Whether it’s Twitter or Facebook, a news article or blog post, the internet is where people turn to report tragic events and get updates on the latest news. This was the case on early Friday morning when a gunman entered an early showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado and began shooting with a variety of weapons. Of course, our database reflects the trending of words and phrases pertaining to this horrifying event.
It has been reported that the first posts online about the shooting were made to the social media site Reddit by a survivor of the event after he arrived at the hospital. Forbes online magazine wrote that “those at ‘Dark Knight Rises’ shooting turn to Reddit for support.” Gunman James Holmes was arrested shortly thereafter, outside the theater and told police that he booby-trapped his own apartment.
The top trending words this week, all over:
1. Batman shooting
2. Obama Colorado
3. The Dark Knight Rises
4. Batman shooting gun ban
5. Batman survivors
6. Colorado shooting
7. James Holmes
8. Gun ban debate
9. Colorado theater shooting
10. Christian Bale Colorado
This unfortunate event has Americans in every state scrambling to get to information, and fast. After every horrific tragic event the masses rise up and make noise about a necessary gun reform. It occurred after Columbine and the DC Sniper as well. Anticipate this being a trend that continues to snowball.
This kind of event is devastating at the very least. As the entire US tried to recover from shock, President Obama gave a speech with a moment of silence to memorialize those who were murdered. The court hearing for James Holmes began Monday, July 23, as a judge announced no bail would be set. Justice seekers are already beginning to raise questions of gun control, turning this into, undoubtedly, a solemn topic for the presidential race. We expect to see gun control as an issue trending all over the internet at least up until the November election.