Do you think that increasingly vitriolic political rhetoric led to the tragedy in Tucson? From everything I've read, Loughner was pretty much apolitical. I personally think that politics was about as responsible for that assassination attempt as it was for the shootings of John Lennon and Ronald Reagan. You might as well blame J.D. Salinger and Jodie Foster for those acts. This is the problem with trying to apply simply cause and effect to someone who's mentally deranged.
But let's assume for a moment the premise of the cartoon is correct. What political arguments, if any, might have driven Loughner to violence? The only ones I could find were buried in an article in the NY Times entitled, "Looking Behind the Mug-Shot Grin."
Deep in the article, in the seventh paragraph of Part 3 of 7 (sorry, I couldn't get the link to work) is this reminiscence of Doug Tidaback, director of the Arizona Jazz Academy, where Loughner played saxophone:
"He became intrigued by antigovernment conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by the government and that the country’s central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of government." [Emphasis added]
So can we blame the truthers and Bush Derangement Syndrome for what Loughner did at the Safeway on January 8th? Could he have targeted Rep. Giffords because she wasn't far left enough?
Those are the kinds of illogical conclusions we can reach when we try to apply normal logic to someone who isn't in his right mind.
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Do you think that increasingly vitriolic political rhetoric led to the tragedy in Tucson? From everything I've read, Loughner was pretty much apolitical. I personally think that politics was about as responsible for that assassination attempt as it was for the shootings of John Lennon and Ronald Reagan. You might as well blame J.D. Salinger and Jodie Foster for those acts. This is the problem with trying to apply simply cause and effect to someone who's mentally deranged.
ReplyDeleteBut let's assume for a moment the premise of the cartoon is correct. What political arguments, if any, might have driven Loughner to violence? The only ones I could find were buried in an article in the NY Times entitled, "Looking Behind the Mug-Shot Grin."
Deep in the article, in the seventh paragraph of Part 3 of 7 (sorry, I couldn't get the link to work) is this reminiscence of Doug Tidaback, director of the Arizona Jazz Academy, where Loughner played saxophone:
"He became intrigued by antigovernment conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by the government and that the country’s central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of government." [Emphasis added]
So can we blame the truthers and Bush Derangement Syndrome for what Loughner did at the Safeway on January 8th? Could he have targeted Rep. Giffords because she wasn't far left enough?
Those are the kinds of illogical conclusions we can reach when we try to apply normal logic to someone who isn't in his right mind.