A picture speaks a thousand words.
Gosh, he looks like a normal young man. Like any twenty-two year old out there.
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette:
Richard Andrew Poplawski was a young man 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 was really into politics and really into the First and Second amendment. One thing he feared was he feared the gun ban because he thought that was going to take away peoples’ right to defend themselves. He never spoke of going out to murder or to kill,” said Edward Perkovic, who described himself as Mr. Poplawski’s lifelong best friend.Mr. Poplawski’s view of guns and personal freedom took a turn toward the fringes of American politics. With Mr. Perkovic, 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.
“We recently discovered that 30 states had declared sovereignty,” said Mr. Perkovic, who lives in Lawrenceville. “One of his concerns was why were these major events in America not being reported to the public.”
Believing most media were covering up important events, Mr. Poplawski turned to a far-right conspiracy Web site run by Alex Jones, a self-described documentarian with roots going back to the extremist militia movement of the early 1990s.
Around the same time, he joined Florida-based Stormfront, which has long been a clearinghouse Web site for far-right groups. He posted photographs of his tattoo, an eagle spread across his chest.
“I was considering gettin’ life runes on the outside of my calfs,” he wrote. Life runes are a common symbol among white supremacists, notably followers of The National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group linked to an array of violent organizations.
I am desperate to believe Mr. Poplawski is just a violent, disturbed young man. But if you listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity or Alex Jones, you begin to realize that the fringe has a very large population. I am very curious to hear Rush et al tomorrow. If this was truly the fringe, there will be a very concerted attempt tomorrow to distance themselves and the conservative movement from the murderous Mr. Poplawski. There would be unqualified condemnation. And if we hear that tomorrow, I will take this all back and admit I am wrong.
But, given the calls to armed revolution and of rights being suppressed somehow due to stimulus spending (and I will never understand the logical connection there) from such mainstream Republicans and conservatives like Representative Michelle Bachmann and Glenn Beck, I am doubtful. Instead, while we will not hear a defense of his actions, I bet we will hear attacks on liberals and the Obama administration for their alleged plans to take Mr. Poplawski’s guns or curtail his rights. I will bet we will hear attacks on the media for covering this story, “all in the guise of ginning up pressure to take guns.” For that is what has happened before. After Columbine. After other of the many shootings and massacres performed by those on the fringe.
And isn’t that an excuse? And if you are excusing, you are not condemning. And if you making excuses, then the fringe goes mainstream.