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January 11th, 2013
11:27 PM ET
KTH: Exposing Newtown conspiracy theory
Some people are actually claiming the Newtown school shooting was staged by the government and media who are in support of stricter gun control laws. One of those individuals is James Tracy, a tenured associate professor at a Florida university. Anderson Cooper is Keeping Them Honest.
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Post by: Anderson Cooper Filed under: Connecticut School Shooting • Guns • Keeping Them Honest |
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The question, as I understand it, is the disparity between News reports that state witnesses confirming that the only guns found inside the school were , four , handguns , and video footage from helicopters that show the "long rifle" being removed from the trunk of the shooters car after the incident. The "conspiracy" that is alleged is that the Government then "planted" a story in the media that a military style assault rifle was the weapon used by the shooter, in order to gain support for the current executive orders and proposed legilsation to ban assault weapons.
I believe there was a conspiracy in Newtown. But lets look at who has benefited yes actually benefited from this massacre. The NRA and the gun manufacturers. Membership in the NRA has boomed. Guns are flying off the shelves. Yes, a lot of money has been made by these two entities. And who in this country has enough money to actually create a conspiracy? Right, the NRA and the gun manufacturers. Let's point blame where it makes sense
James Tracy should be fired from the school he gets paid to serve. He is a public figure, and this goes beyond any 1st amendment rights. Conspiring to cause pain and fear is what people like him provide. I feel sorry for his friends and family who have to put up with such ignorance, hate, and down right disrespct. I am glad Anderson you exposed this nut. I hope more people realize who owns a gun, and thinks like this. They all need their guns taken away. I am praying the Obama's laws on gun control are so strict, and that every single person that owns a gun is made aware that they will have to have a background check and a note from a doctor for pscyh. exams just like cops. It's time. It is way past time ..
How can you be so naive?
I is proven that police recruit from a pool of below average candidates. There have been lawsuits over it. Departments have cut offs for IQ scores so that intelligent "free thinkers" can not get hired. The "psych profiles" for these officers are a joke. I just so happen to know an officer who has had a negative psych evaluation 5 years in a row. The department keeps him on at their discretion which is legal. He is a lunatic without a doubt but since he writes a lot of tickets, he's ok. These are the people you want armed while the rest of us turn in our only means of defense against them? "Those who would trade essential liberty for security deserve neither." Be careful what you wish for because you are walking the road to tyranny and don't even know it.
"incomprehensible and deeply offensive" to the families of newtown, conn
Has our society gone mad...to think that this was stage and good reporting was not conducted...are you kidding...I was physically there to give my condolence to the family shine that were built in honor of the brave children and adults who lost their lives that day...the horror of it all that these families went through and will forever stay with them and haunt them the rest of their life...have you no compassion...god forbid this should ever happen to you or a love one and let's see how you would feel...if someone told you this was all stagged...
Rediculous!!! Saying that the Newtown shooting didn't happen. It is sad when people make reckless comments like this man did. Making grief worst on Americans when he should be making comments to help make grieving people feel better. I could very easily say that he may be involved in a group of people trying to destroy American Freedoms by saying our Government is behind every tragedy. Jerk says he is a college teacher and he is a teacher that should be fired for making delusive, false, comments.
He teaches a class called Culture of Conspiracy, it is part of his job to be skeptical. For Patricia Llodra to say he should be fired for what he said is completely ridiculous. I commend him for encouraging his students and everyone else to be skeptical.
As abhorrent as his remarks are to most of us...most...the fact of the matter remains...this is a country founded on the very basic and IMPORTANT right of FREE SPEECH!
People say horrendous and extremely offensive things ALL the time. I intensely abhor what this guy said and believe he is a sick, sick, twisted man, but it is not up to CNN to go after his job and say how he is receiving taxpayer dollars to fund his salary. It's fine to point that out, but the way in which it is being done is kind of scary. It is as if they are trying to threaten this man's job and suppress one of the MOST IMPORTANT rights Americans have...that of FREE SPEECH.
I'm not diggin' that!
Get this guy some medical attention now. He's a crazy with guns. Holy crap, and he is in a school. Hurry call 911.
Regardless if he was speaking "as a professor or not" . . . I wouldn't allow him to each my kids any university course – I wouldn't even want him around my kids!
