Jared Loughner: Agent Of Chaos?

YOU HAVE TO LIKE THE GUY'S PUBLICITY PHOTO.


This guy has been the talk of EVERY town in the USA for a couple of weeks now, ever since he went all berserko and sprayed bullets into a crowd of spectators after shooting State Representative Gabrielle Giffords and 17 other people. Digging through his personal papers, investigators have found lots of evidence that he considers himself an AGENT OF CHAOS. I heard his math instructor from Pima Community College on the radio, expressing dismay that Loughner wrote the words "MAYHEM FEST!!!" (with the three exclamation points added) on one of his homework assignments. From that point on, he said, the instructor wouldn't turn his back on the guy for fear he might pull a weapon in class. I thought that was a bit dramatic, frankly. Back in my day we ALL wrote stuff like that on our homework with swastikas dripping from our ears and noses, and nobody turned a hair. Ah, but then came Columbine, and from then on you could be caned, or torn apart by dogs, or SOMETHING for even having an unauthorized bobby pin in your pocket at school.

Honestly, what's happened to us?

But let me share my impressions of the sort of chaos this guy has actually spawned:

A) Everyone who previously supported gun ownership, now supports it more than ever. So they can protect themselves against guys like Loughner.

B) Everyone who previously opposed gun ownership, now opposes it more than ever. So guys like Loughner can't get guns.

C) People who want the mentally ill forced into treatment feel their point has been proven.

D) The mentally ill who don't want to be treated see Loughner as a martyr for their cause -- he knew about the Conspiracy, he responded to it the best way he could, and the goon squad came after him. They feel their point has been proven.

In other words, NO CHANGE. Everyone seems to have responded by underlining the belief systems (B.S.) they already had. Nice going, Jared. Sorry, man; your heart's in the right place, for sure, but in my book you're a piker.