The TRUTH(?) About the Connecticut Shootings

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I'm posting this in General Autism, because the way similar threads have progressed there is not telling where it might or should end up depending on how it develops.

Friday, in certain threads here on Wrong Planet, posters almost immediately began to bring up possible political ramifications of this incident.

Predictably, the gun control issue came up.

Predictably, but more disturbing, posts began popping up from people wondering how long it would be before the shooting was blamed on Autism and/or Asperger Syndrome. And that's the issue I really want to talk about now.

People! We live in the age of the Internet!

The mere mention of the possibility of a rumor starting on the Internet can actually START the rumor.

Predictably, shortly after these posts began showing up here, the rumors began to fly like bats out of a cave. I am NOT implying that posts here started the rumors. I don't think anyone will ever be able to trace how where and why it all started.

The point is, jumping online and into the fray of debates, fuels the rumor mill. People by the millions on thousands of social sites and forums start Googling the shooting looking for the terms Autism and Asperger Syndrome. What do you think happens because of the sudden surge in searches like that?

It produces a demand for pages with those terms on them. Those searches become top searches on Google within a matter of seconds, and (predictably again), bloggers and web masters hungry for traffic, fill that demand, people find those pages, and the rumors begin circulating like wildfire, creating a viscous circle nobody can stop.

Within a matter of minutes or even seconds, people start claiming the rumors have been "confirmed." All of this happens long before the official investigation is completed. Long before any substantiated FACTS have actually been confirmed and released to the public.

These rumors are often picked up from the web by the mass media, and even start showing up on supposedly trustworthy news sources.

Does anybody remember that the same thing happened with the Aurora shootings earlier this year? Have we all forgotten that all that hysteria was put to rest when all was said and done? Doesn't anyone remember that almost every time an incident like this happens, the same stupid rumors circulate every single time?

When are we going to learn to sit back, relax, and wait for the truth to come out?

What really ticks me off about situations like this is that the FIRST thing that ought to be on all our minds are the VICTIMS! !

The LAST thing on our minds should be how this tragedy will affect ME!

It's been two days since the shootings. I STILL don't give a crap whether Adam was ASD, or how this might affect my right to own a gun. There is no point in caring about any of that yet. No point, because I still have no idea whether any of the rumors of his being Autistic are true or not.

I just wish people would use their heads before posting. Think before posting. What matters more? How the victims, their families, friends and fellow residence were affected, or how all this might affect ME?

POST SCRIPT: For those of you who aren't aware yet, the Connecticut State Police announced in their last new conference (just before I posted this), that false rumors have been spread on social media regarding what family members supposedly said to authorities. They also said they are considering bringing charges where appropriate against some of those responsible for helping to spread these false rumors, and some who have leveled threats due to the rumors.

(Not that anyone here necessarily has anything to worry about were that is concerned, but it ought to be at least give pause for thought before posting whatever it is we post here or anywhere on the web. Think! "What impact could this post have? Does it really need to be said anyway right now?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM[/youtube]

No idea what you're trying to say by posting that. Fixed the embed link for you anyway.

Having been involved with the Internet since 1991 (the modem tax days), I can guarantee you there is no chance that will ever happen.

I think the news media's 24/7 cycle is worse. They have to stay on the air and have to keep babbling. Doesn't matter what nonsense comes out. They talk about absolutely nothing, and then start talking about themselves. The news media always starts talking about itself at some point, how it is covering the story.

What would be better is if the news media stuck to reporting facts, and not filling a 24/7 news cycle with speculation and nonsense.

But, hey, the Superbowl is coming up soon, so this shooting thing will be totally forgotten in a week or two. That's how the media works. I'd just wait it out. By April, no one will remember any of the rumors.

The facts don't matter.

It's as simple as that.

Until the next mass shooting when they'll come back as "fact".

Yup. All over again. There will still be people claiming Adam was autistic (true or not), and bringing it up again just like every other time this happens.

It's so ironic that fear of witch hunts can actually create real witch hunts.

Well u do have a point in when I googled "aspergers", the 1st thing that came up was about the shooter.

However, I found this article on the 1st news section hit: "Experts, no link between Aspergers Violence" http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... e/1772589/

Which I really hoping millions will read and take to heart. But whatever the case is, I sure as hell aint disclosing my Aspergers anytime soon.

Maybe it's not that Autism/Aspergers makes people violent but that people who are socially isolated or have trouble coping in this very self-centered and superficial society are more prone to snap?

In any case it isn't really fair that these kinds of rage spree killings get disproportionate coverage to all the other homicides that occur all over the place in the country on any given day (the vast majority carried out by NTs). I'd say the media sensationalism makes the issue worse because a troubled angry person knows they will get more attention if they inflict violence on others than if they merely decide to end their own life.

What I want to know is why havent they released a motive yet? The suspect is dead so nobody can really be tried in a court. They obviously know why he did it. It seems like if they released that information, It would dissolve the rumors. As far as the rumors are concernd, it isnt shocking at all. People love gossiping and nothing is more right up the medias alley than this situation. They dont care about anything expet ratings, Hopefully this guy didnt have Autism. I really dont feel like being persecuted more then I already Am

Its both an information superhighway, AND an misinformation superhighway.

We have more access to both truth and nontruth because of the internet ( with help from cable news).
We get bigger doses of both the poison AND of the antedote.

So, I suggest that it balances out, and that stereotypes and misconceptions are about as damaging today as the were back in the days of old (ie back in the 20th centurey when they only had 'traditional media", or even the Nineteenth century which relied on yellow journalistic newspapers.).

.....

Last edited by Mike1 on 16 Dec 2012, 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

lets not forget all the weddings and schools the united states has drone bombed in Pakistan this year or the 22 children stabbed to death in a school in china the very same day

I think they all lived
I dont want to speculate on the truth, I know so little.

I want to say, I know nothing about hte Connecticut shooting, but I do remember when Volkert van der Graaf (who murdered Duthc politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002) was suspected of having Asperger's. This was in the news for months, and indeed, it did affect people's perception of murderers. After all, when Karst Tates killed 17 people when running them over with his car on Queen's Day 2009, it was very soon that someone claiming to work with autistics professionally, calimed tht Tates had AS. However, neither of these murderers was proven to have AS and there was no effect on gun rights for Aspies (now we have pretty strict gun control here anyway). I must say I believe you guys are self-stigmatizing. Unless there's a real rights issue at stake, I have o gow ith the OP that I don't care whether a murderer is thought to be an Aspie.

I filled out the paperwork at my job declaring that my Aspergers is a disability. I didn't ask for much, since the way it handicaps me at work is that I can't figure out what's going on when office politics gets really intense -- but I have almost lost my job a few times because I've misinterpreted a number of situations. All I asked for on the form was for Human Resources to help me out when I feel like I'm getting lost again in the passive-agressive, mysterious-to-me, battles that my coworkers engage in.

However, now I'm nervous that because of all the news coverage of this shooting and how people only listen to the very surface parts of a story being reported, I may be stigmatized and labeled as "dangerous."

The fact of the matter is, though, I've been picked on and teased by my coworkers for years for being different -- if anything, these people have been the problem, not me. They're bullies. But when I was diagnosed, that empowered me to realize that there was a way to counteract their behavior, and it involves using the resources available at administration level at my place of work ... there's no need to let it upset me anymore.

But this does make me wonder ... during the years Lanza wasn't being home-schooled, was he bullied? I haven't heard that on the news yet.