Can't we let these angels rest in peace? There were reasons for how the crime scene was treated and when/how their bodies were removed from the school. Should they have brought the children's dead bodies out in the light of day to allow paparazzi to photograph them? Or I know, they should've let the parents in the school to contaminate the scene of the crime even further than it had to be, as there were so many other students and witnesses who survived and had to leave!!?!! I'm sorry if it doesn't help the NRA or conspiracy theorists out, but Adam Lanza was obviously somehow mentally ill, stole his mother's automatic assault weapon – among other guns, and blasted his way into the school, murdering these kids in COLD BLOOD. Period. If access to such a weapon was somehow not possible, this might very well have been avoided. I'm not opposed to the SECOND AMENDMENT – but there was no such thing as an M16 when it was written. There's a difference between a "right to bear arms" and a right to bear an automatic weapon meant to kill a large # of people in as short a time as possible.
Let me start by saying that my heart goes out to the families and friends of the folks affected by the tragedy in Newtown...
But there is no way that an unbiased, educated person could not see the possibility of a "faux" event like this. There have been many hoes in this story from the begining, and the gov't surely did jump right on the gun control agenda.....and as with the rest of the country everyone wants to treat and not cure.
The true core of this issue is quite simple (nearly unbelievable), a mentally unstable son, was left alone with access to countless firearms. These weapons were not secured properly knowing the condition of the son. This would quite simply be a case of a criminal with a gun.....
The similarities to this and leaving your 7yr old in a running car in the middle of times square would very similar. So would we begin to outlaw cars, limit the amount of fuel that a car would carry? Or simply hold the adult driver of the vehicle responsible?
I am not a gun owner, never have been. But I would like to have the option, if I so desire, to purchase a gun of my choice.
Your analogy is very flawed. All car owners must register their cars and drivers must pass a driving test. Regulation takes the form of seat belts, drunk driving laws and mandatory insurance. These regulations reduce the # of deaths, but do not eliminated them entirely. Oh, if people would only agree that we should have such regulations concerning guns.
It's one thing to have a conspiracy theory it's another to take advantage of a tragedy. The mother is in shock. It's nuts to think that any of this has questions that haven't been answered. You know what hasn't been answered, the fact that to this day guns continue to kill. Period. Reckless. Now the backlash are the idiots running to the gun shops. I'm grateful we have intelligence in office...it's our responsibility to make changes. It's your fault and mine that children lost their lives in order to make this agenda reality. The difference is that I have the balls to admit it. So does our current government.
Mr. James is a professor at Florida Atlantic University (the caption under the video states Florida University). Anyway, I am a student at FAU seeking a master's degree in social work. As a social worker, FAU student and human being I am terribly offended at the insensitive remarks this man made. I am embarrassed as a student of Florida Atlantic University and my heart goes out to Newtown and the families of those lost. I cannot imagine the pain you all must be going through. We should come together at a time like this, not cause further harm.
The first amendment allows this professor to express himself. He has done absolutely nothing wrong. I support him and his right to say what he wants. If academia can't be an area open to discourse, what can?
Yes, the 1st amendment allows Tracy to say whatever he wants. It also allows Anderson Cooper to criticise him and gives him the freedom of press to talk about it on AC360. He even offered Mr. Tracy the chance to make even more use of his 1st amendment right and talk about his opinion on the show, which he refused. Why? If he didn't do anything wrong and if he has evidence and good points to make he shouldn't have a problem to talk about it in public even more. But it looks like Mr. Tracy only likes his 1st amendment rights when he doesn't have to face any criticsm. And the 1st amendment does NOT protect you from criticms.
I agree about the part of the same rights being given to CNN to "criticize", but there is also an underlying and rather frightening aspect to it, as he says...more than once...about this guy teaching a university that is partially taxpayer-funded.
The implication is, CNN wants this guy fired, for speaking out, exercising his right, not matter how extraordinarily offensive. I'm not keen on that....at all. That has a North Korean/Communist China feel to it. NO THANK YOU!!
NOT being paranoid....just relaying the FACTS!
Right because what's the point of telling the truth if we have the right to freedom of speech.
The first amendment assurance of free speech & the press refers to the right to criticize the government without fear of reprisal. It does not guarantee the right to lie, slander, or libel.
@Stephen: You say "He has done absolutely nothing wrong."
