Arizona shooter Jared Loughner wrote disturbing comments on online gaming site
By Jeff MillsJanuary 12th, 2011, 5:15 pmComments (10) 
A trove of 131 online-forum postings written by accused Arizona gunman Jared Loughner between April and June of last year has been shared with the Wall Street Journal by a forum reader. Loughner posted the disturbing messages in a private forum associated with the online game Earth Empires. The postings display an obsession with language, a hatred of the educational system, and aggression, foreshadowing themes in his later YouTube videos. One rant he delivered was titled "Why Rape": "There are rape victims that are under the influence of a substance. The drinking is leading them to rape. The loneliness will bring you to depression. Being alone for a very long time will inevitably lead you to rape."
Fellow forum participants speculated that he was using drugs, or mentally impaired. Loughner had had trouble gaining even minimum-wage employment, submitting sixty-five applications to no avail, and was repeatedly rejected by women. On May 5, he began a thread titled "Talk, Talk, Talking about Rejection." On May 6 he wrote, "It's funny... when..they say lets go on a date about 3 times... and they don't... go..." This is Taxi Driver and Columbine-level alienation. You can see it in his words. A sad story all around.
Comments ( 10 )
How much do you want to bet "Fellow forum participants speculated that he was using drugs, or mentally impaired" translates to "lol r u fuckin stoned" or "your retarded."
Sorry, but these in and of themselves are nothing menacing. You see guys like this on any forum on the internet.
Hell, I'm starting to think my posts on this forum could be construed as disturbing.
Ever been around a genuinely psychotic person? They ooze this feeling that just gives you the creeps... I imagine a lot of this is less than him just being an outsider being rejected and a lot more about people not wanting to be close to someone who they sense to be unsafe or unbalanced.
No hope of love or fulfillment. Of even a crappy job or a date with someone he isn't that into. No wonder he snapped. Aren't those the same reasons that motivate suicide bombers?
I was nearly that hopeless at his age. It was hard nursing that explosive rage and coping with that suicidal despair. And then things started turning around.
There but for the grace of God go I.
If just one girl had given him the time of day this probably wouldn't have happened.
I think it's easy to go back and look for signs to why this happened. but going forward we should just look for ways to prevent it from happening again.
smart/good comment
Um, but kateri, that is exactly how you look for ways to prevent it from happening again — by assessing the problem's origins.
No, this is how you hunt down scapegoat issues.
So disturbing
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