In terms of attempting to figure out a mass shooter, we must ask the question, what motivates someone like Jared Lee Loughner?
The Copycat Effect. New York: Paraview Pocket-Simon and Schuster, 2004.
What triggered a rampage like the one he delivered?
While the television and radio spinners discuss the impact of Sarah Palin's now infamous map of bullseyes targeting specific Congressional districts, the only opinion to consider is how Rep. Gabby Giffords felt about it.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords told MSNBC when the map was published during the 2010 campaign, "We are on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” noting that hers was one of 20 conservative districts being highlighted.
“The way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of the gunsight over our district. When people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that action.”
When it was pointed out that martial themes were a staple of political discourse, Giffords responded: “Some of my colleagues have served 20, 30 years, and they have never seen it like this.”
Sarah Palin then made things worse by saying things like "Don't retreat, reload!'' Sharron Angle in Nevada talked of "Second Amendment remedies."
Was Loughner influenced by the map and the climate of these times? We don't know. Evidence is being developed that he had a grudge against Giffords dating back to 2007.
Loughner's longstanding dislike for Gabrielle Giffords, a Blue Dog Democrat, had him calling her a "fake." This apparent displeasure intensified when he attended one of Giffords' outside events, of August 25, 2007 and she did not, in his view, sufficiently answer the question he asked her. The question was, "What is government if words have no meaning?"
What is also being revealed is that Loughner haunted the Internet forums, as a confused conspiracy "believer."
Loughner was a believer of numerous conspiracy theories, and espoused views such as that the United States Government was responsible for the September 11 attacks, a New World Order would bring about a one world currency, there would be a 2012 apocalypse, NASA had faked spaceflights, and the government was using mind control to brainwash people by controlling grammar. He was a member of the online conspiracy theory message board Above Top Secret, though members of the site did not respond warmly to his posts. He felt one could create their only currency.
A Washington Post article by David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post staff writer, on Tuesday, January 11, 2012, dealt with the appearance of Jared Loughner at the Above Top Secret site:
[A] new user, who joined the site in early 2009 ...called himself "Erad3." Now - based on the language in his postings, and information about where he logged on - the site's operators believe Erad3 was accused Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner, 22.
"I'd go with 99 percent," said Bill Irvine, chief executive of the site's parent company, when asked how certain he was that Erad3 and Loughner were the same person.
The story of those postings - now compiled online at Abovetopsecret.com - adds new detail to the story of Loughner's apparent unraveling.
In real life, friends say, Loughner had pushed away friends and alienated classmates with his odd behavior. After that, it appears, he sought a community online. But, in a gathering place for skeptics and conspiracy theorists, his views still brought ridicule - and even a plea for him to seek help.
"I think youre frankly schizophrenic, and no that's not an amateur opinion and not intended as an uninformed or insulting remark, you clearly make no sense and are unable to communicate. I really do care," a user with the nickname "mordant1" wrote July 11. "Seek help before you hurt yourself or others or start taking your medications again, please."
Erad3 responded to that with a stream of bizarre arguments, touching on ideas familiar from Loughner's YouTube videos. He wrote often about grammar, and inventing one's own currency. But he ended, "Thank you for the concern."
"It seemed like he was hoping he might fit in on a site like ours. But, as you can tell, he really didn't," Irvine said in a telephone interview Tuesday from the site's Scottsdale, Ariz., headquarters. "He seemed just . . . way, way out there, from some of his ideas."
Among Erad3's ideas: The space shuttles and the International Space Station were flying empty, without humans aboard. NASA's Mars rovers were faked. Individuals could make their own currency.
"just thought id pop in to let you know that to me you sound absolutely bonkers," one poster wrote in response.
"The name calling is about to cease!" Erad3 wrote back. He persisted in his belief that the shuttle was fake: "The entering into orbit might be able to kill a human."
