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Dec 6th, 2017
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Pooh-Bah
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The man accused of shooting and killing two people in a Knoxville church Sunday wrote that he hated liberals and was bitter he couldn't find a job, police said Monday.
Authorities added he may also have been angry about possibly losing his food stamps. Damn libruls are ruining this country.
"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel
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I think this is a lot of speculation by very upset people, to be honest. For one thing, if the man was specifically voicing a real problem with Christianity (as one article implied), I'd think he would have attacked a much more conservative congregation.
What it comes down to is the fact that he, like others who chose his solution, is a deeply disturbed human being. He sounds like an undiagnosed manic-depressive at best; his problems with his ex-wife could indicate a tendency towards violent solutions.
I think every motive in the world will be attributed to this man - he disagreed with the Bible, he disagreed with liberals, he was upset with his ex-wife, his motorcycle wouldn't start that day. I'd be surprised if anyone ever really knows why.
My opinion only, of course.
Julia
A 45’s quicker than 409
Betty’s cleaning’ house for the very last time
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Pooh-Bah
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Julia
I do think you are correct that there are likely multiple interacting reasons that this man did what he did. And so it would be simplistic to settle on just one or two.
On the other hand, he went to a church... a church where he did not attend... and started shooting people. He could have gone to a gas station because of high prices. He could go to the post office or a super market. He could go to the federal building. But he chose a "liberal" church.
IMO, that choice must be indicative at some level of where his frustrations lay. And in my mind it seems likely (though speculative) that the choice is in some form related to the vitriolic contempt that some people constantly expose themselves to by listening to hyper conservative talk show hosts, faux news, and innumerable evangelists and televangelists. IMO, it is not so very different from the dynamic of Nazi Germany where frustrated Germans were constantly told that their country was being destroyed by THE JEWS>>>THE DIRTY FILTHY JEWS. If you constantly hear a message like that, I think it has an impact. And IMO that impact is corroding our national ability to form a workable consensus to address the difficult problems we face. And IMO that constant drumbeat of contempt and resentment is fertilizing the potential for some future event that will see a violent mob like reaction attacking some group... maybe illegal aliens, maybe non-heterosexuals...maybe Iran... IMO the groundwork for American Brown-shirts is being laid.
"It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves. --Bertrand Russel
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Julia
I do think you are correct that there are likely multiple interacting reasons that this man did what he did. And so it would be simplistic to settle on just one or two.
On the other hand, he went to a church... a church where he did not attend... and started shooting people. He could have gone to a gas station because of high prices. He could go to the post office or a super market. He could go to the federal building. But he chose a "liberal" church.
IMO, that choice must be indicative at some level of where his frustrations lay. And in my mind it seems likely (though speculative) that the choice is in some form related to the vitriolic contempt that some people constantly expose themselves to by listening to hyper conservative talk show hosts, faux news, and innumerable evangelists and televangelists. IMO, it is not so very different from the dynamic of Nazi Germany where frustrated Germans were constantly told that their country was being destroyed by THE JEWS>>>THE DIRTY FILTHY JEWS. If you constantly hear a message like that, I think it has an impact. And IMO that impact is corroding our national ability to form a workable consensus to address the difficult problems we face. And IMO that constant drumbeat of contempt and resentment is fertilizing the potential for some future event that will see a violent mob like reaction attacking some group... maybe illegal aliens, maybe non-heterosexuals...maybe Iran... IMO the groundwork for American Brown-shirts is being laid. 
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Harv3, I think Ardy's analysis is spot-on. If you feel that he's seriously misguided, can you give us some specifics so we can discuss this rationally, point-by-point?
Larry
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"To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question." - Edward Abbey
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Julia
I do think you are correct that there are likely multiple interacting reasons that this man did what he did. And so it would be simplistic to settle on just one or two.
On the other hand, he went to a church... a church where he did not attend... and started shooting people. He could have gone to a gas station because of high prices. He could go to the post office or a super market. He could go to the federal building. But he chose a "liberal" church.
<snip> I still say that when we try to assign rational reasons to irrational behavior we're bound to fail. And I think that's especially true when you have only the post-event descriptions of the person to go by - even then, only those descriptions the media choose to post. It's a little like trying to diagnose a sick woman from a videotape, no? It's just a personal thing, I suppose, but I have little patience when people try to figure out why someone irrational did something irrational. The primary reason for the event is because he was irrational.The man who shot up the Westroads Mall in Omaha had serious problems, but I've not heard anyone say they were directly related to the retail store in which he killed 9 people. He killed 9 people because he was deeply sick. Do I believe our culture adds to the problem, makes it worse? Absolutely. But many, many people hear those influences without shooting up stores and churches. We need to take care of the underlying illness, because that's what's ultimately at fault. YMMV; I know it seems like a kind of chicken-and-egg thing.
Julia
A 45’s quicker than 409
Betty’s cleaning’ house for the very last time
Betty’s bein’ bad
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...I still say that when we try to assign rational reasons to irrational behavior we're bound to fail. Exactly. Unless there was a note left explaining why by the shooter - we'll never know. Sometimes humans act in irrational, random ways - and sometimes, it just is, what it is.
Contrarian, extraordinaire
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Julia, I think this man's intentions and motivations were pretty clear...he left a detailed 4-page letter outlining his hatred for the liberals that he blamed for his lot in life. According to the News-Sentinel, Knoxville police department investigator Steve Still wrote in the search warrant that Jim David Adkisson, the man who was arrested in the rampage, went to the church "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets."
Adkisson, who had served in the military, said "that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement he would then target those that had voted them in office," the search warrant states. Among the items seized from Adkisson's house were three books: "The O'Reilly Factor," by television commentator Bill O'Reilly; "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," by radio personality Michael Savage; and "Let Freedom Ring," by political pundit Sean Hannity.
Larry
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"To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question." - Edward Abbey
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Member CHB-OG
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Adkisson, who had served in the military, said "that because he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement he would then target those that had voted them in office," the search warrant states. Among the items seized from Adkisson's house were three books: "The O'Reilly Factor," by television commentator Bill O'Reilly; "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder," by radio personality Michael Savage; and "Let Freedom Ring," by political pundit Sean Hannity. OMG!!! O'Reilly, Savage, and Hannity must be proud! 
Contrarian, extraordinaire
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