Anatomy of mass murder
By Tom Quiner
Is a man more likely to kill based on internal or external influences?
Liberals and the mainstream media (MSM) suggest external influences. Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Movement, and conservatism in general have created a climate of hate, goes their thinking, that leads people to kill those with whom they disagree.
In my previous post, a couple of Quiner’s Diner readers took me to task for describing the accused Arizona mass murderer and assassin, Jared Lee Loughner, as a pot-smoking atheist. You can read their comments in my previous post. Basically, they agreed with my premise of journalistic bias in the reporting done by the MSM. They suggest that ‘pot-smoking atheist’ is an irrelevant label.
Let’s go back to my opening question: is a man more likely to commit mass murder based on external influences or internal ones? In other words, if a man’s mind is impaired by drug use, could that affect his judgement and reduce his inhibitions to act on his worst impulses?
If a man denies the existence of God, the Author of the commandment, “though shalt not kill,” is that man more likely to kill?
I don’t have the answer. Who does when it comes to warped minds?
The political Left is pushing for the legalization of marijuana. They have successfully removed God from the public square. In particular, the Ten Commandments have been removed from public schools. Interestingly, mass murder has exploded in America since our kid’s stopped seeing a daily message from God that tells them that killing is wrong.
In light of the complexities of the human psyche, it seems that pot-smoking and atheism have at least as much relevance as Sarah Palin when it comes to making snap judgements about the motives of mass-murderers.
Better yet, why not leave the labels off and just report the facts?
You’re right on Tom. I’m so sick of hearing right0-wing talk show hosts blasting the right-wing talk show hosts for causing this tragedy…when it doesn’t seem to occur to them — that they’re doing exactly what they’re accusing the others of doing. (???)
The fact is that this man alone is responsible for his actions. His pot smoking and athiesm sure didn’t help him resist this terrible temptation, and I would certainly place more weight on any involvement they would have had on his committing this crime – than on anything any right-wing public figure would have said — which by the way he probably never listened to on a regular basis anyway. [did I hear somewhere that he idolized Barak Obama and Saul Alinsky?….where’s the blame being pointed to toward them?]
If Arizona had the same laws as Washington D.C. and California, allowing for a maximum 10 round magazine, it follows that most likely, only about 2 people would have been killed (6 divided by 3). The killer had a 30 round magazine, perfectly legal in Arizona, and was tackled once he paused to reload.
I think that’s more relevant than the Ten Commandments posted anywhere. I assume the killer was aware of the Ten Commandments. And anyway, wouldn’t the posted Ten Commandments at schools be classified as an external influence? Such as Sarah Palin encouraging people to “reload” and “aim?” (Metaphorically, of course). They are both external influences, just different messages and different messengers. I really respect Sarah Palin for her pro-life stance, but I just cannot understand and support what seems to me to be hate-filled messages, even though in this case we have no indication the killer was influenced at all by Palin.
I have a friend who smokes pot for multiple sclerosis. After many years of trying standard pharmaceutical drugs, he found that is what works best for many of his symptoms. And I have a few friends who are atheists. I can assure you that none of them will ever open fire in a crowd (they firmly believe that killing is wrong). They are actually very kind and good people, and not scary at all. However, I don’t personally know anybody who is both an atheist and a pot smoker, so there’s a possibility you do have something there. 😉