Professor claims Sandy Hook massacre 'may not have happened' - Polidicks

[QUOTE]A US university professor has received widespread condemnation after claiming that the Sandy Hook massacre may have been staged – or may have not occurred at all. James Tracy, an Associate Professor of Media History, made the sensational claims on his blog memoryholeblog.com, suggesting the Obama government may have used the tragedy as a platform to influence the national debate on gun laws. In a post called ‘The Sandy Hook Massacre: Unanswered questions and missing information’, Tracy claims that there are numerous ‘inconsistencies and anomalies’ in the reporting of the infamous school shooting. “While it sounds like an outrageous claim, one is left to inquire whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place – at least in the way law enforcement authorities and the nation’s news media have described,” he wrote. No stranger to conspiracy theories, having also raised questions over the assassination of JFK and 9/11, Tracy uses the same analytical mindset to dissect what he believes to be key ‘inconsistencies’ in the case. Over a series of posts, the university professor raises reservations over why family members of victims were ‘almost wholly absent from public scrutiny’, how the gunman was able to fire so many shots in so little time, why medical personnel were ‘turned away’ and why there were no photos of a mass evacuation of the school. The academic also suggests that trained “crisis actors under the direction of state and federal authorities” may have been used to “realistically drive home the event’s tragic features.” However, Tracy stops short of claiming the mass shooting was an elaborate stunt, instead raising questions rather than conclusions. “Although some may see [my theories] as beyond the pale. I am doing what we should all be doing as academics … Overall, I’m saying the public needs more information to assess what took place.” The university which employs him has distanced itself from the comments. “I want to make it clear that those views and opinions are not shared by Florida Atlantic University, and I am personally saddened by any media stories that have added to the pain felt by the victims’ families,” FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said in a statement obtained by FoxNews.com. Responses to his blog posts are seemingly sympathetic with some praising him for his boldness in raising questions over the case. In the wider community however, Tracy has been slammed with one former teacher saying he should be ashamed for choosing the event ‘as a stage for his outlandish conspiracy theories'. Twenty children and six adults were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting by 20-year-old gunman, Adam Lanza, on December 14, 2012.[/QUOTE]

I was quick to judge him as a conspiracy theorist nutjob, but then he actually brought up evidence. Regardless, I don't think the government would stage up a school shooting and get away with it. It seems beyond ridiculous.

well they already staged 9/11 what's another elementary school to them?

Staging a school shooting seems like it would produce very unpredictable results imo. I highly doubt it.

with most conspiracy theorists circular reasoning, you can instantly attack anything you feel like "I don't believe WW2 happened, there isn't enough proof" "I don't believe gravity happened, there isn't enough proof"

My main question about this is why they keep going on about the Bushmaster AR15. Which was retrieved from the trunk of the car and not found in the school. [video=youtube;ju_NllT1iDo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_NllT1iDo[/video] This somewhat confuses my simple brain.

that's actually extremely strange, I'm surprised I haven't picked that up.

[QUOTE=zombojoe;39178448]Staging a school shooting seems like it would produce very unpredictable results imo. I highly doubt it.[/QUOTE] It would rally the anti-gunners, and it did.

Oh my god, I don't believe that you people are actually entertaining this guy as if it could be serious. You fucking disgust me, America.

I honestly don't know which is worse, someone thinking that a tragedy like a school shooting isn't real, or the idea that the government would fake it to further their own agenda.

I've been seeing a lot of inconsistencies and wouldn't be surprised if the truth has been hidden to further someone's agenda but I'm not yet certain that it was staged or outright didn't happen.

People who come out with these ideas of the government staging these kinda things are always told to be ashamed. I understand that people were killed etc..but what if the government actually did have a part in this, it's not impossible. The government isn't just the nice obama face. also 'may have used the tragedy as a platform to influence the national debate on gun laws.' - sure as fuck they did governments have done this before, read history

where's the source?

[QUOTE=Riller;39178460]My main question about this is why they keep going on about the Bushmaster AR15. Which was retrieved from the trunk of the car and not found in the school. [video=youtube;ju_NllT1iDo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_NllT1iDo[/video] This somewhat confuses my simple brain.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE](CNN) -- Adam Lanza brought three weapons inside Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14 and left a fourth in his car, police said. Those weapons were a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and two handguns -- a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm. [B]In the car he left a shotgun[/B], about which police have offered no details. Lanza used one of the handguns to take his own life, although police haven't said whether the gun was the Glock or the Sig Sauer.[/QUOTE] [url]http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-lanza-guns/index.html[/url] Sounds reasonable. It even looks like a shotgun.

