The comparison to Zimmerman beyond shooting someone is wrong. It appears that this guy tried to alert someone that the young father was texting AFTER he asked him to stop. I can imagine how that may have pissed off the young father. That is what likely escalated a minor incident. I don't know about anyone else but I'm not trying to prove how strong or tough I am in a fight with a 70+ year old man.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

i am missing the boat on the argument that the texter is in any way responsible. the shooter is 100% to blame. based on the limited eyewitness accounts i have seen to this point the texter did nothing more than argue and throw popcorn at the guy. neither of these actions are any percent to blame for a deadly reaction. even if the guy screamed "fuck you old man" and whipped the popcorn in his face, the shooter is 100% responsible for not being able to control himself and over-reacting with deadly force. truth is nobody who wasnt in the theater at that time knows exactly what was said and who provoked who, but short of the texter pulling out a gun first and putting it in the old mans face, he bears no responsibility for what happened. however, if he did mouth off to the shooter and instigate an argument and fire his popcorn in his face or whatever, he is 100% responsible for being an asshole.

This is why I said I needed more information. It's possible there could have been a threat of physical violence prior to throwing the popcorn. Depending on the size of the guy that may have made the older guy fearful of bodily harm. Considering he was a former cop he should have shown more restraint though.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I can't see any scenario where the old guy would be justified in shooting this man. Even if there was a threat of physical violence it's not as if the other guy had a gun or a knife. If it were just a threat of a fist fight then that is a very unfortunate overreaction.

Pretty sure a 70 yr old man could deem the threat of a fistfight especially with a guy 30 years younger than him as a potentially life and death situation. Unless that 70 yr old man was Ditka of course

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

In a crowded movie theater? Where people could easily separate the two? This just appears to be a psychotic old man overreacting in a huge way.

People get killed with just one punch being thrown all the time. Id imagine at advanced ages that likelihood would increase.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Throwing something at them is a felony assault. Dead guy would not have been this combative I think if you replace the old man with someone else.

As I said if people who had the authority and responsibilty stepped in this would not have happened. Crowded theater then why did they just sit there while all this yelling and stuff going on?

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

If I'm in the theater I'm not saying anything, chas.

I avoided 2 issues last week, people are crazy and or stupid.

Phones are stupid. We don't pay enough attention to those around us.

Yeah it is sad the decent people can not expect people to be civil in public. See if I was you I would have went to the staff to get them involved. I was on a bus one time and these two ghetto chicks where giving the driver a really hrd time. I finally had enough and told them to pipe down. They then started on me,no one is going to out crazy me out here in the country. I out ghettoed them to where they shut up.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

I'd sit there wide eyed and petrified. Then I'd tell my kids don't be like them.

Imagine if this was 25 years ago and the cop was at the drive-in.
If some jerk had to leave early to get his kid, he would have drove by and distracted the shit out of the "cop".
Only logical choice - destroy the rude guys car with a bazooka.



Does anybody actually think that JORR believes these things? A few times a year, he takes stances that are clearly not logical, and will defend them no matter what. It's what he does. The kids call it trolling. We all do it in certain ways now and then.

Baseball:Football
Caffeine:Drugs
Texting in a theater:Reason to murder

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That's my personal peeve about the entire thread.

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Chas. You have had time to post in several threads. Please take the time to answer questions directed at you. Thank you.

Oh wouldn't that be ever so clever ... maybe he's doing it as a bet for a steak dinner?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Thou shall not kill...

Unless thou haveth popcorn thrown in thy face.

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That would be funny if the guy was still alive.

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A lot of people are trying to make that connection.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Zimmerman called the cops first then acted on his original impulse


Seems like the same thing here

Also both guys shot an innocent person for ridiculous reason

My original issue with the reaction was people were quicker to defend this guy cause he's old and he's an ex cop. I find that extremely annoying.

Baseball is clearly more popular than football. That's why it sells so much more merchandise. We've already established that football is just a TV show. I won that one.

Caffeine is definitely a drug. Otherwise, how do you explain Boilermaker Rick? I won that one.

And I've never said texting in a theater is a "reason to murder". I'm simply saying I'm not sorry it happened. Maybe you'll think twice next time you whip out your phone in the middle of a Woody Allen movie.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I still can't figure out what the motivation to defend him is.

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Who said caffeine isn't a drug? It absolutely is.

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I can't for the life of me understand how you think I'm defending the guy.

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So is it like 80% shooter, 20% texter in blame?

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I leave that up to you, Curious and RPB to decide.

Leave me out of it.

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WTF?

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Percentage of blame?

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I don't get the impression that people are defending the shooter as much as trying to understand him. Unless we are simply to assume the guy is a deranged psycho, the natural reaction is to try to reconcile his actions with what we think could have happened. Was it a "road rage" incident where ego/machismo took a small grievance and blew it way out of proportion? Did the texter actually make serious threats? Did the texter's wife try to defuse the situation or aggravate it? There are details that would be helpful...did the shooter brandish the gun for a couple of seconds and then get the bag of popcorn thrown at him, or did he immediately fire?

Out of morbid curiosity, I wonder if the texter was shot before he even knew the guy had a gun, or if he had a "holy shit" moment where he realized he just fucked with the wrong guy.

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Well, the guy obviously isn't right in his head. Who the fuck shoots someone for something so trivial? But I feel a little bit of satisfaction with the street justice. Obviously, you can't conduct a genocide on everyone who is rude in the theater. And many people are rude. That's why I seldom go to movies anymore. And I resent it. because I love going to the movies and watching at home isn't the same. Is it really that hard to think about the people around you?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don