Is curiosity and the desire to understand mass murderers a symptom of the modern media circus? This view might also suggest that the shooter’s motives and identity are irrelevant in light of the trauma they caused. But the fact is that we still do not know what makes someone carry out a mass attack. This view seems to indicate a belief that such lone mass shooters crave publicity for suicidal stunts that they are cruel and indifferent narcissists. 3 But media attention to the increasing number of lone shooter mass murderers has led many observers to believe that the media itself enables copy-cats and leads to more violence by making them famous media stars. As Rosa Eberly noted, his name appears in numerous films, from made-for-tv movies to indie classic, Slacker, to Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. He was the Marine and Eagle Scout who turned into a mass murderer. In the last decades of the 20th century, ironic references to Whitman were the norm. What he said in deep intimate conversations changed from person to person. He bit his nails to the quick and perspired ‘rings of sweat on the coolest days.’ He was a meticulous perfectionist…. He enjoyed civic work, loved his wife, admired his professors and seemed to have no enemies.īut he was also a violent man. ![]() He spoke ill of no one – except, occasionally, his father – and he tried to speak well of many people. He was pleasant to be around and interesting to talk with. He was big, strong, handsome, neat, hardworking. 1 Life Magazine also presented Whitman from two sides. Coleman de Chenar, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Whitman, said, the shooter was “an anti-social psychopath, and that’s the worst kind.” He could be be social and friendly and make a good impression, but he concealed deep hostilities. On August 2, 1966, The Austin American headlined its front page attempt to construct his biography: “ ’Everyone’ Loved Him.” Until, that is, he “snapped.”Īs Dr. How could he? Who was he? Governor John Connally convened a special commission, which released a report just 5 weeks later, to try to answer those questions.Īt the time, and even in the days after the tragic shooting, Whitman was described in glowing terms. In the early stages, horror and incomprehension prevailed. This is a historical shift from the first months and even decades after the shooting, when Charles Whitman was the main focus of attention. In Tower, Keith Maitland’s moving 2016 film about the heroism of the victims and survivors, Whitman’s face is never seen. ![]() He was a “monster,” a “ madman,” a murderer and nothing more. Some of his victims and some of the witnesses to his killing rampage don’t even want to say his name.
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