I swear: “I'm not crazy!” Why does a person who admitted to experiencing humiliating auditory hallucinations for an extended period of time deny intending to harm himself or others? The person I'm asking this question to is one Aaron Alexis. Mr. Alexis is the positively identified killer in what some media sources have labeled a "massacre" at a Navy shipyard in Washington, DC. My theory is that Mr. Alexis denied that he had thoughts of harming himself and/or others due to the stigmatization of people with mental illnesses through the mass media. The stigmatization of people with mental illnesses is so widespread in America that “38% (of Americans) are unwilling to be friends with someone who has mental health problems, 64% do not want someone with schizophrenia as a close associate, and more of 68 the percentage is not willing to marry someone suffering from depression into their family (web). Alexis had revealed to police a month before the shooting that he had "heard voices speaking to him through the ceiling of his hotel room, trying to penetrate his body with the vibrations of a microwave oven to prevent him from sleeping (USA) ". Two weeks later, Mr. Alexis went to two different Veteran's Administration Hospitals (VA) emergency departments over the course of a week seeking help for what one article reported, "insomnia (Washington Post)," and for what another article reported as, “paranoia and hearing voices (USA).” It is currently unclear exactly what symptoms Mr. Alexis indicated he was experiencing at the time of both VA visits, and since this incident occurred during a military instillation one cannot be certain of the transparency of any further reports that may clarify. .. ... middle of paper ……everyone, in fact it seems that he is hunting some animal that he fears might jump out, grab him and make him the victim if people lost their fear of the systems and got the. help they need, there would be no headlines to report, and perhaps no mental health stigmatization to be done because people would feel free to get the help they know they need overall, therefore, Baudrillard says the masses media has the power to influence my thoughts about mental illness only if I give it the power to influence my thoughts. That said, I can choose to question the claims conveyed by the mass media and educate myself and others about the legitimacy of such statements, thus diminishing the power of the mass media. I would like to do just that. In my research into the impact the media has on mental health stigmatism I found the following information: