Sunday, January 09, 2011

In The Aftermath Of The Giffords Shootings: An Entreaty And Explanation

Part I: The Entreaty

After an entire Sunday news cycle has been driving (and dictating the pace of) this post-shooting discussion, we have a little more information to work with and have had some time to sort through what we do have and analyze it, more judiciously.

It comes as no surprise that the Left Wing establishment has made every effort to demonize those who do NOT stand for their positions on important issues, or their worldview in general. Almost immediately, we heard about Sarah Palin's target map of Blue Dog Democrats who conservatives wanted to unseat in the November election, and we heard almost incessant rhetoric about the TEA Party movement in general. Naturally, the fingers were pointed at them.

If commentators were not directly pointing fingers, they were subtlety leading in that direction through the way they phrased their questions in general. Their goal seemed to be creating sound bites to be used over and over, in order to plant suspicion that the killer was probably a Right Wing nut job, affiliated with the TEA Party organizations.

And why not?

Over the course of the last two years we have seen the desperate attempts to discredit the movement with hateful rhetoric, accusations of racism, going so far as to plant union thugs at rallies who claim to be white supremacists. We have even witnessed members of the CBC (while putting up a brazen display of arrogance and power drunkenness) claiming that they heard someone use the "N" word and accused another of spitting, on one of them. None of that has ever been proven even with a $100,000 reward at stake, but that has not stopped their desperate accusations.

Still, none of that worked, as was made evident by the last election.

Bluntly put, that kind of fiery inflammatory rhetoric made no difference in the outcome. And it has driven the Left crazy to no end.

So what do they do now?

They, being the crass and desperate opportunists they are, use a tragic and senseless situation/event to take the opportunity to stoke the fire even more. The goal is the same, the methods are just a little different.

No one of any political influence has failed to be in utter shock and disbelief, anymore than the officials who have benefited from this last election. They are hurt every bit as much as those who did not.

This is not who we are as a nation or a movement. Decent people do not seek this kind of thing, nor do we revel in it. But, this is exactly what the despicable extremes of both sides want and they will surely get it, if cooler heads do not prevail on BOTH sides.

It is not enough for the conservatives in power to condemn this kind of thing, we must have help from the people who we merely disagree with us on policy issues. And where are these people? Where is Harry Reid? Where is Nancy Pelsoi? Nowhere.

I personally do not want anyone who I vehemently disagree with on politics, to suffer anything like this.... in any way, shape, or form. I want them VOTED out of power, into the private sector. But I do NOT wish them to become dead at the hands of anyone else, because of their politics. NONE, not one. I respect life way too much.

Believe it, for it is true. And in the meantime, know without a doubt I personally know of no one else who believes in this kind of thing either. And I kniow many who are far more conservative than me.

So if the reader of this post is still with me, please understand something clearly. There are some things that are not being made known by the Media hacks who are advancing this inflammatory discussion Many of them are directing this story toward decent citizens. who merely want to slow the government down from spending our children's and grandchildren's future away. NOTHING MORE.

What we know is still relatively limited. More may be known than has been released, but for some reason the information hasn't been made public. Bits and pieces about the event itself and the possible motives behind it, are slowly coming out. But some things have been refuted along the way, as well.

The 24-hour news cycle has been a double-edged sword at times, since its development. Thus, it is always important for intelligent people to realize that what we think we may know at a given moment, may or may not be true. The 24/7 news networks do this for ratings.

"This just in, but we cannot verify it yet"...."we have word from some source"....all of that kind of thing has to be dealt with much patience and prudence. It is utterly imperative to be circumspect in the formation of our conclusions.


Part II: The Explanation

From what we have been able to establish so far, we can say with much certainty that this gunman was a bit deranged. Derangement comes from a variety of sources, one of those is mental illness.

In the case with physical illness, the sources are different in nature and must be looked at differently. But we also know that some organ systems can affect others, causing other complications along the way. Such is the case with mental illness. And I have worked with mentally ill patients some years ago and can say from a professional perspective that not all disorders are exactly the same.

My intention in this portion of the post is not to teach a class on mental illness per se, but to help lay people to understand a little something about what we term, thought disorders. One of those disorders is Schizophrenia.

There are several types. But for the purposes this discussion is not important to know much about them or their differences. It takes years of experience to have the ability to diagnose more specifically.

What is important is that you know that a huge component of a thought disorder is based on the kinds of delusional material they think about. They may be have grandiose thoughts, thoughts of persecution, or may exhibit paranoia. Whatever the nature of those thoughts, most of the time, they are not right thoughts.... but just know the person affected establishes them as fact, in their own mind.

There are primarily three topics that these people can ruminate and fixate on: Sex, religion, and politics. They can have one, all, or any combination of the three. It makes no difference the number or which ones.

As we we believe we now know, this gunman put up some videos along with a My Space page, and possibly a Facebook page. (I have seen the videos and I will not link to them. If you wish to see them, others have done so and you can see them if you wish.) The important thing to note here is he was fixated on both religion and politics.

We know that he has a history of erratic and disruptive behaviors. How many times have we seen this before now? How many times have we heard the people say, there were red flags everywhere, yet nobody did anything at all?

A guy gets fired for erratic behaviors or just being creepy in some way and later he shoots the place up. Many times we find the man was paranoid and could have been helped, if someone would have made an effort to intervene properly.

But let's refocus here.

Remember, the thoughts of the person with a thought disorder are not accurate.

It is the person's perception that is deluded. Many times there are impulsive acts, sometimes they are more deliberate after long periods of fixation. We still do not know for a surety what angle this guy came from, in the political component of his delusions.

We do know that he wanted some kind of new currency, but what that was and why was not made particularly clear. We have evidence that has been spiraling into this inaccurate world of his, for awhile now.

The argument now becomes the motive.

Was it political in a real sense... or was it as a result of a series of delusional thoughts?

From the evidence we have, it strongly points to the delusions.

Was it driven by Left Wing or Right Wing politics?

From what we have gathered so far, we cannot tell right now. The real issue here is whether the guy was able to make a true conscious decision based on some real cause, or something he merely believed to be a cause.

I do not believe that Timothy McVeigh was mentally ill. He had a cause and a belief system and was fully capable of planning and implementing a heinous act that will forever be in our minds, whenever these kinds of things occur. The mentally ill person with a thought disorder is typically not capable, because they are disorganized and erratic as his videos have shown.

So Hillary Clinton can travel the world and tell others that an extremist shot Rep. Giffords if she wants. But she clearly does not have her facts correct to make such a statement. Neither do the MSM hacks or the Left Wing web sites like the Daily Kos.

So in forming your own judgments, be careful that you do not buy into just one aspect or component of this event, without considering all things together. And more than anything, let your conscience me your guide and leave the hacks to make utter and complete fools of themselves.

The fact remains that there are six people dead and others wounded, and a Congresswoman fighting for her life. Let's pray for them and their loved ones that they can find the strength to endure a very difficult situation, they did not ask to be put in.

11 comments:

Always On Watch said...

More information about Loughner is coming out now. See THIS.

Loughner isn't quite fitting in with the present meme circulating in the mainstream media.

We do need cooler heads. Sadly, several generations of Americans have grown up to trust their feelings and to "let it all hang out."

LA Sunset said...

Thanks for the link AOW, I did hear about this but from a different outlet....I have FOX on right now and have been up on it.

But I didn't have this info when I penned this post.

It's clear that we have a very disturbed person here. But I am very curious to know how this guy was able to live. He had a house, but nothing has been said about a job. Very little about his family.

There is so much we do not know yet.

Right Truth said...

Reports say and documents back up the fact that he had been stalking Giffords for three years.

There are so many different mental, psychiatric problems and combinations there of. Mix that with drugs, the occult, you get a dangerous mixture.

Debbie
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com

LA Sunset said...

//Reports say and documents back up the fact that he had been stalking Giffords for three years.//

Which is (within itself) a bit chilling. How many other lawmakers have these kinds of people following them wound, unaware. Just like the stalker that killed that young actress whose name escapes me at the moment, these people are sick and disturbed... to put it mildly.

Ticker said...

I tend to agree that the individual suffered from a mental disorder but rather than Schizophrenia, although it is sometimes considered a sub-type, I would rather consider
Behavior Personality Disorder as a prime factor especially when taking in the behavioral attributes of this individual. Again, I am not here to teach on BPD and am not an authority on it but have dealt with such and am only offering this as a possible cause for his behavior.

++The indicators are taken from he Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as well as the WHO description of BPD refered to as Impulsive and Boarderline indicators.
++
A tendency to act unexpectedly and without consideration of the consequences. There are several occasions as witnessed by his school mates as to this type behavior.
A tendency to be quarrelsome and to conflict with others when impulsive acts are thwarted or critized. His previous experience with Ms Gifford could certainly be evidence of such in his case.
Outbursts of anger or violence with inability to control the resulting behavioral explosions. Certainly the shooting would tend to offer evidence of this.
Difficulty in maintaining any course of action that offers no immediate reward. Reflected in his dropping out of school and withdrawal from friends.
An unstable and capricious mood. Explained by post on facebook by his friend saying that he had become moody and had mood swings.
Uncertainty of self image. Again expressed by former associates.
Threats of self harm. His post on facebook and elsewhere stated that he had these thoughts and that in his attempt to kill Gifford that perhaps he would die. I believe he apologized to some for doing so.
A feeling of emptiness, not belonging etc. He was said to be a loner. so that is self explanatory.