None of the posts mention U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was apparently the initial target of Saturday's rampage. Giffords was shot in the head and seriously wounded. Six people died in the attack, and 13 others were wounded.
In none of his posts, Irvine said, did Erad3 seem to threaten violence.
By the time of the attack, Erad3 had not posted anything in several months. On Saturday, as news of the attack filtered out, other site users began to identify Erad3 as Loughner.
This may have been based on the similarities between his posts on the site and YouTube videos attributed to Loughner.
That evening, someone posted on one of Erad3's old threads, about the idea that the Mars rovers were faked: "OP [original poster] is believed to be the shooter in today's assassination attempt."
Throughout the ATS site some deleting appears to be occurring. Jared Loughner, a/k/a erad3 posted on Chupacabras, NASA conspiracies, and even, apparently True Giants, as can be revealed by some cache finds. But please note, Loughner does not seem to have posted any anti-Jewish or anti-Zionist comments. Unfortunately, Sarah Palin's use of "blood libel" and "solution," combined with her earlier bullseye map has resulted in new claims of anti-Semitic underpinnings to this story. (Giffords is Jewish.)
On June 7, 2010, for example, in response to a discussion about whether or not there were giants on the Earth in ancient times, here's what erad3 had to say in "Giants Really Were Really Giants":
reply posted on 6-7-2010 @ 10:29 PM by Erad3
You'll tell every poster that these giants are real, and other sources tell the truth, so they must exist!
Everyone on this forum will never believe that they exist.
How sad it is for the size of a toilet.What influences pushed Jared Loughner to do what he did? Perhaps only the demons inside his mind could reveal the answer to that question. Were his demons mad? Perhaps so.
Certainly, recent weeks have seen enough mass shooting models existing throughout the media for any vulnerable, mentally unstable person to take into their cosmos. What Jared Loughner was watching and what inspired him are bits of the puzzle that are still missing.
Let's not forget, as Village Voice Media Executive Editor Michael Lacey observed: Loughner's actions were more the result of mental illness than ideology. It is from that framework that we should be looking for the behavior contagion triggers, not the cryptopolitical ones, for to do so merely joins Loughner in his mental illness.
9 comments:
Good post Loren. We're all influenced to some degree or another by external stimuli. Why and where it crosses the line into violence for some individuals is different for each perpetrator.
What I find disheartening once again (aside from the resulting loss of life, pain and suffering) is that the media does not do their due diligence and ultimately ends up publicizing overly simplistic conclusions.
This only adds fuel to the fire and makes wider swaths of the populace angry and sets us up for future events of this kind, as you know.
I'll repeat once again what I just recently wrote @ Cryptomundo (and my own blog @ TDG): I'm disgusted by the American media at their attempt to pigeonhole this troubled individual into some tidy and convenient category —"ufo nut", "conspiracy theorist", "crypto-enthusiast" etc, etc.
The thing is that we'll probably never learn the true size and form of the demons that populate this criminal's mind. Neither will he, I'm afraid.
As for Palin, it's very annoying that after spreading gasoline all around she cries foul when someone decides to light a match.
Loughner was also Jewish.
Loughner Pulled Over By Cops 2 1/2 Hours Before Shooting
http://tinyurl.com/4knyvvz
So he had access to a car, why the cab? Also, he may not have had money to purhase the weapon. So where did the money for the cab fare come from? He was unemployeed.
Feds Investigating If Loughner Sent Smokebombs To DHS, MD.
http://tinyurl.com/4eg8zv5
Was he involved with the smokebombs for John Wheeler's death as well? All in a short time we have John Wheeler's murder associated with smokebombs, smokebombs sent to DHS & MD, and a suspicious package sent to Gifford's HQ which may have been a smokebomb. Something really fishy is going on here. People need to start asking questions.
Suspicious Package at Gifford's HQ
http://tinyurl.com/49bw6s6
Think about it. What would make the authorities suspect that Loughner may be involved in the smokebombs to DHS & MD. My guess: It was a smokebomb outside the HQ.
