OPINION: The first victim

There were a lot of victims from that event, but there is one nobody dares talk about — the shooter himself.

Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old man who did the shooting, apparently suffers from a psychotic disorder, possibly schizophrenia. How the courts will deal with his condition and the shooting as a legal matter remains to be seen.

We don’t know yet if Loughner had ever undergone psychiatric evaluation, or if he was receiving medication, or if perhaps he had fallen through the cracks and had never received any kind of help. Since schizophrenia mostly emerges from the mid-teens through the early 20s, it’s entirely possible that his friends and family didn’t fully understand that his litany of bizarre behavior was due to a serious mental illness.

Whatever we learn about his condition, the reaction to the shootings by far-left media about Loughner’s actions was among the most disgusting comments I’ve ever heard. Led by the liberal New York Times, the far-left quickly blamed the shootings on what it sees as hate speech by conservative politicians on the right.

According to the mantra of the far-left, the Arizona shootings were the result of undue hate fomented by the right, especially politicians like Sarah Palin who has been crucified on this issue by the left. In their view, Loughner’s actions were kindled by the right and were the result of political, not medical problems.

While there is much room to debate the nature of political discourse in the country from both the left and right, for anyone to link this shooting tragedy to political commentary is simply vile and unworthy of the kind of public discussion that has taken place in recent days.

What would the New York Times write, for example, if Loughner had said he heard the voice of Obama telling him to do the shooting? Of course the NYT would view that as simply a man with serious mental problems; they certainly wouldn’t blame Obama.

But can you imagine what the far-left would say if Loughner had told investigators he heard the voice of Sarah Palin telling him to do the shooting? The left would go crazy, pointing to that as evidence of the right’s complicity in mass murder.

Of course, neither is true. Loughner is mentally ill and his reasons for doing the shootings are unclear. Whatever voices he heard were disconnected with any reality and were not political. Neither Obama nor Palin nor any political discourse is to blame for the Arizona tragedy.

The bigger issue to come out of this event is to ask what as a society should we do with people like Loughner? Those who work with the mentally ill tell me schizophrenia is treatable, but often goes untreated because the initial warning signs are missed. The options of families, friends, law enforcement and the mental health community are limited. You can’t force treatment, nor can you simply lock up people who seem to be acting bizarre.

There are those who have written that he is “evil.” Loughner’s actions may have been evil, but it’s wrong to say the man himself was evil, as if he were possessed by witchcraft.

He is sick, not evil.

We don’t know yet the details of Loughner’s mental history or if anyone sought to help him before this event. And while it may sound insensitive to the dead and maimed to suggest the man who did the shooting is also a victim, in this case he surely is.

Loughner needed help that he never got. Why he didn’t — and what society should do with other people who suffer from a serious mental illness — is the real issue both the far left and the far right should be talking about.

Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.