A Madman's Massacre in Tucson: Actions, Reactions and Backlash

Tuscon Madman and Murderer, Jared Loughner, in 2010

I am saddened by the senseless killing of all the innocent victims by an insane, deranged madman. My heart goes out to the surviving loved ones of those who's lives have been cut short for no justifiable reason.

Too much is being read into the motives of the sociopath shooter of the Tragedy in Tucson.


After reading countless articles about the Tragedy in Tucson, including the article in Time, Tragedy in Tucson: What Motivated Giffords' Shooter? by Adam Klawonn, an article by CBSNews.com, 2nd Person of Interest Sought in Tucson Shooting and several others, I realize as I watch Meet the Press, that far too much is being read into the motives of the madman shooter. He is not a terrorist, idealist, or any kind of "ist".

We don't know with any certainty what precipitated yesterday's massacre in Tucson, and given the apparent mental instability of he suspected shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, it's possible we may never fully understand why this shooting happened.

Loughner, by all accounts, is clinically ill, and what might set off an armed mad man is necessarily unpredictable. To this extent, the political/rhetorical environment isn't to blame for yesterday's events; the sickness of a disturbed young man is.

Although the shooter was known by his few friends to be mentally ill and a drug addict that did not stop the liberal media from connecting the Tea Party with the shooter.

The Tucson Sheriff and others interviewed since the tragedy hinted strongly that the political rhetoric, particularly by alternative news sources and bloggers drove the shooter commit murder.  He strongly suggested the vitriol rhetoric of radio (Rush Limbaugh) and T.V. (Glenn Beck) pushes people over the edge to commit such acts. What they failed to mention was, there have been people like Limbaugh and Beck all along. 

This sort of thing is not new

News sources, congressmen and women, senators, judges and others associated with the government are already acting as if this were the action of this "uncertain", "troubling" and "violent" times we live in, when in reality thing like this have been happening since since before Plato.

Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post writes in his article, 9/11, Oklahoma City, And Now: Lessons For Obama, "we don't yet know the extent to which the Tucson murders were about politics per se, though the alleged killer apparently did deliberately target a member of Congress. But violent national tragedies such as this one can profoundly affect the temper of the times--and the fate of the presidents who are in office when they happen."

Steve Benen, author of the Political Animal of Washington Monthly writes: "But my fear is the latter observation will somehow mitigate the former. We may come to a point fairly soon at which the investigation of yesterday's massacre is complete, and we learn that the shooting was "just" the result of psychotic madman. "Oh," some might say, "then the political climate is irrelevant; violent rhetoric in the mainstream is inconsequential; and everything's fine."

He should have left it at that, but then added, "No matter what the outcome of the Tucson investigation, everything isn't fine."

Sure not everything is fine, but to make todays troubles out to be worse then they have been in the past is ridiculous. Have we forgotten that not long ago America had slaves, had a civil war, fought against Nazis, communists and nationalists, went through race riots, Watergate, Vietnam, Korea, 911, Iraq and Afganistan. And that is just the senseless violence America has been through at first glance.

To continue, let me remind you, for example, of the Virginia Tech Massacre of April 16, 2007, the University of Texas Massacre by Charles Joseph Whitman of 1966, and the John F. Kennedy Assassination, as far back as November 22, 1963, to name just a few.

Man is by species, a predator. Pre-dating history, men have been killing each other for one reason or another, and its not about to stop now. Sure, we have become more civilized, and laws and law enforcement has curved senseless killing to an all-time low. Never before in history have so few people died at the hands of violence as right now.

But there is no way, no matter how far man evolves spiritually, no matter what laws are passed, no matter how far law enforcement advances to stop the killing completely.

As long as there are human beings, there will be murder, robbery, theft, injustice and oppression. It is part of some men's nature. Genetically. Literally.

Quick to Draw Conclusions and Point Fingers

Less than a year ago a gunman stormed into the Discovery Channel’s headquarters, taking hostages and threatening to kill them all. Then, all were quick to draw conclusions and point fingers. The man was quickly accused of being a tea party activist, but turned out to be an envirowacko leftist raised on Algore’s global warming.

Every time some John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald,  Timothy McVeigh, Maj. Hasan or now Jared Lee Loughner kills someone senselessly, conspiracy theories are hatched, fingers are pointed and the political motives are assigned. Maybe all these assholes were just crazy nutcases!

Backlash and Repercussions

The backlash of the Tragedy in Tuscon will be an outcry for more gun control, more protection for congressmen and women, senators, judges and federal employees. And though there is nothing wrong with more protection for these people, this could be giving him the only possible satisfaction he may have been looking for, promoting fear. Claudia Ricci of the Huffington Post, writes, With all those guns out there ...the Tucson tragedy won't be the last..., but if this were true, these types of attacks should already be commonplace, considering "all these guns out there" have been out there all along.

The Tragedy in Tuscon will end up making it much harder for legitimate, what have been erroneously  labeled "anti-government activists" (of which I am one) to be taken seriously. Worse, he has thrown the criminal element into the mix of legitimate anti-government activists working to expose government corruption and give back the "Power to the People". Real, legitimate "anti-government activists" fight the government in a non-violent fashion with pen and petitions, via social media, websites and blogs. It is exactly the violent Gestapo tactics of shoot first and ask questions later that they (we) oppose.



Lets not be too quick in applying the terms, "crazy", "psychopath" and "insane" to Jared Lee Loughner, so as to give him ammunition when he tries escaping the death penalty with an insanity plea.

Unless, of course, this tragedy sets into motion something that should have been done long ago already;  where in certain cases, people found to be legally insane can be executed, should the "insane" person have willfully killed with malice and/or should there be little or no hope of "curing" the alleged crazy person. Who cares if they know right from wrong! The main thing is, we know right from wrong.

Lets not give this egotistical, selfish bastard the satisfaction of making more out of him than he was; an idiot.

Written By: Tom Retterbush


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