Developing a picture of Loughner's motive

The following excerpt from a Department of Homeland Security memo has been circulating on web:

“The investigation has been taken over by the FBI, and is being run through the Tucson Command Post. Here’s what can be confirmed at this time (1800 hrs)… * Gabrielle Giffords Is in ICU.* Federal judge John Roll is deceased. He did rule on a 32 million dollar civil rights lawsuit in February, 2010. That ruling brought death threats to Roll and his family, and for a time he was given a protection detail.* 6 deaths attributed to the shooting. 19 total people hit by gunfire.* suspect’s mother works for the Pima County Board of Supervisors* the suspect has multiple arrests … But no criminal record? Intervention by someone?* no direct connection – but strong suspicion is being directed at AmRen / American Renaissance. Suspect is possibly linked to this group. (through videos posted on his myspace and YouTube account.). The group’s ideology is anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic. Gabrielle Gifford is the first Jewish female elected to such a high position in the US government. She was also opposite this group’s ideology when it came to immigration debate.* DHS have a list of names and dates of birth of all victims.* the ACTIC is still playing a major role in the investigation… Computer forensics is cleaning up the surveillance videos, and images from around the scene, and involved in the investigation – working together, was MCSO, DPS, Phoenix PD, ICE, and of course the FBI. It did just come in from the command post, that the federal judge was Not originally scheduled to attend the meeting, according to wife. She stated that he received a phone call about an hour before and was invited to attend. Wrong place – wrong time. For the planning side, there are impromptu memorials popping up all over the state, but the largest one is downtown phoenix, at the capital.”

My source is: http://www.bucksright.com/homeland-security-looks-to-anti-semitism-as-loughner-motive-6397

Go to the American Renaissance web site
,and you find this:

About American Renaissance
What We Believe

Race is an important aspect of individual and group identity. Of all the fault lines that divide society — language, religion, class, ideology — it is the most prominent and divisive. Race and racial conflict are at the heart of the most serious challenges the Western World faces in the 21st century.

The problems of race cannot be solved without adequate understanding. Attempts to gloss over the significance of race or even to deny its reality only make problems worse. Progress requires the study of all aspects of race, whether historical, cultural, or biological. This approach is known as race realism.

View his YouTube video, "Introduction: Jared Loughner," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHoaZaLbqB4, and you will see reflected there is strong animosity toward government. Other recent videos he posted, including one of a flag burning, confirm his anarchist leanings. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzMDGPgr1Ao

Another internet site --- http://theweek.com/article/index/210904/arizona-massacre-whats-the-motive-5-theories--- suggested five motives, none of which seems mutually exclusive:

1. Anti-Semitism drove Loughner to shoot
A Department of Homeland Security memo reportedly ties Loughner to the "anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic" group American Renaissance. "Add that to Gifford's proud status as Arizona's first Jewish U.S. representative, and rumors of anti-Semitic motives boil to the surface," says Cathy Lynn Grossman in USA Today. In another possible clue, "Jewish media quickly spotted that Hitler's Mein Kampf is among the alleged gunman's favorite books."

2. Anti-government paranoia pushed him over the edge
Neighbor and former classmate Michelle Martinez, 22, describes Loughner as an anti-social "conspiracy theorist" who blamed the government for the 9/11 attacks. His "rambling internet postings" are also full of theories associated with the anti-government "Patriot" movement, says Chris McGreal in The Guardian. These include rants against the legitimacy of paper currency instead of gold and silver, disparagement of the post–Civil War "second American constitution," and dark hints that the government uses language and grammar to "enslave" Americans. Giffords just happened to be "the nearest and most obvious representative of 'the government' that Loughner could find," says Mark Potok at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

3. Black magic played a role
A "sinister shrine" found in Loughner's backyard "reveals a chilling occult dimension" to the case, say Matthew Lysiak and Lukas I. Alpert in the New York Daily News. The "alarming altar" features a skull sitting on top of a pot holding shriveled oranges, surrounded by a row of ceremonial candles — all elements used in occult rituals. Was Loughner "driven by other forces" than politics?

4. It was personal
Police found a evidence in Loughner's house that his alleged attempted assassination was "the product of a three-year-old grudge," says Adrian Chen in Gawker. Loughner was "aggravated" after a 2007 meet-and-greet with Giffords, according to former friends and acquaintances. His "brief, weird exchange" with her then — he reportedly asked, "How do you know words mean anything?" and Giffords apparently responded in Spanish before moving on — "may have made an outsized impression on Loughner."

