Movie Madness! Teen Inspired to kill Mother, Sister!!!

                Jake Evans, a seventeen year old teenager in Texas, called 911 after he shot and killed both his mother and his fifteen year old sister last October. According to the four page confession he wrote for the police after the slaying, he was inspired to kill after watching the Rob Zombie’s “Halloween,” in which a twelve year old boy kills his stepfather, sister, and her boyfriend. The reason the movie inspired him so was because he empathized with the killer’s complete lack of empathy, amazed at how comfortable the young fictional murderer was during the killings and the absence of remorse he had after, relating it to the way he thought he would feel after killing people. Imagine that... empathy for a lack of empathy (#irony). The 2007 film was criticized for its sympathetic portrayal of the killer, and rightly so, seeing as how it led to this…

                Evans was extremely forthcoming about every little detail that happened (I mean, he turned himself in for Christ’s sake!) and admitted to watching the film three times in the week of the incident. He also claimed to have put it back in the case and threw it away so that no one would think that it was influencing him at all. He had contemplated killing them with a knife (like the killer in the film) but decided instead for a .22 revolver so that it wouldn’t cause them as much pain. Evidently, his plans did not achieve fruition because he intended to kill his other two sisters, who weren’t at home at the time, as well as his grandparents.

                Now, I really don’t want to go into the details of how he went about killing his mom and sister (if you are curious, I recommend that you check out the articles below and watch the news clip), but essentially the incident caused him to become distraught and he was even yelling apologies as he “finished off” his sister. In the confession, he worried about how he knew the incident, apparently the first violent thing he’s ever done in his life, is going to haunt him forever.

                He claimed that he wasn’t even angry at his mom or sister and that the whole incident just “kind of happened.” However, in both the 911 call and the confession he wrote, an underlying motive could have been his “disappointment” with humanity. He was frustrated with how qualities like bullying and racism were becoming more and more common, how mistreating others is becoming a “hobby,” and how he feared his family was turning into those people he despised. He had argued with his sister for making racist comments not too long before the incident, who apparently frequently made racist comments as well as mocking homeless people.

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                Now I have two reasons for delving deeper into why Jake Evans did what he did. For one, I am a very empathetic person and was a little disappointed at how it took me three news articles to find his side of the story (not that I’m taking his side or anything, I just wanted to hear both sides of this macabre tale). But my second (and more pertinent to this assignment) reasoning for it is because I wanted to find what the root cause of all of this was.

                Initially, I was thinking that gun control was the issue, but it’s not. The gun in question was in fact stolen from Jake’s grandfather and was only done so because he didn’t want to use a knife. Then I got to thinking that the problem was with people with mental issues not being treated accordingly and “crazies” needing to be institutionalized, but it wasn’t. Jake Evans, as twisted as he may seem, had no outstanding mental or behavioral problems. The only thing that may cause some people alarm (disregarding the fact he killed his mom and sis of course) is his lack of empathy, but his lack or empathy, although it may have played some role in what happened, is not the reason why he did what he did. So I started thinking that maybe the cruelty and mistreatment humanity inflicts upon itself was to blame, after all that was the reason Jake gave for killing them, but it’s not, at least not entirely. He claimed that his family was beginning to turn into the type of people he hates and despises, and honestly? I find those people despicable as well. But, if we are to assume that that is the reason that pushed him to the edge, then what pushed him over it? What was that final factor that rose above all else and motivated this seventeen year old to kill those closest to him?

                Well, if you can’t tell by my title of this ridiculously long post (my apologies), I believe that the real culprit behind this abhorrent tragedy is the media, the all-pervasive mass media that one could easily claim controls our very existence. A film about a teenager killing his family influenced… guess what, a teenager into killing his family!! A teenager who had never before given anyone a lick of concern that he would ever hurt, much less kill, anyone else. Who says the media can’t kill?

                Have you ever been sucked into the media? I know that I sure as hell have been! Do you want me to quote the countless of movies, songs, and TV shows I have spent countless hours of my life listening to/watching to prove it? I almost flipped a table or two when I found out my favorite TV series was cancelled! I treated the midnight premiere of The Hobbit like a religious event! And don’t even ask me how many times I had to listen to a-certain-song-whose-name-I-don’t-feel-I-am-at-the-liberty-to-disclose before I had it memorized like my last name!

                Man, the media’s made me its… plaything, hasn’t it? But I know for certain that I am not alone. In the culture of today, the media has almost as much influence on how we act as familial values do, maybe more so. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing; after all, many of society’s values (I’m talking about the good ones, of course) are communicated via the media. But I don’t need to tell you that there are plenty of not so good things that the media can spread to us. Now I’m not saying that in order to “cure” society of things like the Jake Evans incident we have to ban or limit the media. Of course not; is that even possible? But I think that in order for things like that to never happen again, society as a whole needs to take a good, long look at how beliefs and values are passed down the generations. What takes priority, family tradition or the media? Should it be through familial upbringing, or through malicious, mindless media madness?

                So tell me, has the media made you its… plaything too?



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Here’s the recent news article I found.

And here are two other news sources you should take a look at (if you feel like wasting any more time with this post. Really, don’t you have better things to be doing?)

