By Lindsay Renner, Advertising Editor
In his mugshot, Jared Lee Loughner appears as the image of evil. His head is shaved and his eyes hold a hint of lunacy that perfectly complements the twisted grin on his face. Loughner, as many know, is charged with the January 8th shooting outside an Arizona grocery store that left six people dead and fourteen more seriously injured, with US Representative Gabrielle Giffords and District Court judge John Roll among the casualties. To many, acts of violence of this magnitude are the product of troubled minds, the sort of minds society would do well to remove from its masses for progress’s sake. However, strange as it may be, some do not regard Jared Lee Loughner’s case in quite such black and white terms.
The descriptions of Loughner painted by friends and family who knew him before he snapped paint a picture of someone incapable of performing the actions of which he is accused. The boy his friend Zane Guttierez knew was “a nice guy”, and by no means a monster: rather, the common sentiment among Loughner’s past acquaintances was surprise at his actions and a general consensus that he was not the same person the morning he took up arms. Outside the social context, Loughner’s standing appears more troubled. He was known to have behavioral problems which presented him with difficulty in holding jobs, including one job as a dog walker from which he was released because he blatantly disobeyed orders. Loughner also had a criminal recording, including charges of vandalism and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Perhaps the most disturbing feature of Loughner’s background lies in his educational history, and general young adulthood. While studying at Pima Community College, Loughner’s behavior became increasingly more erratic. He was removed from the premises several times for creating disturbances, and shot a YouTube video in which he walked around his campus calling it “unconstitutional” and a “genocide school”, among other things. The video, roughly four minutes in length, never shows Loughner’s face, leaving the viewer to focus on the disturbing nature of his rant. From this video alone, it is easy to see how one of his professors considered him a potential perpetrator of a school shooting.
The video shot on Loughner’s campus was not the only indication of his potential threat level. On social networking forums such as MySpace, Loughner professed a hatred of government and a love of freedom of thought. Another such video, simply entitled “Hello”, is little more than a PowerPoint of Loughner’s political leanings and rantings. He expresses a fear that he has no civil rights, as well as a general disdain for the majority of society. Loughner also felt himself the target of government surveillance.
Perhaps the ultimate question presented by Loughner’s actions is one of general concern for society’s present state. In the modern era, people like Jared Lee Loughner are much more common (or present, depending on how one views things) and therefore more readily dismissed as just another internet wackjob. The internet provides a forum for all people to let the world know what is on their minds and explore new ideas. Whether or not Loughner’s life would have taken this turn without the presence of the internet is tough to say. However, one must acknowledge the fact that Loughner’s disturbances were very, very real and apparently very well hidden. This is not cause for everyone to become paranoid around the quietest people, nor is it license for society to become dismissive of its influence on the individual. Everyone on earth is a product of society. Loughner should be understood, but not exempt.
