I have written about violence and mental illness in a past blog, so please refer to that blog for more information.  It is important to note here, however, that studies show that a very small percentage of people with mental illness commit violent acts. 

Two days after the horrific act of violence in Tucson, many are speculating about the impact of "political hate talk" on people who may be "unhinged."  No matter how bizarre one's belief is, one can do an internet search, and find like-minded people with the same belief.  Before the internet, many of those people were social isolates with no one who shared their belief, but in today's internet-connected world, it's much easier to find a place to "belong." This allows those beliefs to be reinforced and in some cases can encourage one toward a path of violence.

On Loughner's youtube postings, his anti-government statements seem to many not to make much sense.  He talks about "government mind control, new currency, and grammar control."

You only have to google "government mind-control" to find hundreds of sites dedicated to this topic with communities of people who have meetings and conferences on the topic.  The other, at first glance, random topics on Loughner's websites have their own internet sites as well, including a facebook page for "New Currency."

The idea that the government is using grammar to control the country is one of the consistent theories floating around on the fringes of the right wing on the internet.

The chief proponent of the theory is David Wynn Miller. In 1988, Miller invented what he describes as "The Mathematical Interface for Language" or "Correct Language." He talks about grammar and hints that he believes the government is somehow controlling the populace through the use of language.

Miller states that by using certain language, people can break away from the shackles of tyranny. His theory proposes that the way that names are listed at birth turns one into a taxable person (or corporation). Adding colons, hyphens and other punctuation to someone's name then turns a "taxable person" to a non-taxable "prepositional phrase." Miller's theories have been used by a number of people in court, typically in an effort to remove themselves from the federal tax system or from the reach of civil courts.

No one knows yet if Loughner latched onto this or other internet theories and filtered it though a schizophrenic delusion that motivated him to kill and wound all of those innocent people in Arizona.  It is clear that there are plenty of places to fit in with like-minded people who believe the government is evil and needs to be stopped.  Which ones will choose violence toward representatives of the government is not easy to predict, but we do know that some past classmates who knew Loughner were not surprised that he did choose that path.  It has been reported that the Pima Community College removed Loughner from classes and made a mental health evaluation and certification a condition of his return.  It is unclear whether or not he got that evaluation...probably not.