Just some thoughts but clearly he was one disturbed individual.

I come to ask also, Where were his parents? Individuals with BPD are often "abandoned", "rejected" "ignored" by parents. Surely , if they were paying any attention at all they would have noted some very disturbing actions by this individual but evidently they either totally ignored his actions or didn't care. We don't know and probably never will.
The defense will do well to use the psychological defense and I am sure they will.
I go back also on the school, both high school and college who certainly must have noted his disturbing behavior patterns. why did they not attempt to find Mental Health treatment/help for the individual. there is no mention of either doing so. Could it be another example of the failed system we call education?

I've rambled too long. Thanks for taking time to read.

LA Sunset said...

Thanks for your input, Ticker. And please know that it is not rambling if there is substance.

I had thought of Axis II, but wasn't sure which direction to look. You probably know better than me the stats, but I have been under the impression that BPD in men was rare. When I worked in the discipline, my experiences led me to believe that the factors that led to BPD in women were similar to the ones that led to Anti-Social in men.

Also, I never knew many BPDs who were violent with others, only themselves. Some were very manipulative and were subject to sudden outbursts, but I would see them throw things.

I also thought of schizotypal, but then again wasn;t sure aboutn that because they tend to be more inwardly focused and are more of a danger to themselves.

But as it stands, it may well be that he has mixed features that will not be nailed down for a certainty. Anyway, thanks again for your input. It is good to have different perspectives in such an abstract science.

GM Roper said...

@Ticker... I think you meant to type Borderline Personality Disorder.

LAS, this was a very good post my friend. I plan to link to it in a later post as you say some things that I fervently believe to be the case.

While the right is noted for some inflammatory rhetoric, the left is pervasively shot through and through (if you will forgive that particular imagery) with violence and calls to violence, not the least of why by Barack Obama himself.

The shooting of all these innocents makes my blood boil, but the smoke had hardly cleared away before the left was seizing on the "target" map put out by Sarah Palin's organization. The fact of the matter are that the so called crosshairs are not cross hairs at all, as anyone who has used a telescopic sight can attest. Rather, they are registration marks used in certain kinds of printing (you can see them on some paper supplies at any Office Depot) and surveyor's marks used on maps to designate a specific location, in Representative Giffords case, the 8th District of Arizona.

Additionally, the shooter has a history of making death threats to individuals, but the "target" of the threat was discouraged from filing charges because the Sheriff's Deputies told them that it would possibly make trouble for his mother who was a Pima County employee. Perhaps, in their attempts to be kind, they set up the violent actions of the killer.

Lord knows that young man should have been on medications long ago. The Community College had stated that he would not be allowed to return to school UNTIL he had sought help for his mental problems. All this and more is available for those willing to do some research. Too bad Paul Krugman, Markos Moulitsas and the folk at DU didn't even try to do so.

GM Roper said...

Parenthetically I agree with Dr. Sanity that the young fellow is likely a Paranoid Schizophrenic.

Always On Watch said...

Loughner's stalking of Congresswoman Giffords puts me in mind of John Hinckley.

LA Sunset said...

Betty,

Or whoever you are,

Don;t ever leave a rambling diatribe with no damn paragraphs, as spam, on this blog again. Doing it once was enough, but you did it twice.

If you do, I will delete it just like the others.

LA Sunset said...

Thanks for you input, GM. I know you have much experience in this area.

//Additionally, the shooter has a history of making death threats to individuals, but the "target" of the threat was discouraged from filing charges because the Sheriff's Deputies told them that it would possibly make trouble for his mother who was a Pima County employee. Perhaps, in their attempts to be kind, they set up the violent actions of the killer.//

I'd like to see the media look at this closer, but as we all know it isn't going to happen. If the TEA Party candidates do not start to defend the right to free speech on the house floor when it reconvenes, these bastards are going to start pressing for the "fairness doctrine". And we all know what that means.

This will likely backfire on the liberals in the end. But until then, we must endure more of their vile slime oozing out of their mouths on a daily basis.

In the end, the Sheriff is probably covering for the fact that this man's mom DID work for the county and garnered some favor in this situation.