Lennon's assassin spent weeks listening to Lennon records, weeping and tearing his hair at the fakeness of his idol. Loughner had a thank you letter in his safe (in which he had documents that spoke of “assassination”). The note was from Giffords concerning an event he'd attended.
What sticks in my mind (thanks to Graham Harman for drawing my attention to this) is that at the event, Loughner had asked Giffords some kind of question like “How do you know words mean anything?” Giffords had kind of brushed him off (I believe she spoke to him in Spanish and moved on).
Remember that scene in Twelve Monkeys where the guy with the virus in the test tubes asks a provocative question slightly out of left field to the lecturer—he needs to have his fantasy confirmed.
I'm still betting my bottom dollar that rather than thinking Giffords was possessed by demons (a schizophrenic paranoia), Loughner thought that Giffords was a fake (a classic borderline delusion). Like Lennon's shooter. He read way way too much into a tiny piece of speech. He may have been stalking her for some time. Lennon's assassin met him earlier that day and tried to communicate too.
Hey listen to this, “Why Can't I Be You?” by The Cure. It's the classic borderline anthem.
4 comments:
You wrote "I'm still betting my bottom dollar that rather than thinking Loughner was possessed by demons (a schizophrenic paranoia), he thought that Loughner was a fake..." But I'm sure you meant, "I'm still betting my bottom dollar that rather than thinking Loughner was possessed by demons (a schizophrenic paranoia), he thought that Giffords was a fake..." No need to post this.
Or maybe "I'm still betting my bottom dollar that rather than thinking Giffords was possessed by demons (a schizophrenic paranoia), he thought that Giffords was a fake..." Is that it?
Hey thanks for the correction.
I'm haunted by the cordial and yet calculating exchange Loughner was said to have had with the taxi driver. "Jared Loughner wanted change back from a $20 bill that he used to pay for a taxi ride to the Safeway store here, according to the manager of the taxi company." How to imagine this? Something about that bill in his hand and the performance of foresight and nonchalance. He could have said, "keep it." Or maybe that would have been impossible for him? Opening fire? Easy by comparison. Or this: did he not plan for a one-way trip? Or not say to himself, "I had better have smaller bills for the cab ride." Was everything else planned but not this one thing? For me such questions are an odd effect of this obdurate $20.
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