In the wake of the horrific events in Tucson in early January there has been a flurry of media activity. There’s a saying that goes, “Never let it be said that the media let a good tragedy go to waste” and it was proven in the whirlwind of news reports, talking heads and various pundits flocking to the microphones and blogs to say something.
Before the bodies of a church volunteer, a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge, and three others had even fully cooled these same talking heads had already picked those responsible for the heinous acts at the Safeway grocery store. In spite of the lack of verifiable facts and evidence at the time, the immediate rallying cry became, “to hell with the truth; we’ve already got someone to crucify.”
Jared Lee Loughner was immediately reckoned as a talk-radio inspired right-wing wacko shooting a liberal congresswoman. But in recent days the ugly facts have started to creep out.
Ms. Giffords is a democrat, yes, but by no means is she a bona fide liberal. She is a second amendment supporter, and openly opposed Mr. Obama’s boarder strategies because they weren’t tough enough. She is fiscally conservative, and was one of the few democrats who voted against Nancy Pelosi. She could be described as a moderate, and the above description of her political stances denies her membership to the far-left. She simply isn’t liberal enough. This can be further proven by the fact that a conservative district elected her this last year.
Loughner on the other hand is another story. Because of his ideal of a gold-backed U.S. currency, he was immediately branded a right-winger. But that’s not the whole truth.
WND reports that Loughner attended Mountain View High School in southern Arizona. This school is part of an educational network partially founded by William Ayers, and also partially funded in the 90s by one of his known associates: Barack H. Obama. It goes without saying that this is not a right-wing institution.
Loughner’s old classmates from college referred to him as very liberal, and outspoken.
Loughner also subscribes to the 9/11 Truther theories, (that the U.S. Government was behind the attacks on the twin towers), and is an ardent atheist. Among his favorites reads are The Communist Manifesto, by none other than Karl Marx, and Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler.
He also used marijuana recreationally, and possibly burned an American flag as a political statement in a YouTube video.
This portrait of Loughner comes from part of an AP story I read and other news (not blog) sources. This is not the portrait of anyone right-of-center. This is the portrait of a leftist, perhaps someone even so far left that other liberals, or even moderates might feel uncomfortable around him.
These are facts that the Associated Press reported on. Somehow, I think they’ve gotten lost in the frothing-at-the-mouth attempts to run talk radio, and others rather irrelevant figures to the virtual chopping block.
The pundits became bent on seeing its “most hated list” pinned with the murders, and in so doing, the facts and the truth were left by the wayside. The agenda was all that mattered, and many in the media as well as the sheriff in Tucson ran to the microphones to blame Limbaugh, Palin, and others who had no hand in the events at Safeway. The AP reported those who know Loughner as saying that he "hated the news." There is no way, given this fact and his political stances, that Loughner was influenced by Limbaugh, Palin, or anyone on the right. Talk radio thrives on the news, and Palin's beliefs are a far cry from those of Loughner's heroes: Obama, Che, and Chavez.
While Loughner may be a “leftist”, other evidence seems to point to the fact that he was not like the liberals in the general public. His writings are often full of non sequitur and illogical arguments, and this (among other things) strongly allude to the fact that he is not a main-stream liberal--he's an anomaly.
Ironically, Loughner’s previous run-in with Ms. Giffords had nothing to do with partisan politics, but rather it had to do with Loughner’s personal belief that, “…Words create reality.” Lougher’s ideas about words are almost hermetic, or thaumaturgical in a sense, almost a wholesale belief in the idea of “as above, so below” in regards to words and language. When Loughner asked Giffords (years ago), "What is the government if words have no meaning?" Giffords did what any sane person would have done. She politely passed over the question with a few remarks. The question itself is almost philosophical and overly complicated, but not to Loughner, who apparently took deep offense to the Democratic congresswomen's perceived snubbing of his own intellect.
At the end of the day Loughner is a leftist, yes, but not a mainstream one. Moreover, his sanity and sense of logic are deeply questionable, and his ideas stray far from the path
The truth is, I don’t believe Loughner’s leftist political beliefs drove him to do what he did. I believe the unchecked evil of his heart drove him to do what he did. There is a potential killer in all of us, that same anger, that same hate. But Lougher fed his demons, unlike most of the civilized society around him.
All Loughner’s beliefs did was provide a sick, and fallacy-ridden logic that (in his mind), justified his actions. I know plenty of far-left, and far-right leaning people, and none of them would do what Loughner did. But then, Loughner is truly mentally ill, unlike most people in American today.
In other words, politics may be the scapegoat, but the events in Tucson weren’t really about politics. They were about anger, paranoia, mental instability, and the inability to deal with these things properly, which led to violence.
It is doubtful that the federal judge, now in the hereafter, cares much about the beliefs of the shooter. The parents of little Christina Greene probably don’t care if Loughner was conservative, or liberal. The friends, and families of the parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters who died that day probably aren’t very concerned with politics. They’re too busy coping with the fact that their loved one isn’t coming home ever again.
The sheriff, pundits, and talking heads of the media who were and are bent on blaming irrelevant parties for the tragedy owe these families an apology. They also owe those they’ve falsely accused an apology for their journalistic malpractice, and for falsely politicizing a terrible tragedy.
If we wanted someone to blame, perhaps it would be best to blame those who saw the warning signs in Loughner’s life and did nothing. Even so, at the end of the day Loughner made his own choices, and he will live with them, and he may even die by them.
