"Osler says his friend wasn’t shooting at people, 'he was shooting at the world.'"

It seems that Jared Loughner did not even like or watch TV or the news, according to his friends:

He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.

The friends went on to describe deep seated rage: "Osler says his friend wasn’t shooting at people, "'he was shooting at the world.'"

This would make him typical of other mass shooters according to a study 0f 102 rampage killers done by the New York Times:

The Times found, however, that the debate may have largely overlooked a critical issue: At least half of the killers showed signs of serious mental health problems. ...

*While the killings have caused many people to point to the violent aspects of the culture, a closer look shows little evidence that video games, movies or television encouraged many of the attacks. In only 6 of the 100 cases did the killers have a known interest in violent video games. Seven other killers showed an interest in violent movies.

It seems that a number of the Times's columnists overlooked the paper's own findings on rampage killings when first discussing the Arizona shooting. Do they even bother doing any research? For example, Krugman blamed talk radio, the culture of right leaning hate and Rush Limbaugh. A NYT's editorial made the same points. Maybe if someone there had taken the time to reflect on their own study, they would have reached a different and more even-handed conclusion.