I pinned it. (It’s not a guess when it’s right.)
I wrote in my previous Arizonica post…Arizonica-A Surfeit of Myths:
…the one “myth” that I would bet most strongly programmed [Loughner], the video game myth of invulnerability and lack of real pain.
From the always execrable Wall Street Journal. (Sorry. Even the shitter has its uses.)
Postings of a Troubled Mind
Accused Shooter Wrote on Gaming Site of His Job Woes, Rejection by Women
—snip—
Mr. Loughner posted the messages in a private forum associated with the online game Earth Empires.
Earth Empires is a free browser based strategy game where you take control of your nation’s military and economy. Command your country’s military to attack and defend against your enemies. Execute attack strategies to relieve opponents of their resources and land. Strategically invest in technology to outpace the economies of other countries. Ally with your friends or make new friendships by joining a clan. Conduct military operations, govern your country and build your empire.
Hmmmm…a whole lotta killin’ goin’ on, betcha.
How fun!!!
Read on. There’s more.
Lots more.
The WSJ article continues:
Gaming appears to have been an important part of Mr. Loughner’s life. In the 7th grade, he and a friend, Alex Montanaro, began playing the multiplayer online games Starcraft and Diablo, which featured complex virtual worlds where players assume roles and play against other people around the globe, Mr. Montanaro said in emails over the weekend and Monday.
Set in the 26th century, the game revolves around three species fighting for dominance in a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy: the Terrans, humans exiled from Earth skilled at adapting to any situation; the Zerg, a race of insectoid aliens in pursuit of genetic perfection obsessed with assimilating other races; and the Protoss, a humanoid species with advanced technology and psionic abilities, attempting to preserve their civilization and strict philosophical way of living from the Zerg.
Goddamn them insectoid aliens!!! Crush ’em like the bugs that they are!!!
…the start of the series focused on the human nations which make up the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Orcish Horde which arrived in Azeroth via a dark portal, beginning the great wars. The Orcs arrived from another world, referred to as Draenor or Outland, a world which has been shattered into pieces by demonic magics. Later on in the series the world of Azeroth was expanded, revealing the new continents of Kalimdor and Northrend, allowing the introduction of the Night Elves, Tauren and other major races into the universe. The world of Azeroth also contains the traditional fantasy setting races of elves, dwarves, gnomes and trolls.
Fuckin’ demons. They’re everywhere!!! ‘Specially that Giffords bitch!!!
WSJ again:
—snip—
Around the 9th grade… Mr. Loughner abandoned the old games and started playing Earth: 2025, now called Earth Empires….
—snip—
Ninth grade.
About 14 years old.
Nice.
Just about the time that one should be at least beginning to learn how to use the English language as a useful tool. Not on the level of Faulkner or Joyce or Shakespeare; just well enough so that it will help to earn a living. It’s not as if Loughner was “unintelligent”, though. Not really. Ever look into one of those combat games? Incredibly complex. He just used his mind in ways that pushed his emotional life…his mythic life, if you will…over the edge of sanity and into a dementia that ended up on the killing floor in Tucson. Instead of parsing sentences he parsed imaginary killing tactics.
Here are some posts Loughner wrote on that gaming site. Check out the grammar and syntax.
“Would you hit a Handy Cap Child/ Adult? This is a very interesting question….There are mental retarded children. They’re possessing teachers that are typing for money. This will never stop….The drug addicts need to be weeded out to be more intelligent. The Principle of this is that them c– educators need to stop being pigs.””
“I bet your hungry….Because i know how to cut a body open and eat you for more then a week. ;-)”
“Its funny…when..they say lets go on a date about 3 times..and they dont….go…”
“Its funny when your 60 wondering……what happen at 21.”
So here we are in Arizonica, folks.
Loughner is living next door to you while peaceful, hard-working Central Americans are being run out of the state because they were not born in this incredibly fucked up country.
Nice twice!!
Gonna go buy a Glock yourself in order to deal with him? With his slightly less skewed brothers and sisters who are right this moment residing in the ever more rapidly metastasizing military/police/intelligence system that is rapidly taking over this country under cover of the war on “terrorism?”
Seems like lots of people are doing just that. Running out to get that Glock before the stock runs out or the PermaGov decides that an armed citizenry is more dangerous to its own interests than an unarmed one.
Glock sales up in Arizona after shooting
By FIONA ANDERSON 12 JAN 2011 COMMENTS(2) FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR
It turns out the shooting of representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson Arizona on the weekend was good for gun sales.
According to a story in Bloomberg (read it here), sales of handguns jumped 60 per cent in Arizona on Jan. 10, the Monday after the shooting, compared to the corresponding Monday a year earlier .
And it wasn’t just Arizonans who were rushing out and buying. Single day sales of handguns in Ohio were up 65 per cent and up 38 per cent in Illinois.
And why were they buying?
“When something like this happens people get worried that the government is going to ban stuff,” Greg Wolff, the owner of two gun shops in Arizona was quoted as saying.
And Glocks – the gun used in the shooting, which killed six and injured 14 – were flying out the doors, according to Wolff.
So how many guns were sold on the Monday after the shooting? In Arizona 263. In Ohio 395. In the U.S. 7,906.
The cost of a Glock: $499 US.
Does anyone else find this frightening?
Frightening?
Not as frightening as seeing too-close-for-comfort replicas of Loughner’s crazed face walking by me on the NYC streets about 200 times/day.
Quite often under a police cap.
Or worse.
Have we finally stepped over the line here in the U. S. A.? The Untied Straits of Arizonica? The line that separates functional, societal sanity from a bloodlust-based, power mad system like Hitler’s Germany?
We shall soon see.
Crazed gamers everywhere are licking their nutjob chops.
Watch.
Some of `em got them Top Secret clearances, too.
Bet on it.
Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities…
—snip—
Simulations exist in many different forms, with varying degrees of realism. In recent times, the scope of simulations has widened to include not only military but also political and social factors, which are seen as inextricably entwined in a realistic warfare model.
Whilst many governments make use of simulation, both individually and collaboratively, little is known about it outside professional circles. Yet modelling is often the means by which governments test and refine their military and political policies. Military simulations are seen as a useful way to develop tactical, strategical and doctrinal solutions
Dr. S.: Colonel Loughner…could you run that simulation by me one more time?
Col. Loughner: Yes SIR, sir!!!
Dr. S.: Thank you. Thank you very much. That will do quite nicely!!!
Quite nicely indeed.
Fallujah
Abu Ghraib
Guantanamo
Blackwater/Xe
Wikileaks
See any pattern here, folks?
I do.
In the torture rooms as well as in the boss rooms. Only difference? The boss room inhabitants got better degrees.
Bet on it.
Buckle up and hunker down.
It ain’t over yet.
Bet on that as well.
I guess they don’t call it “The Great Game” fer nuthin’.
Later…
AG
