The Hartford-Courant has found (but not revealed the name of) an online account believed to have belonged to Newtown school shooting gunman Adam Lanza. In posts on gun message boards, activity in gaming chat rooms, and Wikipedia edits, that user "showed a technical prowess about weapons and computers, a ‘fetish’ for a certain bullet and… READ THE REST
Something about the relationship between a tree and where its apples lie…
From the article:
The poster appears to be part of a video gaming “clan,”
This is the part where I lost it. There are probably tens of millions of Americans who are part of gaming clans. If the Hartford-Courant doesn’t know what a gaming clan is by now, perhaps they should go ask someone in the late 1990s.
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A quick Google search of a quote from the article reveals the suspected account’s username to be “Kaynbred”.
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Another article claimed that the Courant took “great pains” not to reveal the user name. No, they directly quoted the user’s posts, making it trivial to track down the name Kaynbred. They either meant for it to be revealed or they don’t understand Google very well. (Considering that they’re journalists who presumably have research skills, I rather hope that it’s the former.)
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Eh, I wouldn’t be so harsh. Tens of millions means that hundreds of millions aren’t in gaming clans, and I’ll bet most don’t know that it’s a term of art. Putting in quotes seems justified for the likely audience. You wouldn’t use the quotes if it were an article on, say, Boing Boing or Kotaku.
Besides, that was at the end of the article. So if that’s where you lost it, well, you held on pretty well! 
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I hate it when murderers are made into superstars. Each time there’s an investigation into the mind of a killer, it’s like throwing down the glove to the next unknown sicko out there- “You think you can top this? Step on up and give it a try!”.
It’s the same kind of mythology that holds Adolph Hitler personally responsible for 6 million murdered Jews while ignoring the support network enabling that crime.
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There aren’t many returns on the Google search for that name. I do have to wonder if people sanitized their sites or if he used different handles. One does not simply have a couple pages of expanded Google returns if you are a gamer.
Ignoring your Godwin to infinity, you have a point. It is the same type of logic why reporting details or glamorizing suicides in the media can lead to future suicides. Some of the things that the media are trained on (usually) include not describing methods in detail (like the types of gun used) and not showing the mourning or lamentation of friends and family. I think both of these would be applicable when reporting on mass murder. In the case of suicide, it allows a person with suicidal ideation to imagine in detail a glamorous death where everybody mourns for their loss. The case of mass murder might be similar (but instead of mourning, they are remembered in infamy).
Sounds like every ROTC nerd I knew in high school. Except for the correcting of mass murderer wikipedia entries.’
Most people with an interest in guns have a favorite bullet.
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Virtually every one of the recent mass shooters was on a brain chemistry altering anti-depressant prescription drug of a type called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI), a type that has known side effects that include psychosis, violent fantasies, and very rarely, the acting out of those violent fantasies. The increase in mass shootings by youth is in sync with the huge increase since 1990 in the prescribing of these drugs primarily in the US, even to children. Anyone within the pharma or psychiatric professions who tries to speak out on this has their careers destroyed. Read the outstanding 2010 book, “Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America” to read all about that. There’s even a recent wide-release film about SSRIs entitled “Side Effects.”
Youth mass shooters in recent history have been sufferers of Asperger Syndrome or some other disorder that is treated by that over-prescribed antidepressant prescription drug, their disorders determined by me through published comments on their medical histories, books found in search warrant searches or by very clear symptoms shown in personal histories. Those SSRI antidepressants are key drugs used in conjunction with those disorders. They were found during a search of the alleged Aurora shooter’s apartment along with a drug used to counteract SSRI side effects (indicating the alleged shooter was experiencing those side effects) and massive quantities of hard alcohol that greatly magnifies those side effects.
