Lets not forget the shooter was mentally ill

[annm4peace]

I also agree that the hate rhetoric that has been put out there for the last 20 years and increasingly worse in the last couple of years does encourage these violent acts, and I wish the FCC would at least pull the plug on radio stations and networks that use public airwaves that spew the calls for violence and hate speech. I'm from Fresno CA and hate radio KMJ often advocated violence against liberals, and especially liberal politicians.


Anyhow.. but we can't forget this man was mentally ill and apparently increasingly so. There has been a huge cut in the last 20 years to mental health clinics. He had outburst in his math class that incoherent. His writings were also incoherent.

It is important to point out the hate in politics and media.. but also the lack of mental health care.

As times get tougher, as troops come home, and as more young people are unable to find jobs and have self worth.. the more our society will need mental health care

[Tunkamerica]

1. We really don't know anything except what you can get from a few

clips on youtube. He may or may not be. I've written songs that if taken out of context could mean any number of things.

[Maru Kitteh]

34. oh please - he's nucking futz .... OR.. .. .. he's so damn brilliant he started working on

this whole "mental illness" ruse all the way back in high school just so he could shoot some people up today.

[DCKit]

2. Yes, the very definition of a teahadist. nt

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

3. well DUH stable people usually DONT KILL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!

And usually stable people understand hateful rhetoric CAN have consequences.

But evidently TWO UNSTABLES don't make a right.

[tabasco]

11. That's just not true.

The great majority of murderers are not insane.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

19. I said STABLE....

Insanity means you don't know the consequences of your actions.

I fully believe the Jared Sicko was fully capable of knowing right/wrong.

Was he STABLE enough to not ACT on thos actions?

NO.

[Jamastiene]

18. Actually, our prisons and death rows all over the country are full of

sane people who killed people. They wouldn't be there, for the most part, if there weren't sane enough to stand trial for the murders they committed. Sane people do kill people.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

20. Sane and Stable aren't the same.

[cbdo2007]

4. Agree - they keep cutting the mental health care here in Missouri.

[RegieRocker]

8. to create more Right Wingers a.k.a. Tea Baggers

[gateley]

5. The Sheriff in AZ said it well:

“The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, I think Arizona has become sort of the capital, we have beome the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry,” he said. “There’s reason to believe that this individual might have a mental issue, and I think that people who are unbalanced might be especially susceptible to vitriol.”

(from the NYT - I don't have a link but that's where I got it.)

[Lint Head]

6. And his 50 year old accomplice was mentally ill also?

Sound like a patsy situation.

[elocs]

7. I think it's pretty clear that he is mentally ill.

To do what he did one would need to be mentally ill or a complete zealot. There really is no in-between.

Ultimately far, far, far more of the mentally ill are the victims of crime and not criminals.

[hlthe2b]

9. While his youtube rantings are questionable, we don't know that

We really know nothing about his mental health. While I agree that mental illness is the most likely explanation, for all we know his ranting/raving incoherence could be drug-induced. Let's wait for more to come out before we do any speculative DSM-IV diagnosing....:shrug:

[tabasco]

10. I'll wait for the professionals to decide.

Most murderers are perfectly sane.

[LisaL]

12. Mentally ill and legally insane are not the same thing.

[tabasco]

14. Do you think most murderers are mentally ill?

Why?

Just because a person behaves condemnably, does not mean they are mentally ill.

Your logic and diagnosis fails.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

21. Ill doesn't have to mean deranged, etc.

Mental Illness has MANY forms.. so YES I would agree with the other poster.. TAKING ACTION TO KILL SOMEONE denotes SOME mental illness.

Paranoia?

Inflated self-ego?

Anti-Social?

SOMEWHERE there is a BREAK from right/wrong.

[backscatter712]

13. My bet is that he's schizophrenic. And yes, I do put a lot of blame on the right-wing media.

Just from watching his videos, I can see that the guy's clearly not well connected with reality.

And yes, I absolutely blame the right-wing hate machine - they saturate the airwaves with hateful and violent rhetoric. People like Loughner pick up on the ideas, and on the tone. The right-wing propaganda is designed to bring out this sort of behavior, and we've been warning about this for years now.

[Zoeisright]

15. And people like him are EXACTLY WHY the right wing inciting violence is so WRONG.

What the hell is so complicated about that??

[fascisthunter]

16. exactly... it isn't like people weren't warning this would happen

and no, they aren't THAT stupid, just sociopathic.

[Greybnk48]

17. The people who egg them on are not.

Palin. Beck, limbaugh, all of Fox, the Koch bros. and their baggers. They are all guilty.

[jvanm]

22. ...and had legal access to a very lethal weapon.

What could possibly be the purpose of a high capacity magazine that holds 30 bullets. At least the assault weapons ban, weak though it was, limited magazine size. But even that was too much of an affront to the gun lobby.

Of course the NRA, hate radio and some Republicans continually stoke the fear that Obama is out to seize their guns -- while in reality gun restrictions have been systematically attacked and gutted. It's depressing. These tragedies are bound to periodically occur.

Gun Used in Ariz. Shooting Purchased Legally -- CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/08/national/main7226879.shtml

[JDPriestly]

23. The reason that the violent right-wing rhetoric is so irresponsible

is that it can have a very unpredictable effect on mentally unstable people.

It's the proverbial yelling fire in a crowded theater.

The mind of a mentally ill person can be like a crowded theater. If someone yells extremist, angry thoughts to a very confused person, the result can be destructive.

The First Amendment protects the speech of the extremist right-wingers on the radio and TV, but their speech is still, at times utterly irresponsible.

[Rex]

24. I am wondering if years of hatefilled radio rage caused him to 'lose

it' and go and play out the fantasy of every right wing assholes dream (Glenn Beck).

[EFerrari]

26. Well, if schizophrenia or something like that is in your DNA

and you're a young adult, the most common age of onset iirc, hate radio isn't helpful to keeping yourself even.

[Jamastiene]

29. It definitely would not be good for someone already suffering from

schizophrenia. Was this guy suffering from schizophrenia though? I can't find the link to the report on that.

[EFerrari]

32. No but his behavior in school seems to be getting disruptive

and erratic. This could be the onset. He's about the right age. :(

[Imagevision]

25. Lets not forget the shooter was mentally ill? so he goes to end of line walks up to Gabby and shoots

her. The best thing that could happen if the shooter simply hangs himself so this can go away faster!

[MrSlayer]

27. He's cognizant enough to invoke his right to remain silent.

Let's not let this jackass off the hook just yet.

[Imagevision]

28. Chris Mathews, Blitzer will keep this in my face for the next 2 years

[flvegan]

30. Lets not forget that Fristing over the internet is equally stupid.

Unless of course a series of medical professionals have come forward with his "mentally ill" diagnosis and I missed it.

[EFerrari]

33. The Pima Co. Sheriff said he apparently has mental issues

so it's not exactly fristing.

/oops

[flvegan]

35. Agreed.

But the OP and the sheriff aren't appropriate responders.

Lets get them where we can without question.

[Penguin31]

31. Some would argue that they're all mentally ill... (n/t)

[grahamhgreen]

36. They target the mentally ill, and spur them to violence.