Ok. This is likely going to be the last post about the Arizona episode. I just find it fascinating how some people jumped to all sorts of conclusions convinced of their explanations before any facts were gathered.
As I suspected, the more information comes out about Loughner, the further away it moves from the assumptions made early on in the media. Yet, I notice websites on the left keep hammering at something that's not really valid.
Last night I watched 60 Minutes and it revealed a couple of things of note:
One, Loughner's anger towards Gabrielle Gifford began three years ago.
Significant because it was right around the time Sarah Palin was introduced to the American public. The only uncivil rhetoric at the time was reserved for the Bush administration as President Obama hadn't even been elected or had just been ushered into office. The game then would be trying to link Loughner's slow descent into madness to the election of President Obama.
Good luck with that.
Two, he had become obsessed with a movie about a person who dreams about various political philosophies and where the protagonist sets himself on fire - I forget the title. If Palin's website (or conservative punditry for that matter) was the "leitmotif" of his actions, why then - following the logic - shouldn't the movie since it's actually proven to have influenced him?
Three, the report discussed how the Secret Service identifies and handles cases where possible mental illness is present. Rather than a random act, Loughner was well-thought out (and patient) and deliberate in his actions.
Four, he used political language but didn't necessarily have a functional political point or thought - as I argued earlier. I bet he probably didn't know himself.
Five, according to his friends he believed in chaos. Plain chaos.
Nowhere does it say (or anyhwere else for that matter) he was a conservative influenced by Sarah Palin type rhetoric. To cling to this notion at this point is to offer little to the discussion.
This is all in addition to what was reported elsewhere during the week that he was a conspiracy theorist and heavy drug user. What set him off? So far, apparently a break up with his girlfriend may have triggered it.
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It's interesting none of this has been reported in major papers. If they're so committed to a honest discourse, then why not report this?
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