The Colorado Shooting and the Value of "Judgmentalism"

The pathology of allowing "nonjudgmentalism" and "nondiscrimination" to become a ruling principle has  consequences. One example was the deliberate overlooking, by his military superiors and the FBI, of Major Nadil Hasan's openly expressed extremist Islamic beliefs.  Hasan, of course, went on to slaughter 13 people at Forth Hood, Texas. In the wake of the Aurora, Colorado massacre Richard Fernandez, writing  at the Belmont Club, observes that the government, which gave the shooter James Holmes a grant, and the Colorado University, where he studied, treated him just like any other student. But one guy didn't.


"The only person who was free to act on his gut instinct was the gun-club owner. He was creeped out by Holmes’ behavior and instructed his employees not to let him join the club.

The owner of a gun range told the AP that Holmes applied to join the club last month but never became a member because of his behaviour and a “bizarre” message on his voice mail.

He emailed an application to join the Lead Valley Range in Byers on June 25 in which he said he was not a user of illegal drugs or a convicted felon, said owner Glenn Rotkovich. When Mr Rotkovich called to invite him to a mandatory orientation the following week, he said he heard a message on Holmes’ voice mail that was “bizarre – guttural, freakish at best.”

He left two other messages but eventually told his staff to watch out for Holmes at the July 1 orientation and not to accept him into the club, Mr Rotkovich said.

Some people might call this discriminatory behavior."

And they would be correct. Mr. Fernandez continues:

 "After all, what reason did he have for refusing admission to a fine upstanding young man with no drug or criminal record, a member in good standing of a medical institution and the recipient of a prestigious Federal Grant, other than the fact that he gave off bad vibes?"

Mr. Rotkovich was judgmental. He was discriminatory. He used common sense.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney