nor do they cure it.

It is also clear that the perpetrator had been planning this for months, at least. Perhaps if we dedicated more means and effort to finding and healing the ill, this terrible event might not have happened.

I'd also like to suggest we return to the topic of the OP, which was not whether we fear The Joker or not.

I for one look forward to seeing the movie and hope no one spoils it with revealing the ending.

People with mental illness should be treated like any other and not shunned or ostracized. They also should not be allowed to  sequester themselves from the real world while playing on their computers and reading/watching dark and often violent material. I read something years ago when I first started playing WoW that an amazing number of MMORPG players have some form of mental illness, the least of which was chronic depression. Nobody has asked to ban online and violent video games every time someone who has been playing them shoots people up. Although there are court actions all the time to restrict sales to anyone under 18. Funny that the Army uses them to train troops to pull the trigger.

As for hidden agenda, I really wish that people would research what they read. Nearly all my friends say it is gospel if they read or hear it on the big five - ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN. Like one description a friend read that stated the shooter's weapon had loaded 100 rounds and could fire non-stop. I was in close, sometimes it seemed intimate, contact with an M16 for several years. There was no way I could shoot 100 rounds at ounce. 30 maybe, tape two 30s together and you have 60 - but it still takes time to switch. 100 rounds non-stop is not likely unless someone had been changing magazines for years and had it down to a fine art. But to report he had some type of magic AR15 with 100 rounds already loaded (how's that for anti-gun fuel?) Like I said, people should be trained to check stories - especially those that create hysteria (or are posted to remove concern when concern should be maintained)

Back to the movie. I understand that the special effects and story line is excellent. I wasn't going to go because the adrenaline produced by movies/TV like that physically hurts, but the reviews make it tempting.

I wonder, were the arsenal of guns he used legal or illegal?  

Among the filthiest bullshit I have ever seen.  Movies, books, games and television don't cause violence, they just help decorate it.  People commit violence for much deeper and personal reasons that that.  I love how these ultra conservative bullshitters can talk about the evils of these movies, books, and games and ignore the huge elephant in the room called the Bible.  Ever read it?  I have, and I tell you, you won't find a more violent media.  

I work in a state mental hospital.  I worked with the most violent patients we have.  Know how many thought they were a famous character from a movie?  Just one did that.  Know how many thought they were a religious figure?  Dozens.  

But I don't believe these things make anyone violent, they simply add decorative details to violence.  People are always looking for the easy answer.  There isn't one.  

It has been reported that the guns/weapons were all obtained legally.  Oh my.......

  Although I would modify it slightly to say, "Some people..."

We are all individually responsible for our own behavior.  No one ever forced anybody to go to any movie, although I was forced to read Catcher in the Rye and The Stranger.  Because I'm not crazy (YMMV), that only helped me better understand craziness.

There is no answer to craziness in censorship or proscribing behaviors, or in restricting options open to non-crazy law-abiding citizens which will have no effect on the evil or crazy anyway.  Last I checked, murder was already illegal in Colorado.  There can only be (we hope) justice.

You completely missed the point of the question.