Pittsburgh shooter was fan of online conspiracy theories, page 1
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ATS Members have flagged this thread 19 times
Topic started on 5-4-2009 @ 12:44 PM by truth_seeker3

Pittsburgh shooter was fan of online conspiracy theories


rawstory.com
The unemployed twenty-two year old man who killed three Pittsburgh police officers and wounded two others in a four-hour shootout on Saturday morning had been heavily influenced by extremist conspiracy theories prior to the incident.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Richard Poplawski was "convinced the nation was secretly controlled by a cabal that would eradicate freedom of speech, take away his guns and use the military to enslave the citizenry. ... He appeared to share a belief that the government was controlled from unseen forces, that troops were being shipped home from the Mideast to police the citizenry here, and that Jews secretly ran the country."
(visit the link for the full news article)


reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:26 PM by Raist
reply to post by xmotex


I thought this when we first heard about it Saturday, from the thread here.

I would be very surprised if he was not a member here.


Raist


reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:34 PM by Raist
reply to post by Walkswithfish


It has nothing to do with CTers as a whole. Every crowd gathers its nut cases.

You have to admit though that places such as ATS quite possibly collect a few more nut cases than many others. Not knocking my fellow members but you can quite clearly see this in some of the posts/threads here on ATS.

I really think this guy was a member here if not a lurker at the very least. If he were a member I would love to see the content of his posts/threads. I think we would clearly see this guy had a screw loose if we did.

Raist



reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:36 PM by imitator
reply to post by xmotex


There's no need to "demonize" this guy, he was a scumbag that murdered three people.


I agree with you on that....but....

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is demonizing CT's by association.


[edit on 5-4-2009 by imitator]


reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:40 PM by Raist
Originally posted by imitator
reply to post by xmotex


There's no need to "demonize" this guy, he was a scumbag that murdered three people.


I agree with you on that....but....

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is demonizing CT's by association.


[edit on 5-4-2009 by imitator]



Sounds reminiscent of how Christians, Muslims, Jews, and practically every other religion on the planet being demonized (on ATS) by someone claiming to be one of the above being a nut case.

Funny how things can come back to haunt us is it not?


No matter what group you are in there are ten others that are lunatics that will cause an issue and make you look bad if you allow them too.

Raist


[edit on 4/5/09 by Raist]


reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:45 PM by Walkswithfish
reply to post by Raist


Would you like to know what your post tells me about you?

Of course there are nuts here, and everywhere.

From all walks of life, some with extremist views, some with "out there" conspiracy theories but...

You can't honestly buy this guilt by association bull# can you?

You have been here at ATS for some time now and have been exposed to conspiracy theories, perhaps you should consider turning yourself in for reprogramming before it is too late and you commit criminal acts, or worse murder.




reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:50 PM by HunkaHunka
Originally posted by truth_seeker3

This is rather interesting... I found this at rawstory.com, and is usually better than mainstream media. What I found intriguing is that this is yet another attack on people who question authority.



When will you (collectively, those who share these same beliefs) realize that you can question authority without shooting up a bunch of people!

This isn't an attack against people who question authority... this is an attempt at understanding what elements caused this guy to go off the rails.



I will reiterate the second portion of the second paragraphs:

"convinced the nation was secretly controlled by a cabal that would eradicate freedom of speech, take away his guns and use the military to enslave the citizenry. ...


This strictly contradicts views that are natural on ATS. This is from the Pittsburgh Gazette. Yet another attempt to discredit people who question the official stance?



Once again... how do you equate "massacring innocents" with "Questioning authority"

How unstable does someone have to be to equate shooting up innocent people with questioning authority?



Obviously, this man had a problem, and I'm not defending his action, but the article tone is what startled me.



Sure sounds like you are... So far your entire post has been in defense of this guy.



Add: ABC also ran a article:

DiMarco said his friend was "preparing for the end of the world," and that Poplawski had stockpiled bottled water and bags of rice. When asked why his friend had so many weapons, he replied, "for protection."


abcnews.go.com...

*If I find any other stories relating, I'll add them

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5-4-2009 by truth_seeker3]



This guy was a NUTJOB pure and simple who was inspired by the rhetoric of lesser nutjobs.

This is not questioning authority. If you recall, our forefathers questioned authority through long drawn out congresses of free men.

There is NO way you can call what this guy did questioning authority. This guy is nothing more than someone who has succumbed to paranoia. He is a fear based pariah who, thankfully has been killed.


reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 01:53 PM by Raist
reply to post by Walkswithfish


You obviously did not read my post well enough or my other posts on this thread to understand me than.

I plainly said it has nothing to do with ATS or CTers because there are nuts in every group.

Here I’ll say it again for you in case you missed it in this post or my others.

It has nothing to do with ATS or CTers as a whole. But you have to admit we are more likely to attack nut cases than say a forum related to cars. There are nuts in every group not just ours. What really matters is the response you have to any criticism that comes from stories like this. You can either get defensive about it or try to prove there are nuts in all groups but most are not.

How is it affecting you? Are you getting defensive or are you going to correct any misconceptions given by such news?

Raist


reply posted on 5-4-2009 @ 02:06 PM by Walkswithfish
reply to post by Raist


The possibility that this person was an ATS member is likely very near certain, I would not argue that.

Am I defensive?

Perhaps, but only against the notion that theories and ideas here on ATS or elsewhere could somehow fuel some paranoid delusional fantasies and be motive to murder.

In my posts in this thread my sarcasm should be obvious, though I hope it makes a point.
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