How We Stopped Jared Loughner

A Story by Evyn Rubin

A Made Up Story! Unfortunately Jared Loughner attempted to assassinate Gabby Giffords. disabling her, injuring thirteen, killing six.

This is a work of fiction, because in reality Jared Loughner was not stopped and his upset and confused wretched violence inflicted grievous harm. But this is an alternative story, a made-up story in which I participate in stopping him, successfully so, me and the political science class I taught, in the world of pretend.

His algebra class at Pima Community College, the northwest satellite, knew who he was and what danger welled within him, but they could not stop him. They reported him to the administration, but, still, he committed his crime. His algebra class had limited means available for dealing with what they knew about him, because they were a math class. But my poli sci class, or possibly American Studies, had abundant means and skills, within our class, its members, its content, and within my skill set and determination.

The first day of class, I gave them a writing exercise, to write about one, two, or three political books, to describe the book(s) and give your opinions. I began the class, actually, by discussing politics, what are politics? And I took a broad view. Then the students had a half hour to write. Then, for the short remainder of that class, and the totality of the next two classes, everyone read their papers. The papers were varied and thoughtful and the discussion was lively. When it was Jared’s turn, he shared something that alarmed and appalled me, and I was collecting my thoughts to respond, while several students in the class spoke up with clarity and effectiveness.

So, what were the cards Jared Loughner had put on the table in the second meeting of my poli sci class? He said that Mein Kampf, by Adolph Hitler, was one of his favorite political books, not because he believed in Hitler’s ideology, which he did not, but liked to use the book to verbally torture his mother who was sensitive about some mythical or mysterious Jewish ancestry that supposedly lurked in their family. He was chuckling about it, that he liked to use the book to rattle his mother. Then he segued into a few other books and a film, all political, that were his favorites -- Animal Farm, The Communist Manifesto, and the Holocaust denial film, Loose Change. He seemed to like these, not because he believed their content, but because they symbolized to him an opposition to a governmental attempt at thought control. He believed with conviction that there was a wide concerted attempt to control his thoughts.

The class did pretty well sorting out his paper. Someone said his use of Mein Kampf was mean toward his own mother, and someone else used the word cruel.

Loughner seemed to think that because he was not a true believer in the content of Hitler’s book, and a film that denied the Nazi crimes, because he utilized this material rather than believing it, he was somehow exempt from the moral wrongness of this propaganda. When both some students and I questioned this interpretation, he started acting upset and accusatory.

We saw this behavior of his numerous times. My private personal goal was not to be thrown off center by him. I found his behavior very disconcerting, but I managed to keep my cool. There were private discussions after class as to whether he was just disturbed or actively dangerous. The answer to the question became clear, when we had a three week focus on designing a commemorative coin.

The first week we learned about commemorative coins and watched a slide show with numerous examples, and I even passed around a few coins for the class to examine hands on. This interlude using something for learning not usually included in the academic setting, gaining knowledge from sources beyond books, this was obviously appreciated by the class. This fun interlude, and the timed writing exercises we did, helped open the door to comradery and bonding within the class. I think the fun of the coins, the interesting departure from standard, helped enable Jared to reveal his hand and the real danger that lurked up his sleeve.

The students were required to write a brief description of the coin they were designing, what incident or person’s life they were commemorating, and what images they would include. When it was Jared’s turn, the coin he designed commemorated the assassination plot he was hatching.

He began by saying his coin would be either silver or gold because, and then he launched into his rant about the U.S. monetary system which we had heard the previous week. I interrupted him and asked him to please try to focus on the coin itself, a risky request, which he accommodated and announced his coin was named “Dreams of Assassination.”

He did not identify the victim by name, or the perpetrator by name. He said he was commemorating a hypothetical event. He said the hypothetical target was a local politician, whom he called a fake, and she would be depicted lying in a pool of blood with blood spatters everywhere. Then he began one of his typical accusatory rants, at the politician, who had slighted him, in his perception, at a meet and greet. He began recounting the slight.

At this point, I interrupted him., sharply. “I don’t want to hear any more of your accusations toward her. I heard enough. The question is what the consequences would be if your scenario, God forbid, ever went into reality. And how do we prevent that from ever happening!”

The class then seriously discussed the nuts and bolts of how to prevent the scenario on his “hypothetical” coin from happening, with Jared both co-operating and resisting this prevention. We had previously discussed violence prevention in the class, and a program we had talked about briefly now became the solution to squelching Jared’s coin scenario.

Ultimately, the class helped get Jared into a suitable program. The state of Arizona had a program, in which more than seventy potentially dangerous people, who had not yet perpetrated a crime, are highly supervised, with a daily phone conversation, and counselling, and restricted behavior. If he broke any of the protocols of the program, by so much a hair’s breadth, he would immediately be locked up in a mental institution as a potential danger.

The community college students are different ages, with different backgrounds, and life skills. They deserve a lot of credit. They were courteous but strongly corrective toward him. Their active support for him to do the right thing, to commit to restraint, was the crucial factor in getting him into this suitable program.

My class was the right setting for a success story here. The content of my class included alternatives to violence, a subject I had, in variation, been working on for decades. The algebra class had recognized Jared’s problem, but they could not effect a solution. But my class could, because my class wasn’t algebra.

© 2024 Evyn Rubin

Author's Note

FYI Everything I said about Jared Loughner here is true, as true as I could make it. His favorite books, his personality, his algebra class: all true. What is fiction here is the job the narrator has, teaching at a community college, I did not have that job.

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emmajoygreen

' Loughner seemed to think that because he was not a true believer in the content of Hitler’s book, and a film that denied the Nazi crimes, because he utilized this material rather than believing it, he was somehow exempt from the moral wrongness of this propaganda. When both some students and I questioned this interpretation, he started acting upset and accusatory. ' There shows the so.called logic of jared's 'get out of jail' card. ' Interesting.

However I was wrong because I thought that comment would be his undoing rather than his move in or onto firmer, saner ground. Yes, fiction but 'wonder if that might have altered as he aged, analysed, etc?

This is an intriguing post, full of possibilities. The class of varied students appeared to unite, to find a somewhat speedy way of helping, changing, their fellow student.interesting, Where, meantime, were the professionals? Thank you so much for sharing, Evyn, is a different story from others, offers so many angles. Hope to read more of your posts.