Sympathy for Jared Loughner
I know this post will provoke a rain of calumny, but here goes: I think Jared Loughner deserves a little more compassion and understanding than the web-wide characterizations of him as a "nut job", "wacko" or "wingnut" display.
First, let me say that the most sympathy and compassion unquestionably goes to the victims of his act.
But, having reviewed his history, writings and videos on the web, I am convinced that he most likely suffers from an organic disease: schizophrenia.
I've seen schizophrenia at close range. I once spent two years of my life tending to a schizophrenic relative. It's a tragic disease. And because it manifests itself in such ugly, shocking behavior, it's not always possible to sympathize with the sufferer.
Schizophrenics tend to believe in grandiose hallucinations - they are God, Christ, Napoleon. For a sufferer like Jared Loughner, killing random strangers would not suffice - he wanted to prove his grandiosity by targeting a person of significance.
I don't blame Sarah Palin. I don't blame the Tea Party.
But I also have a hard time blaming or vilifying a young man who suffers a form of insanity most people, thank Heaven, can hardly begin to understand. The blame, if such it is, belongs to a cruel fate that inflicts such a disease and causes the sufferer to act in ways we, the sane, would never contemplate.
God Bless all those who suffered.
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
The small print on the video was a giveaway, surprised he wasn't filling in the page.Imagine there are reams of meanderings somewhere, unless had a fire ceremony like the flag tape. The schizophrenia as metaphor will be the imagery of the liberal shrieks, as we are seeing now. Delusional, deluded, and deluding all apply. Thanks for pointing this out and further defusing the speculative hysteria, now get it in front of the folks who need to see it.
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
I think this is an important post, Kenneth. And from everything I've read -- especially from our own George Savage, who is feeling this crime, and this tragedy, in a very personal way, if this event prompts any kind of social and cultural debate, it shouldn't be about the graphics on someone's website, but about how we deal with, treat, and protect ourselves (and vice versa) from the mentally ill.
Jul '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
The videos and the long, rambling thing about 30-digit numbers. I've seen it a first hand.
Jul '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Rob, I pleaded with every authority I could reach to institutionalize my schizophrenic relative, but the civil-rights types had foreclosed that option. They knew better. Fortunately, my relative ultimately did no harm to others - he chose suicide instead. But it was a very close thing.
Edited on January 10, 2011 at 12:41amAug '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
HIPA kills. The privacy acts in place shuts these people into a room with no one but uncaring bureaucrats, their parents can't even breach the wall. This is dangerous and wrongheaded. This is an oppo to focus some light on the insanity and danger of privacy acts. Do we have to file suit ? Does Ricochet have a probono action wing yet ?
Edited on January 10, 2011 at 12:50amMay '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Though its disastrously abused in legal settings, sometimes the argument from insanity is conclusive.
Aug '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Kenneth
Rob, I pleaded with every authority I could reach to institutionalize my schizophrenic relative, but the civil-rights types had foreclosed that option. They knew better. Fortunately, my relative ultimately did no harm to others - he chose suicide instead. But it was a very close thing.
Wow. That sounds like my family's experience -- though I was only three at the time of my schizophrenic relative's suicide, so I don't remember it all that clearly. I am so sorry you had to go through that, Kenneth... and I hope your family has made whatever recovery possible under the circumstances.
Aged Relative, the one I help my mom care for, was the progenitor of my fully schizophrenic relative who offed himself, and it's fair to say that Aged Relative has always been way more paranoid than average (Aged Relative might be where my dead relative got the paranoid part of "paranoid schizophrenia" from). Now that Aged Relative is sliding into senile dementia, his craziness grows...
Fortunately, Aged Relative is by now far too weak to be a threat to anyone.
Jul '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Wow. That sounds like my family's experience -- though I was only three at the time of my schizophrenic relative's suicide, so I don't remember it all that clearly. I am so sorry you had to go through that, Kenneth... and I hope your family has made whatever recovery possible under the circumstances.
My relative came home from Vietnam with full-blown schizophrenia, triggered by an horrific experience in the field. The Army couldn't wait to hand him over to me.