With the recent school bomber who was caught before the act, on a hunch, I thought I’d just plug THAT kid’s disorder, PANDAS, along with “SSRI” into a Google search. Look at what I found:
"Children with PANDAS-related obsessive-compulsive symptoms will benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or anti-obsessional medications. Studies show that the best results are produced from the combination of CBT and an SSRI medication (such as fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, sertaline, or paroxetine). Children with PANDAS appear to be unusually sensitive to the side-effects of SSRIs and other medications, so it is important to “START LOW AND GO SLOW!!”
Please note that sudden, medically unsupervised withdrawal or change of SSRI dosing can also have very negative and dangerous effects, so do nothing without supervision from the prescribing physician. The acting out of violent fantasies due to these drugs is extremely rare, but when you have millions talking them, these events will happen.
@Bazinga said
“Virtually every one of the recent mass shooters was on a brain chemistry altering anti-depressant prescription drug of a type called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI), a type that has known side effects that include psychosis, violent fantasies, and very rarely, the acting out of those violent fantasies.”
You might want to reference this article.
All that you have done so far in your post is state that these mass murderers may have had psychological conditions and were prescribed medication for it. You have NOT shown that the mass murders were because of the medication nor have you even laid the groundwork for the assumption that the mass murders were because of their mental illnesses. Nor have you even demonstrated that the mass murderers were taking their medication! For all we know, mass shootings may be due to social isolation, and the fact that people with mental illness commit these mass shootings more regularly may be because they are the most likely segment of our young population to be socially isolated (in which case neither mental illness nor SSRI use would be directly related). You even say
“When you have millions talking [SSRIs], these events will happen”
This is ridiculous. You can’t prove this. This is beyond simply an irresponsible statement. And this is coming from a person who is skeptical of the effectiveness of SSRIs.
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In addition to Bzishi’s great response, let me simply add: Selection Bias
Hey, Happy Mutants.
Please, for the love of FSM, don’t use the shooter’s name, ever. Call him the “Newtown Shooter” if you must, but using his name perpetuates the legacy that some mass killers are trying to create. We can remember and learn from the event without “glorifying” the perpetrator.
I prefer the phrase The turd seldom falls far from the asshole.
Also, turning someone into a demon seems like a type of denial. By pretending that he was somehow outside human parameters, we can pretend that it won’t ever happen again. There are billions of people whose morals are no better than Mr. H. They’re just not clever enough to seize the state.
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To be fair, how hard would you have to swim upstream to prove it with the full weight of the pharmaceutical industry fighting you?
From a 2003 study in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine:
“Evidence from many sources confirms that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) commonly cause or exacerbate a wide range of abnormal mental and behavioral conditions. These adverse drug reactions include the following overlapping clinical phenomena: a stimulant profile that ranges from mild agitation to manic psychoses, agitated depression, obsessive preoccupations that are alien or uncharacteristic of the individual, and akathisia. Each of these reactions can worsen the individual’s mental condition and can result in suicidality, violence, and other forms of extreme abnormal behavior. Evidence for these reactions is found in clinical reports, controlled clinical trials, and epidemiological studies in children and adults. Recognition of these adverse drug reactions and withdrawal from the offending drugs can prevent misdiagnosis and the worsening of potentially severe iatrogenic disorders. These findings also have forensic application in criminal, malpractice, and product liability cases.” - from “Suicidality, violence and mania caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): A review and analysis”; International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 16 (2003/2004) 31-49 31, IOS Press
Also:
Newtown Shootings: A Caution About Violence and SSRIs
SSRIs rank high in the top ten drugs that cause violence
Published on December 20, 2012
SSRIs, suicide and violent behavior: is there a need for a better definition of the depressive state?
In addition, view the following on YouTube - “The Drugging of Our Children” and “Psychotropic Drugs and Children”
Then read the book I listed in my original post. Then get back with me.
and this can only add to the fun…
there’s quite a bit more info on the googles if you are so inclined.
“technical prowess about weapons”?
That is a load of crap. Go read his what few posts made at THR and you will quickly be able to tell the dude is a complete idiot with zero technical prowess.
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