Legally or morally? Legally, of course not. But morally? Is it wrong to shout "Fire" in a crowded theater (when there isn't one)? If someone was to die in the crush caused by that false alarm, would no crime have been committed because of the right to free speech?
Stephen, we have the right to do a lot of things that we should not do. i would have hoped that his parents would have taught him better, but we all cannot have good parents
I think it's unfortunate that we live in a society where the majority of Americans realize that the MSM is biased and the "journalists" don't ask important/legitimate questions. So these questions remain unanswered and I guess we have to be ok with this and move on b/c the official story on the news must be true and the gov't always has our best interest at heart. And then we have concerned citizens who do the job of the MSM to the best of their ability via resources provided on the internet, interviews, official documents, etc., and they're the ones society automatically labels as "conspiracy theorists" – a term that is immediately associated with "crazy". We immediately call these people names and discredit them without even listening to what they have to say b/c their questions/accusations contradict our world view and paradigm. To me, THAT is what's truly crazy.
I truly believe this crazy epidemic of gun violence is attributed to many variables in which you can't accurately say is the root of all of this. However, being an educator and who has lived stateside and abroad, I believe you have to begin with education. In the late 80s and early 90s, we had an epidemic that was alleviated with education. Some people remember, but it was when AIDS was a huge concern and impacted our country dramatically. Once that happened, we began research, we sought to educate ourselves and the nation. It worked. Our numbers of infected and rate of infections decreased. I know AIDS and guns are separate issues, but education is the beginning of all solutions to these issues. Newtown happened. Conspiracy, maybe. But the victims in Newtown are real. Let's find a solution and not point fingers and make excuses. It is a tragedy and deserves a proactive response.
Very well said Edward. People like to focus more on the blame game and less on the cure
Bravo James Tracy –
I actually wondered about the reverse conspiracy theory: that the gun lobby was behind these massacres to drive gun sales.
If I was a conspiracy theorist – which I most adamantly am NOT – I would say that the reverese theory is much more plausible: that the gun industry and lobby could have "staged" it to raise fear and sales. I only say this because, to date, they are the only ones that have benefitted from it at all.
Well, as an American, he has the right to his opinion. As a tenured professor, I'd wager it will be difficult for the university to fire him, or even if they have grounds to do so as he didnt make the comments as a prof, but rather as an individual. Having said all that, it just goes to show that all the education in the world does not make one sane.
I was talking to a woman in an upscale store in CA and she said the CIA were killing people so they can take her gun. She really believed this. People like her are too crazy to talk to about anything. They shuld have to have a mental health eval before they can get a gun.
Of course it was a cover-up.
This is a hatchet job on the professor. The professor raises some good pints. The fact that the press is not following up on the two men "proned out" at the school as it happened. The press refuses to get the names of these men and why were they running away? Why were the parents only allowed to identify their children from photographs only? Why was Chief Medical Examine Carver, who autopsied the bodies, unable to say how many boys or girls were murdered, unable to say what caliber bullet was used etc. These kids were taken out of the building in the dark of the night to a morgue 64K away, why? Why were there exit bullet holes on the car towed that day? Who was shot inside the car? Why is there a confusion on 2 pistols found with Adam Lanza, then 4 pistols and no rifle, then a rifle found in a car in the parking lot, then "Carver" says they were shot with a long rifle, yet he didn't know the caliber? These are the questions the above journalist (prestatutes) should be asking. This hatchet job above is an attempt to get this professor sacked to make other viewers who even attempt to ask real questions to sit back in fear.
Do you have any idea what kindergarten and first grade bodies look like after they have been shot multiple times (the coroner said), probably in the face? He shot his own mom in the face. What parent could identify his/her child in such horror? Theyprobably had to be identified by photos and clothing. Why should such details be hashed out in the public media for relatives to see and hear over and over?
Do you have any idea what the coroner went through trying to identify those little ones? If you don't have any idea, talk with a friend, a relative, a minister, someone you trust. You may need help. Ask yourself the same questions about the other hardworking firemen, police, everyone. Have you no compassion for the people who work crime scenes?
By the way, some of the other questions you asked were answered long ago. If you listen to the bloggers you can really get confused.
Learn, love your neighbor, help the world heal from hatred.
and make sure you disregard stories from mainstream media...more lies than truth.
Anderson, we need to take a closer look at the culture of paranoia that is bringing a lot of this non-sense to life.