I've looked over numerous threads on this shooting and they all seem to devolve into some evil right wing vitriol as causing or contributing to this incident.
Is there any evidence the perp listened to or subscribed to any right wing views?
Yes, and it's been posted. Loughner's writings include some recent right wing anti-government themes.
IWhen info first started coming out, he was referred to as a left wing odd ball, as far as I remember.
One high school friend said he was a pot smoker and a liberal in high school. No one else made that assessment. It was before he developed symptoms of mental illness.
I still don't think people are clear on the differences between a confused delusional schizophrenic who incorporates current events into their delusions, and an extremist whose beliefs are beyond rational like McVeigh and Nichols.
Here's an example of schizophrenics incorporating the world around them into their delusions:
[The internet as a delusional topic in paranoid schizophrenia]
Abstract
Two patients with paranoid schizophrenia had delusions involving the internet. Additionally, one of them experienced computer databases as being distributed to other people in a phenomenologically similar way to that encountered in thought broadcasting. The presented cases illustrate the historical association of the contents of delusions in schizophrenia.
What does this show? That delusions of the mentally ill reflect their surroundings, not just internal content.
Similarly there's a difference between a fanatic following Palin's map and going after the people targeted, and, a much larger situation of group mentality where lots of people are contributing to an atmosphere of government fear mongering. The reason Palin is being criticized here, at least in my opinion, is her refusal to apologize for the map which specifically named the target of this tragedy as being in the crosshairs. It's Palin's denial, along with more than a few additional right wingers like Limbaugh and O'Reilly that has put the focus on their personal actions as contributing to these murders.
If Palin had been more sensitive and said something like, she didn't intend for there to be consequences for the map like this, the focus would be on the overall fear mongering, not on Palin. But she didn't. Like many people here, she refuses to believe her campaign talk has been over the line. But it has. Her continual ranting the death panel lie is a better example than the map, in my opinion. The death panel lie is clear dishonest fear mongering. The map is more in the line of poor choices of rhetoric.
Here's a little more about schizophrenics who end up acting on their delusions that is consistent with the incitement the fear mongering would contribute to:
Acting on delusions. II: The phenomenological correlates of acting on delusions.
acting was associated with: being aware of evidence which supported the belief and with having actively sought out such evidence;
(among other things)
Loughner wrote about delusions the right wing fear mongering would certainly have been reinforcing.
Violence in schizophrenia: role of hallucinations and delusions.
Patients in the violent group were also more likely to report that the delusion made them feel angry, while those in the non-violent group were more likely to report that the delusion made them feel elated. The results suggest specific aspects of the phenomenologies of hallucinations and delusions that should be clinically assessed to determine the likelihood of violence as a result of such psychotic symptoms.
When you stir up anger as an incessant campaign strategy there can be all sorts of unintended negative consequences from racism to homophobia to anti-government sentiments including acting on those beliefs. And the more unstable the person, the more easily that person can be pushed over the edge.
