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As soon as I found out about the Aurora, CO shootings, I began dreading the celebrity-level scrutiny of the gunman's life. I mean, I have as much curiosity as anyone about what possesses a person to do such a thing, but is it really necessary to turn the news coverage of the incident into an episode of "This is your life, Mr. Shooter!" Personally, I don't think photos of the suspect should be published at all. (See related cartoon from the Virginia Tech massacre, "The School Shooter PR Agency"; Holmes clearly falls under the "snapped nerd" category.) The right very badly wants to turn this into a matter of individual personality, but that misses the, uh, assault elephant in the room.

