Skeptic Project

Who's murdered more Americans in the last 9 years, the Truthers or Al Qaeda?

At least inside the United States, it isn't even a contest. Consider:

Jared Loughner: Murdered six people in a shooting spree in Tucson and wounded at least 13 others. Victims: Federal judge John Roll, 63; Christina Green, 9; Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Murray, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Scheck, 79.

Sean Fitzgerald: Murdered his father after voices in his head told him Edward Fitzgerald was the devil.

Curtiss Maynard: Murdered his wife, Melissa Meza, 34, before killing himself.

James W. Von Brunn: Murdered Holocaust Museum security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39.

Kurt Sonnenfeld: Allegedly murdered his wife, Nancy Sonnenfeld, 36.

That's twelve confirmed kills so far, and that's not including Richard Poplawski, an Alex Jones fan who killed three Pittsburgh cops. I'm not sure if he's a Truther in addition to the other nutty stuff he believes. It also doesn't include Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell, who is indeed a Truther but who was killed after wounding two police officers, or Byron Williams, who shot it out with the California Highway Patrol but failed to kill anyone.

Now, I don't think being a Truther makes you more likely to become a murderer. Rather I think that both are symptoms stemming from a similar cause: mental illness. Paranoid schizophrenics are probably more likely to become Truthers than the general population, and probably more likely to have voices in their heads telling them to kill someone.

http://screwloosechange.blogspot.com/2011/01/truther-body-count.html