Comments

1
Jesus...this is just getting worse.
2
@1 Jesus also believed in an immenent apocalypse.
3
I'm still waiting to hear what took place at the school before the shooting. There were some reports he had an altercation the day before.
4
The other angle of this that I find so interesting is they were quite well off. She was getting something like twelve grand a month in alimony payments, which makes me wonder why she was convinced the economy was going to collapse.

I mean, here she was, a major beneficiary of capitalism, with all the stuff and accountrements money could buy. Yet instead of her money buying her a sense of security, she was so afraid she'd lose it that she was stockpiling more stuff in case the dystopia comes.

And here I thought more stuff equated to more security. Have the advertisers been lying to us all these years?!
5
Rich enough to afford mental health care but maybe she thought that was someone else's responsibility.
6
Perhaps there should be censorship of the media.

People advocating doomsday or the end of the world in blogs, in print, etc., should be forbidden from doing so.

For our safety.

Is a classroom full of dead children worth freedom of speech?
7
@6: it's not black or white/free speech or censorship and you know it. millenarians are a demonstrable danger to themselves and others. koresh, jonestown, the spaceship idiots, etc.

specifically, her fears put semi-automatic weapons & training into the hands of an angry, mentally ill male. her fears led to her death. and a class room full of dead children.
8
I think you forgot to include the part where the ex-sister-in-law said that gun control is not the solution. Yep, she did; I think she feels it was completely reasonable to have been stockpiling.
9
Parts of the "preppers" philosophy are laudable. Stocking up on some food and other necessary supplies in case a natural disaster temporarily interrupts the supply chain, for instance.

Where they start to go off the rails is in the planning for the long-term breakdown of civil government. Hoarding months or years worth of freeze-dried foods; buying and stocking weapons to protect that food cache from roving bandits. It can turn an expensive hobby into a dangerous fantasy.

Nancy Lanza's biggest mistake was not being a "prepper." It was possessing unlocked weapons. Had they been locked in a gun safe to which her mentally ill son did not have the combination, this tragedy might not have occurred.
10
at 8, a post can have only so much crazy.
11
A lot of guns sure made her safe.
12
@7,
Ok... so... are you agreeing or disagreeing that we should ban that kind of speech (millinarians, preppers, etc.)?

After all, it isn't necessary for people to say those things. They can live without being allowed to say them. Banning it can't hurt, right? And it might save lives.
13
@10

Yeah, I know. I didn't really mean that you forgot or overlooked it. I just wanted to get that in, 'cause she is quite batshitty.
14
The "preppers" have been around since, well probably forever. In the seventies and eighties they were called "survivalists". In the fifties and sixties they had nuclear fallout shelters. The anticipated disaster changes, but the basic mindset remains the same.

It's prudent to have a few days supplies on hand in case of an earthquake or power outage. But when it starts to take over your life it's a sign of a fundamental problems. It's like the difference between collecting and hoarding.
15

Dear Lord, I sincerely hope you're coming
'Cause you really started something


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqIQorTXI…
16
@4,

Mormons are particularly susceptible to that particular breed of fantasy, which is odd considering that many (maybe most) of them live in incredibly safe, white bread, middle class communities. I guess the more you have to lose, the more you have to fear.
17
Please stop this. It's been since Friday and the level of vilification of this woman and hearsay about "doomsday prepping" is disgusting. Where was his father? Why aren't we talking about his absence?

Also, as a side note, I know a few extra people from New Hampshire and guns (and apparently stockpiling food) are just part of the culture there in a way that's absolutely inexplicable to me as a city girl.
19
@17,

I don't know, but apparently the older brother hadn't spoken to his younger brother in two years. That's some gold star familial avoidance there, and it makes me wonder how toxic the home environment was that a guy living in New Jersey couldn't be bothered to visit his mother and brother in Connecticut.
20
These obsessive prepper people aren't preparing for a "potential" disaster.... they WANT an apocalypse because they have lost control of the now. It's today they fear. Not the unknown happenings of tomorrow. They want a way to start over and remake the world from some childish vision they have in their heads.

All the conventions of civilization they feel have let them down. So civilization needs to be swept away and re-booted. But civilization has only let them down because they don't know how to participate in it or even what civilization really is - they have no idea what they are in for. Send them to a place like Somalia for a three years. Then ask them what they feel about civilization.
21
@24, more than that. She got $20,000 a month last year, more this year. Daddy earns a million bucks a year at GE. They were LOADED. But great wealth without any responsibilities or things to do seems to cause problems; her hobbies were getting drunk at the local bar and playing with firearms (and kook survivalism).
22
@19, if we lifted the lid of most families, you think we wouldn't find alienation? I'm saying that there's a lot of unsubstantiated crazy-mother shit going on here when none of us knows, beyond her heartbreakingly foolish decision to keep guns in the house with a volatile, intelligent child, whether she was just another stressed out mom with some odd habits or if she was really mentally ill herself. And why is no one exploring the identity of the man who threw money at it to make it go away?

