More shocking than the Tuscon shooting itself was the mass of people who rushed to make political capital out of the disaster.
The left jumped upon the events instantly, using it as another argument for gun control. A lot of them even went as far as to blame Sarah Palin.
It becomes less surprising that these people can believe such fucking retarded shit when you realise some of the other moronic things these people believe – one example of which being the sinister twisting of logic which makes protecting yourself from theft immoral, and theft something which must be done!
Equally batshit, however, was the reaction from the right, with Peter Hitchens blaming the tragedy on...
Guess what?
All of these factors are at best completely fucking irrelevant. Campaign ads do not suddenly fill someone with an urge to murder, and millions smoke cannabis without killing anyone.
Pete might look at this guy and say "He's a murder, and a cannabis smoker, therefore the cannabis must have led him to murder." This closely resembles those times when a high school student goes on a shooting rampage and after the attack, violent video games are found in their home. So what? You also found toothpaste, clothes, food, a bed, etc. These are all normal things most people have – gunmen do not stand out from the general population in this regard.
What does make Loughner stand out, however, is his childhood, which was one that is said to have been plagued with abuse. It is well documented that bad parenting leads to social problems later in life [PDF], so the fact that nobody in the media is talking about his upbringing is strange. But here's our favourite Canadian anarchist to explain why this is not happening.
The left jumped upon the events instantly, using it as another argument for gun control. A lot of them even went as far as to blame Sarah Palin.
TBogg of FireDogLake wades straight in and blames Sarah Palin for the shooting because of a graphic of crosshairs placed on the districts of moderate Democrats who voted for healthcare reform. Was the Palin graphic clever? No. But martial imagery is standard political fare and, as Matt Lewis points out, there’s no shortage of Democrats who’ve engaged in it (VerumSerum has found a Democratic Leadership Committee target map).
It becomes less surprising that these people can believe such fucking retarded shit when you realise some of the other moronic things these people believe – one example of which being the sinister twisting of logic which makes protecting yourself from theft immoral, and theft something which must be done!
Equally batshit, however, was the reaction from the right, with Peter Hitchens blaming the tragedy on...
Guess what?
Look at the strange picture of the alleged killer Jared Loughner. He has just been arrested for a crime for which he could be put to death, if convicted. And he is smiling. From this, and from many other things we already know about this man, it seems likely that he has lost his reason.
Why and how? The most likely cause is Loughner’s daily cannabis-smoking habit. The link between this drug and serious mental illness grows clearer every day. Wickedly, the dope lobby still tries to deny this and seeks to legalise it.
Loughner has been, for much of his short life, a habitual smoker of this so-called ‘soft’ organic drug. This is not in doubt. Police records, the testimony of U.S. army recruiters who rejected him partly on these grounds, and the accounts of several friends confirm that Loughner is a marijuana victim.
Yes, I know. Not all cannabis-smokers lose their minds. And not all cigarette-smokers get cancer. But in both cases the risk is enough to cause concern.
All of these factors are at best completely fucking irrelevant. Campaign ads do not suddenly fill someone with an urge to murder, and millions smoke cannabis without killing anyone.
Pete might look at this guy and say "He's a murder, and a cannabis smoker, therefore the cannabis must have led him to murder." This closely resembles those times when a high school student goes on a shooting rampage and after the attack, violent video games are found in their home. So what? You also found toothpaste, clothes, food, a bed, etc. These are all normal things most people have – gunmen do not stand out from the general population in this regard.
What does make Loughner stand out, however, is his childhood, which was one that is said to have been plagued with abuse. It is well documented that bad parenting leads to social problems later in life [PDF], so the fact that nobody in the media is talking about his upbringing is strange. But here's our favourite Canadian anarchist to explain why this is not happening.
2 comments:
It probably hasn't occurred to Hitchens that the correlation can be explained just as well by suggesting that latent nutters are drawn to pot rather than pot turns some people into nutters.
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