Supplementary Article 1

Supplementary Article 2 

And here’s a news clip of the incident:



Moral Fiber: Essential for a Healthy Colon (and Heart)

Last Wednesday, a Houston waiter at Laurenzo’s Prime Rib showed great bravery and moral character after he refused to serve a group of regular customers after they insulted a special needs child.

Milo Castillo, a five year old child with Down’s syndrome, has been a regular patron of the restaurant for most of his life. This little child has become quite the superstar among the staff over the years and is especially popular with the waiters. Since the family hadn’t been to the restraint for a few weeks, Milo was busy loudly recounting his recent birthday to, well, to anyone who would listen.

Waiter Michael Garcia was in charge of the Castillo’s and another group of customer’s tables, which were located just across from each other. About ten minutes in to what was appearing to be just another regular dinner service, the family across from the Castillos got up and switched to a table far, far away.

Initially, Garcia thought nothing of the action; however, soon their motives became clear to him. He overheard one of the customers, most likely the father, state that “special needs children need to be ‘special’ somewhere else.” Shocked that anyone would say that in front of his own kids, Garcia briefly considered the safely of his job before declaring to the group that he could no longer continue to serve them. After threatening to leave, the rude family left the restaurant (but not before they could give the Castillos some icy stares on their way out).

Thankfully, Garcia did NOT lose his job for “standing up for others who can’t stand up for themselves,” and was in fact given much praise and support from other customers, staff members, and the Laurenzo’s, who own the restaurant, for his noble deed. The Castillos were unaware of what had taken place and only much later were they informed by someone else how Garcia had stood up for Milo. Kim, Milo’s mother, was extremely impressed and grateful towards Garcia, glad “that somebody would stand up for another human being.”

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I think this story has extra special significance, being it so close to MLK Day. Michael Garcia is truly living Dr. King’s great dream, a dream we all ought to share, a dream where social discrimination and prejudices no longer exists. It’s just a little sad that not everyone believes in this dream too, and for now, his dream will remain unrealized.

This story is also significant to me personally. I have an aunt who has Down’s and she is one of my favorite people in the world. Since my family is not only very close but also very religious, whenever we all are together, we go to mass together. And that means that we all have to listen to her sing. Her singing is like the sound of a dying sheep with a red hot poker being shoved up its buttocks, only worse. Much worse. But in a way, it’s the most beautiful sound of all, because it is the sound of pure innocence and of pure love of God. She is the most holy person I know and she doesn’t even know it!!

Inevitably, there are people who get mad or upset whenever she sings, and I have grown accustomed to the stares, the rude comments, and the people desperately trying to flee to the opposite side of the Church.  And the thing is, I could almost understand it and condone it if IT WASN’T HAPPENING IN A FREAKING CHURCH for goodness’s sake.

As for the incident in Houston, I could almost understand it if it was all done because some five year old child was being loud about his birthday. I mean, that would bug the hell outta anyone! But it wasn’t. The complaints were made because some child had a mental condition and ought to be put somewhere else. And that is totally unacceptable.

And do you know the worst part? I guarantee that there are people at Prep who would have made similar degrading comments too, based solely on that other person being “different,” in any sense of the word.

Do you know how I know? BECAUSE IT’S ALREADY HAPPENED. Unless you would like to tell the mentally challenged customer at Buffalo Wild Wing’s who was mocked past his breaking point by Prep students just last December that it was “just a joke” or “just a little tease.”

Are we really all that different? Because it doesn’t look like we are.

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Take a look at the original news article here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/waiter-refuses-serve-customers-insulted-special-needs-child-article-1.1243239

And take a look at this news report of the incident:

#sippin'_a_coke_and_havin'_a_good_time

            Hi, I’m Paul. I live with my parents and an older brother in Papillion out in the country, a thirty minute drive from Prep. I am also a night person and feel most comfortable and most myself in the evenings. Because I like to stay up late and because I have to wake up early to get to school on time, I never get enough sleep and am ALWAYS tired. I love rainy weather and especially love thunderstorms and storm season. I enjoy eating and cooking with a passion (eating a bit more passionately than cooking, hehe). My favorite foods are pozole, medium-rare to rare steak, falafel, gulab jamun, pecan pie, avocado salsa, mango lassis, my mom’s enchiladas, sopa (which means something completely different in my family), kadhai gosht, and pretty much anything that’s made with lamb. Things that pique my interest include reading a good book somewhere quiet and comfy, astronomy, and languages. I am currently take an online Arabic class (because Prep doesn’t offer it) and might be doing a Russian Rosetta Stone with my brother (because he is planning on applying to be an astronaut). I appreciate all types of music and have a catholic taste in the music I listen to. Also, as a musician, I play the saxophone and the tuba (and have a decent singing voice, if I say so myself). I have a widowed salamander, a homicidal bird, three cats (one of which is evil came from inside our car), and a dog. I like to wear pajama pants all the time and am a chronic procrastinator (not that the two are at all related). Family is extremely important to me and I always look forward to spending time with them during the holidays. Sloths are my favorite animals and blues and grays are my favorite colors.

And that is essentially everything you will ever need to know about me.