THE GROUP W BENCH

 

I didn't see news most of today, then took a peek...

"Records obtained from the Pima County, Ariz., criminal database show Justin Loughner was arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor charge. The records suggest that Loughner paid a $20 fee and completed a court-ordered program for drug offenders. Three months later he was cited for running a stop sign."

OK...there's a lot of screaming and finger pointing going on right now. 

"How did he get a gun?"

"Who let him slip through the cracks?"

"He's absoluteley deranged."

But am I the only one that sees that as far as everyone knew  - this guy was no more dangerous than Arlo Guthrie in Alice's  Restaurant -- arrested for littering and causing a nuisance : "Kid, whad'ja get?"  I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage."

btw...Guthrie, like Loughner, wasn't accepted into the Army. As the Sgt said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington."

                

Crazy...Crazy for Talk Radio

"Research has found that a diagnosis of major mental illness alone is not a predictor of violence. The severity of a person’s illness, their past history of violence, substance abuse and criminality are the more important concerns, yet the crime is often linked to the diagnosis of mental illness itself. " *

OK...I'm right on board with saying that this Arizona shooter has to be "crazy"...

BUT now radio/tv talkers (is this an attempt by the radio hosts being accused of the violence inciting rhetoric to shift focus off of themselves?) are blaming the senseless massacre on "Us". 

Everyone. You, me, teachers, neighbors, strangers... We all should have seen the guy was crazy and...what?...made a citizen's commitment to a mental institution? 

Let's be real, if we start willy-nilly locking up every guy with extreme political leanings, uncommon reading habits (Mein Kampf, Communist Manifesto) or who's been described (as this killer was) as a “political radical” a “loner” and “obsessed with the 2012 prophecies"...well, we might as well start putting a trace on the radio phone lines and send out the Talk Radio Police to lock 'em all up. 

(...we obviously CAN NOT predict this behavior based on eccentric or bizarre behavior alone)

 A Media Guide for Reporting on Mental Illness

is available at http://www.mentalhealthreporting.org/

* http://www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/dbhr/mh/MHMediaBriefinghandout08022010.pdf