The fact that his older brother hadn't spoken to him in two years says more about the older brother than about his mother. And yet we're all piling on.

Fnarf, are you fucking kidding me? She had a high needs son. I hardly call that "without responsibility". Especially with no father or partner on the scene.
23
We should put preppers on a watchlist and subject them increased surveillance and scrutiny.
24
The fact that his older brother hadn't spoken to him in two years says more about the older brother than about his mother.


I disagree. I know from my own experiences and friends' experiences dealing with toxic family members that it's extremely difficult to cut off contact with even the craziest and most hateful family, even family members who were outright abusive. Given that Ryan Lanza seems to be a normal human being, going by what can be found online, it's striking to me that he didn't have contact with his brother for two years.
25
@6 - Freedom of speech? Censorship of the media?

Which sentence in Charles's post are you referring to? Where did he even SEEM to advocate what you are suggesting? You are so off-topic it's baffling. Are you in the wrong thread?

"Perhaps people should be denied the right to dip Oreos in milk. Is that what you are suggesting, Charles? Huh? Huh???"
26
She was prescient ...it was the end of her world.
27
THE GOVERNMENT IS JUMPIN THE GUN! SO TO SPEAKS ! AND!
SICKO WOULD CHANGE ANY AMENDMENTS IN OUR CONSTITUTION!
SO YOU SICK POLITICIANS TRY TO PASS YOUR SICK PLANS ON TO US! FREE SEEKERS! OF FREEEDOM!

AND YOU SICKOS CAN SHOVE THIS UP ALL YOUR !@SSES!!!
GET IT??
CHANGE MY GOD GIVEN CONSTITUTION ILL SHIT ON YOUR DOOR STEP WHITE HOUSE!!!!
DICK WADS AND PUSSY FARTS!
28
THEE Sickos in THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ! Are going to TRY! To change the Constitution Because A Mentally Sick Kid And Mother Also ILL IN THE MIND!

DID SOMETHING ARROGANT IN OUR FREE SOCIETY!

IF YOU SICK GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS EVEN GET THIS PASSED I WILL PERSONNALY SHIT ON THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN AS CLOSE TO THE FRONT DOOR AS POSSIBLE FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON!

LOL!!! LOL! LOL!!! LOL!!!LOL!!

29
What sources, Charles? Besides TPM, that is. I can't find any reputable sources which say she was a prepper. Her former sister-in-law is not exactly a source.

As at least one person said (out of god knows how many), why doesn't someone ask what the hell the father was doing? Where is he now? Did he even show up in the town where his son lived? Is he simply ignoring the whole thing?
30
There are many thousands of preppers & their families who mostly live the US Redoubt states and follow the instructs of James Wesley Rawles. They hoard guns like there will be no tomorrow and spout the Christian philosophy of Fundamentalist religion. I find, from reading their blogs, that there is a razor's edge to their lifestyle & warnings: on one hand it borders on fear-mongering and paranoia, on the other hand it makes total sense to have a practiced and practical plan of self-protection in light of events such as Sandy, Katrina, grid-down darkness which create life-threatening consequences such as rape, looting and murder. And yes, there are clues that an economic collapse could occur with its resulting avaricious chaos. Any preps for all households must be tempered with reality checks and a spiritual practice that embodies non-violence as the first response.
31
Less Right-wing media fed paranoia is what the world needs.
32
What the fuck happened to liberals? You guys are talking about surveillance and censorship on a particular group of people? WTF? You aren't liberals.......you are goddamned fascists. Boy fuck o'howdy I have heard it all now. Not only is gun laws, video games, movies, not enough nuthouses, not enough God, but now..........it's because of preppers. Jesus H. Christ, you people are sick you know that? You are all divisive pieces of hypocritical garbage.........I'll take a bible-thumping paranoid prepper any day of the week over you nutbags sitting up on your ivory thrones with your knee-jerk judgements. Fuck you!
33
This is still a country of freedom of speech... last I checked.
As far as preppers, they are not mentally ill! Come on people, what has happened to our human race that we can't get along. Why does everyone have to put each other down??
Preppers are doing what they feel is right. You wouldn't like it if they ranted about what you believe. They aren't hurting anyone. Who knows, if things do go bad in America, and they certainly could, they will be prepared. Then there is others, like us that aren't prepping and we may at some point wish we had listened to them!
Lets remember we need to love and support each other.
This tragedy has been horrible and lots of people need to just be loved.
34
How can a Prepper or Survivalist be mentally ill? Where does the SLOG writer have the right to judge this Prepper/Survivalist??
There are thousands of Prepper's/Survivalists all over the world, many with military experience.
Perhaps its the SLOG writer that is mentally ill..

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