Is Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged mass murderer who shot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, a right-wing extremist?
It's hard to say. When you look at the Internet material he purportedly produced, the first impression you get is that the 22-year-old now in custody for the shooting of 19 people in Tucson was completely out of his mind, or at least mildly deranged. His writings will be virtually impossible for most people to understand, what with his references to unexplained numbers, his fondness for weird syllogisms, his unexplained references and his apparent semi-literacy.
That said, there are some clues.
At one point, Loughner refers disparagingly to "currency that's not backed by gold or silver." The idea that silver and gold are the only "constitutional" money is widespread in the antigovernment "Patriot" movement that produced so much violence in the 1990s. It's linked to the core Patriot theory that the Federal Reserve is actually a private corporation run for the benefit of unnamed international bankers. So-called Patriots say paper money -- what they refer to with a sneer as "Federal Reserve notes" -- is not lawful.
At another, Loughner makes extraordinarily obscure comments about language and grammar, suggesting that the government engages in "mind control on the people by controlling grammar." That's not the kind of idea that's very common out there, even on the Internet. In fact, I think it's pretty clear that Loughner is taking ideas from Patriot conspiracy theorist David Wynn Miller of Milwaukee. Miller claims that the government uses grammar to "enslave" Americans and offers up his truly weird "Truth-language" as an antidote. For example, he says that if you add colons and hyphens to your name in a certain way, you are no longer taxable. Miller may be mad as a hatter, but he has a real following on the right.
Loughner talks about how you "can't trust the government" and someone burns a U.S. flag in one of his videos. Although certain right-wing websites are already using that (and his listing of The Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books) to claim that Loughner was a "left-winger," that does not strike me as true. The main enemy of the Patriot movement is certainly the federal government. And so-called Patriots have certainly engaged in acts like burning the flag.
Finally, I think Loughner's reading list, although it included children's books and a few classics, had an underlying theme -- the individual versus the totalitarian state. Certainly, that's the explicit central theme of Ayn Rand's We the Living and Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, among others. I would argue that that's the way Loughner seems to be reading The Communist Manifesto and Hitler's Mein Kampf -- as variants of a kind of generalized "smash the state" attitude.
Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates points out in a post earlier today that Loughner also makes a reference to a "second American constitution." As Chip notes, that is commonly understood to refer to the Reconstruction amendments that freed the slaves and gave them citizenship, among other things. Chip says that "raises the question of a possible racist and anti-immigrant tie" in the Arizona shooting.
On top of that, Fox News is reporting on an internal Department of Homeland Security message suggesting some tie between Loughner and American Renaissance, a kind of white-collar racist group.
I can't speak to those allegations. Outside of what Chip pointed out, I didn't see anything that suggested racial, anti-Semitic or anti-immigrant animus in Loughner's writings. Certainly, there's nothing I saw at all reminiscent of American Renaissance, which focuses heavily on the alleged intellectual and psychological inferiority of black people.
At this early stage, I think Loughner is probably best described as a mentally ill or unstable person who was influenced by the rhetoric and demonizing propaganda around him. Ideology may not explain why he allegedly killed, but it could help explain how he selected his target.
One thing that seems clear is that Giffords, who was terribly wounded but survived, was the nearest and most obvious representative of "the government" that Loughner could find. Another is that he likely absorbed some of his anger from the vitriolic political atmosphere in the United States in general and Arizona in particular. Perhaps no one made that point better than Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, speaking to a press conference yesterday. "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government... The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
this is the same as having compassion for soldiers fighting illegal wars. how do you support a soldier while condemning the war??
It's always a good time, right?
'....Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff’s Office was informed, his deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Amy Loughner is a Natural Resource specialist for the Pima County Parks and Recreation. My sympathies and my heart goes out to her and the rest of Mr. Loughner’s family. This tragedy must be tearing them up inside wondering if they had done the right things in trying to manage Jared’s obvious mental instability....'
He also seemed to suffer from mental and social deficiencies yet to be determined by medical experts. He was, however, in touch with just enough reality to dummy-up when questioned by the FBI.
We can parse ad nauseam and project our own political ideologies till the end of time but the bottom line will probably be that he was too mentally disordered to have any real loyalties to one political party or the other.
I am holding on to hopes that our elected representatives will lead by example. They should demonstrate how to engage in political discourse while remaining civil and how to do it with grace and respect for opposing opinions. I will vote for candidates who embrace these qualities.
Condolences and best hopes to all of the victims families.
"Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is dead to me now."
"I made a VERY poor choice of words when I partially titled the diary, 'now dead to me,'" he continues. "Of course I wished no harm to Gabby."
This is very ominous since it was posted two days before this horrible act of violence, this would be deemed more likely to set off someone that was harboring ill will towards the congress woman, more so than anything said months ago during the campaign.
There is already someone to blame and he's sitting in jail.
I actually read a lot MORE of those with whom I disagree. I already know the arguments with which I agree.
So, by that measure, someone would guess the exact opposite of what my actual beliefs were.
Yes that, but also there is the question of drugs.
There is no doubt about that!
Like the Post Office.
and should be, along with Sarah Palin and Susan Angle.