5. Mental illness is the key factor
This "violence will be [best] understood as a result of a severe, untreated or undertreated mental illness," not politics, says Dr. Keith Ablow in Fox News. In fact, "by all accounts, Loughner was psychiatrically ill long before he shot anyone," and should have been placed in a mental ward after his community college expelled him over fears that he would harm somebody. At present, our "shoddy and shattered" mental-health care system has no hope of "dealing effectively with sick individuals like Jared Loughner."

In other words, one can hypothesize that a mentally ill individual with an interest in black magic, who is anti-semitic and hates government, focused on a government official whom he personally disliked because, as has been reported, she dissed him when he asked a question at one of her earlier political events.

As I have noted in other postings on this blog, the history of anarchism 100 years ago includes incidents involving madmen who exhibited a similar blend of motives.
Consider for example what Wikipedia says about the man who assassinated President McKinley in 1901:

In 1898, after witnessing a series of similar strikes (many ending in violence), Czolgosz again returned home where he was constantly at odds with his stepmother and with his family's Roman Catholic beliefs. It was later recounted that through his life he had never shown any interest in friendship or romantic relationships, and was bullied throughout his childhood by peers.[3] He became a recluse and spent much of his time alone reading Socialist and anarchist newspapers. He was impressed after hearing a speech by the political radical Emma Goldman, whom he met for the first time during one of her lectures in Cleveland in 1901. After the lecture Czolgosz approached the speakers' platform and asked for reading recommendations. A few days later he visited her home in Chicago and introduced himself as Nieman, but Goldman was on her way to the train station. He only had enough time to explain to her about his disappointment in Cleveland's socialists, and for Goldman to introduce him to her anarchist friends who were at the train station.[8] She later wrote a piece in defense of Czolgosz.[9]

Czolgosz was never known to be accepted into any anarchist group. His fanaticism and comments about violence aroused anarchists' suspicions; some even thought he might have been a covert government agent.[citation needed]

The radical Free Society newspaper issued a warning pertaining to Czolgosz, reading:[10]

The attention of the comrades is called to another spy. He is well dressed, of medium height, rather narrow shoulders, blond and about 25 years of age. Up to the present he has made his appearance in Chicago and Cleveland. In the former place he remained but a short time, while in Cleveland he disappeared when the comrades had confirmed themselves of his identity and were on the point of exposing him. His demeanor is of the usual sort, pretending to be greatly interested in the cause, asking for names or soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence. If this same individual makes his appearance elsewhere the comrades are warned in advance, and can act accordingly.

Czolgosz believed there was a great injustice in American society, an inequality which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He concluded that the reason for this was the structure of government itself. Then he learned of a European crime which changed his life: On July 29, 1900, King Umberto I of Italy had been shot dead by anarchist Gaetano Bresci. Bresci told the press that he had decided to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man.

The assassination shocked and galvanized the American anarchist movement, and Czolgosz is thought to have consciously imitated Bresci. Joseph Petrosino's warnings were useless, because McKinley ignored them. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz]

On January 11th USA TODAY opined, "A description of presidential assassin Leon Czolgosz reads very much like accounts of the behavior of Loughner. According to historian Margaret Leech, Czolgosz's "temper was cranky. He wanted to be let alone and was always fighting with his stepmother. It is evident that his mental condition progressively deteriorated. In his last year ... he became more withdrawn and irritable." At the same time, the assassin, according to Leech, "stayed by himself reading many radical newspapers and magazines and attending some Socialist meetings. In revolt against the injustice of the social order, Czolgosz was strongly attracted to the doctrines of anarchism." Clearly, the case can be made equally well for a political motive and a purely idiosyncratic mental condition."

Added the newspaper, "The toxic synergism of madness and symbols of authority has proved especially destructive in American history. And even if we exempt Booth and Oswald from the category of those who were simply mad, we cannot dismiss the possibility that anyone who would undertake the murder of a president must be seriously deranged — even if his professed goal was a political one."

Historian Barbara Tuchman explored the synergy between anarchist theorists and the madmen who carried out assassinations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the chapter "The Word and the Deed" in her book THE PROUD TOWER.
What I think she was suggesting is that words and images, provided purposefully or negligently, can provide form and direction to a violent madman's inchoate urges. This may be what happened in Loughner's case.

I will continue to explore this in future postings.