Why Did He Do It??

It is impossible for me as a student to concretely explain exactly what was going through the mind of Jared Lee Loughner when he killed 6 people and injured 14 others. What made him decide this was what he should do? What is the story behind the shooter? These are all questions asked by Americans and citizens are looking desperately for the answer.

After researching the shooting more in depth and researching Loughner's past I came across scattered pieces of evidence that may have contributed to this awful tragedy. Signs of his troubled existence surfaced through multiple outlets. For an unknown reason Loughner dropped out of high school in his junior year. He tried joining the army but he was rejected. He was not in possession of a job. He was also arrested for drug possession. He funneled many of his opinions and thoughts through his myspace and youtube page. It was apparent through these posts that he harbored feelings of obsession with violence and paranoia about the government. One post in particular from his youtube page reads, "The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." He showed definite signs of opposition to the United States government. He met congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in 2007. An account from a friend from high school said that when Jared came back from meeting Giffords he told the friend what question he asked her which was the following, "What is government if words have no meaning?" Gabrielle did not have a sufficient response according to Loughner because he told his friend, "I can't believe she doesn't understand it. Politicians just don't get it." It was apparent that Loughner believed the politicians in the U.S. were clearly not going in the direction he wanted and as a result he became severely disturbed. All of these examples could have contributed to his shooting in January.

I watched a video on youtube titled, Nightline: Inside Jared Lee Loughner's Mind from abc.com. This video showed several clips ranging from his neighbors to former teachers. The video was trying to investigate and figure out why he did what he did. He grew up in Tuscon and many of his neighbors saw his family as troubled. One of the neighbors pointed out that when he and his children would go outside and play and would invite Jared he would never be allowed to. He would have to sit inside and watch them play. He had an isolated life and neighbors seemed uneasy around him. His friend from high school started to see him go crazy after he dropped out of high school. The video also touched on the fact that Loughner was a big fan of 'lucid dreaming'. Lucid dreaming is when a person has very clear and vivid dreams and they are aware that they are dreaming and are able to influence what happens in the dreams whether it be the plot or the outcome. He said in an internet video before the shooting that, "I can't trust the current government," and, "I'm a sleepwalker." The video showed Psychologist Dr. Alan Lipman stating that, "the key to understanding Loughner is looking at his disorganized, delusional, disruptive psychotic behavior." I watched another video from abc.com that showed Diane Sawyer interviewing Tuscon's sheriff. She asked him what brought Loughner to this shooting? The sheriff replied by placing part of the blame on the rhetoric of politicians today, specifically Rush Limbaugh. He believes Limbaugh is irresponsible because he uses partial information and sometimes wrong information and attacks people. The sheriff says he angers people against government and official which might be partly the cause for certain individuals to act in this severe manner.

I believe the sheriffs comments transitions into the article by Dana Milbank. In the article, Glenn Beck Is Not Responsible For Any Acts Of Violence Committed By His Viewers; He's Just An Entertainer, it covers a story about Richard Poplawski and how the influence of Glenn Beck led him to kill. The article touches on the same problem being that some people with the ability to influence millions of people are trying to initiate violent retaliation by stating extreme opinions and tentative plans of action. Beck is known to stir up controversial subjects all the time. He has labeled politician such as Obama and Pelosi as "dangerous." He is labeling the politicians as "dangerous" with an attempt to prompt his loyal followers and give them a reason to take action through violence. The article revealed that in April 2010, Greg Giusti verbally threatened Pelosi. Milbank states, "A crazy person watching Beck could have thought he was doing the world a favor by taking on this violent Nancy Pelosi." In the past Beck has proposed to poisoning, hitting/killing with a shovel, and shooting certain politicians. Beck is promoting and planting ideas for more violence against the government.