Loughners mother and Mrs Giffords apparently attend the same synagogue.
Anyhow this seems a multi-tentacle story , liable to pull many in on various subjects.
As for Plain , talk about a patsy [ though somewhat willing]. I , perhaps wrongly, don't see Palin as a useful mouthpiece who says all that's expected of her in this theatre.
Her lack of foresight into guaging the reaction to even mentioning the word 'blood libel' [ copyrighted] in relation to her crosshairs sighted on a Jewish congresswoman shows that this is a deep psy-op [ Psy-ops being that foisted on the public to see their reactions]
Doubtless the various data collection agencies will sort the reactions into useful pointers for the next happening
'Smokebomb' aptly describes the exercise.
cheers
TheGreatPiniter
is another channel by J.
You'll see MPD in full
effect right in front
of you. How scary.
- marilynloughner
Loughner was possessed with GRAMMAR. It shows up everywhere on his weird internet posts.
Now add the name GRAMMAR and the name GIFFORDs, and out comes the name of Heath Ledgers school back at Australia: GUILDFORD GRAMMAR at the 11 Terrace Rd, corner Allpike Street, Perth, Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guildford_Grammar_School
Voila, there you got your trickster link.
"Heath Ledger, a prominent actor, attended Guildford Grammar School, where he had his first acting experiences, starring in a school production as Peter Pan at age 10".
Percy Henn was the headmaster of the school: "To him, a Church school without a chapel was 'like the play of Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.'"
Prince Frederic of denmark and his wife just had twins!
Denmark is famous for its mermaid. Lorelei is a mermaid, and perhaps you've heard that a ship just sunk 2 days ago in the river Rhine at the Lorelei, two died.
Also, consider AZ's capital PHOENIX and the 33' coordinates, which links to 33 chile miners rescued by FENIX (spanish for Phoenix).
Big freemason link...
Events, around the globe, are always linked, its a big sacrificing and name-game.
Greetings from Germany, Cori
1. J. posts should be read from bottom to top, sentence by sentence.
2. His/her ramblings can be seen on
TheGreatPiniter channel on the tube.
3. Seem to be like the movie Zelig, but it is just a Delta Model.
PROTIP: MPD, Behavioral Science
The poor bastard was spun like a research monkey. He was likely presenting schizophrenia from the time he was about 15 or 16 years old. Schizophrenia is on the far side of the bell shaped curve from dyslexia. The disease is typified by the inability to correctly process sensory inputs, in essence, the disease scrambles the sensory environment and results in the victim of this disease basically misinterpreting sensory information in frightening and confusing ways.
Usually, the people closest to the schizophrenic individual are unaware of the issues arising from the disease and moreover, unable to identify the illness, instead, not understanding what is happening to the individual, they are put off by the individual’s behavior and further isolating and estranging themselves from the schizophrenic person.
It is a sad, yet predictable, and usually takes years of problematic behavior before the victim is properly diagnosed. Treatment is equally slow in coming and usually, the victim rejects treatment. Those closet to the victim, psychologically speaking, prefer to remain in denial about their loved one’s disease. It is tough to acknowledge that you son, brother, sister, etc. will just never be “right.”
The whole affair is a sad, but predictable, chain of events and we should all let it rest at that. There was no causality in the political rhetoric prior to this tragedy and it is unlikely that their was any involvement of any 3 letter agencies, and while it may have had some elements of a copy-cat scenario, it was a horrible and possibly a preventable tragedy. I say “preventable” to mean that if we all were a little more educated about schizophrenia, and a little more compassionate about our fellow man’s plight, someone might have intervened to help this poor soul before he arrived at a place where so many lives were cut short.
Rather than turning away from that person who makes you so uncomfortable, you think of them as a person who may need some help, and them act on that in a compassionate way, you might stop the next tragedy before it happens.
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