From what I read, it seems somewhat clear as to why Loughner did what he did. A lot of it reminded me of the reading we did on Sam Byck. Like Byck, Loughner seems to have deep personal issues, and instead of dealing with them, he focused all of his anger and hate on an easy target: the government. Gabrielle Gifford, according to one social worker had it all: she was beautiful, had a great husband, the perfect job. Loughner had none of these. This made Gifford the ideal target for him: she had everything that he didn’t, so he took his anger out on her and everything that she represented.
I looked over a list of Loughner’s favorite books posted on his youtube channel. Not surprisingly, many of the titles were very anti-government and Big Brother-esque:Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Huxley’s Brave New World, and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Also fascinating was Hitler’s Mein Kampf, (My Struggle).
It is obvious that Loughner was influenced and truly began to believe the sentiments he read: the government is not to be trusted and it brainwashes its citizens. These exact ideas can be read on Loughner’s videos. This is reinforces how books and more specifically language, are powerful tools, and should not be taken lightly.
Although what he did was awful, it’s difficult to classify Jared Lee Loughner as an "insane individual". He is an extremely educated, (although misguided) individual. I looked at a few of his youtube videos, and noticed that many of his writings were in forms of mathematical/ philosophical theories. The fact that he is extremely bright is more disturbing than if he were just "insane". I think in general, we are too careless in labeling people. Writing Loughner off as a mere crazy person would provide an easy answer to his actions, that being that he is crazy, and his actions are unexplainable. But the fact that he was thinking very “logically” and came to believe his own twisted logic, is what is disturbing.
I really liked how you described your opinion about Loughner as not just mentally unstable but also as extremely bright. I think the words 'crazy' and 'insane' might not be the right choices to describe Loughner himself. His act of murdering however I would classify as a crazy/insane act. I think Loughner is just mentally unstable and that imbalance in his own life lead to unjustified out-lashes towards the government.
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