Some Evidence of Loughner's Politics
Yesterday, the Economist blog asked, rhetorically, whether "more time and information" would cause Paul Krugman and other liberal pundits to stop their "irresponsible" rush to blame conservatives for the for the Tucson shooting? And then the Economist answered: "Nope." Anyone keeping an eye on the chattering classes knows that facts won't get in the way.
I’m not sure this will make a difference either. But for what it’s worth, it appears that to the extent Loughner had political views at all, they were more liberal than anything else. Loughner participated in an online community called ATS (Above Top Secret) under the user name Erad3. Loughner’s posts suggest:
- That he opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as violations of international law;
- That he supported the UN Declaration of Human Rights’s assertion that the state owes the individual a decent standard of living, health care, and shelter; and
- That he was vehemently anti-religion.
Hat tip to Jim Lindgren of the Volokh Conspiracy for this analysis. As Lindgren says:
My hope in exploring Loughner’s politics is to take the political argument off the table, not to turn it around. Unfortunately, I think that the likeliest way to get some people to back off their hateful and inflammatory rhetoric — blaming people who are not at fault — is if the people doing the finger pointing begin to realize that Loughner was more probably a mentally deranged left winger than a mentally deranged right winger. In either event, the derangement, not his political orientation, is the proximate and ultimate cause of his mass murders.
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Dec '10
Re: Some Evidence of Loughner's Politics
The MSM and the Dems will ignore or discount these facts. I think they already have.
What I've seen is a relentless attempt to connect his actions with Palin and her "cross hairs" map. For example, in one brief local TV news spot I watched they mentioned "overheated" political rhetoric, showed Palin's map, and then said there is no solid evidence of a connection. That was all.
Classic propaganda.
This is why it is important they are posted and repeated on the internet and reported on talk radio and FOXnews.
Jul '10
Re: Some Evidence of Loughner's Politics
George Will has a good commentary on this very subject in the Washington Post today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR2011011003685.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
It feels in all the discourse that that last claim made by anyone today is 'personal responsibility'... 'Who caused this?' Usually the answer is 'society'.. saves everyone from actually being responsible. And isn't that what we really want from people and especially government today? Take some responsibility! We appear to be in the 'scapegoat' business these days; Sarah Palin, capitalism, big business, wall street, Fox News, insurance companies, the Catholic Church, Jews... it can almost be a bar game, choose a tragedy- choose the culprit, winner buys. Thanks for the thoughtful post, as always.
Dec '10
Re: Some Evidence of Loughner's Politics
I just found something interesting. The county employees unionized in 2007. Unless they're very high-level, Jared's parents would be members of the SEIU.