He subsequently drove one car clear through someone's house, drove another off a cliff, causing serious injury to his passenger, and caused the hospitalization of five people in a bar fight.
But, again and again, I was told the "system" wouldn't institutionalize him because there wasn't sufficient evidence that he was a "threat to himself or others".
He was insane. But had anyone characterized him as a wacko or a nutjob, they would have had to deal with me.
Edited on January 10, 2011 at 1:40amJun '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Thank you, Kenneth. As is often the case when I read your posts, I leave illuminated.
Jun '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Kenneth this is the first thing you have written over the last day that was worth the time to read, Thank you.
Sep '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
I, too, have seen schizophrenia (there are various kinds) up close, as a Licensed Mental Health Technician for a little more than a year. The frequent (usually audio) hallucinations and the victim's being out of touch with reality are indeed crippling and tragic.
But I still believe guilty by reason of insanity is a better verdict than innocent by reason of insanity. At least the guilty verdict gets the schizophrenic safely institutionalized, with both the victim of this disease and society at large protected.
May '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
I served on the jury of a murder trial in which the accused was schizophrenic,but, in this case, he was clearly aware of what he was doing since he took pains to cover his trail.
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Thank you for this post. My mom -- who lost a brother to schizophrenia -- and I were just talking about this last night. We had the perverse reaction -- after reading Laughner's rants -- of being thankful that our relative "only" killed himself when it came to violence.
Schizophrenia is a horrific problem, both for the individual who suffers from it and his family and friends. I hope that this does lead to more awareness of schizophrenia -- and its propensity to set upon young men in their late teens and early 20s.
Jul '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
That's a tricky thing about schizophrenia. The sufferers can be high-functioning in certain ways, as though the demons that drive them know how to skirt the edges of acceptable behavior.
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
I'm glad you posted this, Kenneth. I was thinking of writing something similar. I'm going to go light on the details out of respect for this family's privacy, but I was close for a long time to someone whose brilliant, talented brother developed schizophrenia at Harvard. It is a devastating disease. He tried to kill his parents. Luckily, he didn't succeed. You can imagine how this family suffered. He was institutionalized for decades, a life wasted. There is a happy ending to this story, however. About six years ago, he was treated with a new drug to which he had an almost miraculous response, allowing him to come home to his family, hold a job, lead a reasonably normal life, and even to get married. We come back full circle to George, who has devoted his life to bringing to market new medical technologies. This is what the success of these ventures mean--lives saved, families made whole. If we're going to politicize anything about this story, let's focus on this: the free market provides incentives for medical research companies to find cures for devastating diseases. We can't allow it to be destroyed.
May '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Nice post, Kenneth, and well said. So many families struggle to cope with mentally ill loved ones alone. I can just imagine how devastated Jared Loughner's family must be. My prayers and sympathies go to all those who were immediately touched by this awful thing.
Jul '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Claire, that's a heartening story, but many schizophrenics resist any kind of treatment,choosing instead to self-medicate with illicit drugs and alcohol, as Jared Loughner apparently did.
Aug '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Kenneth , thank you
Please pardon my self-qoute, bit it pertains.
Louie Mungaray
I really appreciate your direct move toward empathy in this situation. I took a look at the youtube clips earlier this morning and the first thing that came to my mind was that this kid was deeply disturbed.
I served as an administrative pastor in Austin TX. I once had to manage a difficult situation involving a schizophrenic young man. I genuinely cared for him, and seeing him deteriorate was heartbreaking. What little I saw on YouTube of the shooter was eerily similar to what I saw in my friend.
By the mercy of God he received good care and did not harm himself or others.
What happened today was terrible, and devasting to all involved.
Jan '11
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
And - if the media had class and a sense of honor they would say that this is an opportunity to have a discussion on mental illness, rather than the heatedness of political rhetoric
Jul '10
Re: Sympathy for Jared Loughner
Molly, this may seem a terrible thing to say, but for the families who bear this burden, the suicide of the sufferer - which is very, very common - almost comes as a blessing.