[QUOTE=_Chewgum;39178570]People who come out with these ideas of the government staging these kinda things are always told to be ashamed. I understand that people were killed etc..but what if the government actually did have a part in this, it's not impossible. The government isn't just the nice obama face. also 'may have used the tragedy as a platform to influence the national debate on gun laws.' - sure as fuck they did governments have done this before, read history[/QUOTE] not commonly and generally for more greater purpose than "influencing the national debate on gun laws". it's quite a stretch to say, with no evidence, that this shit was staged. you can look at ANY tragedy and find tons of inconsistencies. that isn't the same as saying that certain ideological groups don't stand to gain from this tragedy. the US government gained big time from 9/11 as well. but there isn't a whole lot of evidence to support the assertion that sandy hook or 9/11 were staged, or fabricated by the government.

[QUOTE=Swebonny;39178606][url]http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-lanza-guns/index.html[/url] Sounds reasonable. It even looks like a shotgun.[/QUOTE] He used a 10mm, too? No wonder so many died...

[QUOTE=Swebonny;39178606][url]http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/18/us/connecticut-lanza-guns/index.html[/url] Sounds reasonable. It even looks like a shotgun.[/QUOTE] Yeah, from the video it's barrel is too fat to be a rifle, and most of the inconsistencies are just caused by reporters jumping to conclusions.

[QUOTE=Samiam22;39178368]I was quick to judge him as a conspiracy theorist nutjob, but then he actually brought up evidence. Regardless, I don't think the government would stage up a school shooting and get away with it. It seems beyond ridiculous.[/QUOTE]The points he brought up have plenty of potential sensible explanations; the way he jumps to the conclusion that the government did it is rather silly. Same sort of thinking with the poking holes in 9/11; they start with a conclusion (the government did it), then use any inconsistencies they find to affirm it, not looking for alternate explanations. "Over a series of posts, the university professor raises reservations over why family members of victims were ‘almost wholly absent from public scrutiny’" Probably because they don't want to deal with a media circus after such a tragedy. "how the gunman was able to fire so many shots in so little time" [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELol1dHjHEE[/media] "why medical personnel were ‘turned away’" Haven't heard much about this, so can't really comment on it. "why there were no photos of a mass evacuation of the school." Nobody had a camera there at the right time, perhaps? [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] It's bad science to start with a conclusion, then look for just the evidence that supports it.

[QUOTE=Craigewan;39178552]Oh my god, I don't believe that you people are actually entertaining this guy as if it could be serious. You fucking disgust me, America.[/QUOTE] He's almost certainly wrong but you can't act like you have the intellectual high ground when he's at least making an attempt to find evidence for his opinions and you're just refusing to consider his viewpoint.

i'm confused, where does he blame the government?

[QUOTE=Craigewan;39178552]Oh my god, I don't believe that you people are actually entertaining this guy as if it could be serious. You fucking disgust me, America.[/QUOTE] if you want free speech, then everything must be discussable, everything must be accessible, all notions must be entertained. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Sgt Doom;39178642]The points he brought up have plenty of potential sensible explanations; the way he jumps to the conclusion that the government did it is rather silly. Same sort of thinking with the poking holes in 9/11; they start with a conclusion (the government did it), then use any inconsistencies they find to affirm it, not looking for alternate explanations. "Over a series of posts, the university professor raises reservations over why family members of victims were ‘almost wholly absent from public scrutiny’" Probably because they don't want to deal with a media circus after such a tragedy. "how the gunman was able to fire so many shots in so little time" [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELol1dHjHEE[/media] "why medical personnel were ‘turned away’" Haven't heard much about this, so can't really comment on it. "why there were no photos of a mass evacuation of the school." Nobody had a camera there at the right time, perhaps? [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] It's bad science to start with a conclusion, then look for just the evidence that supports it.[/QUOTE] you understand that's a beretta M93R in that video, right? a fully-automatic pistol. the killer was using a semi-auto pistol at sandy hook iirc. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] correction, it's a beretta M92 modified to fire in full auto.

That's a pretty good theory

i'm not on any side here, just stating fact.

Oh yes, as if news outlets don't describe these shootings in plenty of detail with a ton of sensationalism already. The shootings happened, but he's just saying he can't get the full picture. And isn't FP constantly hammering that news outlets report too much on these shootings? Double standards there.

[QUOTE=Roger Waters;39178684]if you want free speech, then everything must be discussable, everything must be accessible, all notions must be entertained. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] you understand that's a beretta M93R in that video, right? a fully-automatic pistol. the killer was using a semi-auto pistol at sandy hook iirc. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] correction, it's a beretta M92 modified to fire in full auto.[/QUOTE]It's not a full-auto pistol "Uploaded on 21 Jan 2008 My Beretta M9 in rapid fire(19 rounds) Mi Beretta M9 en fuego rapido(19 disparos)" Besides, he wouldn't have been firing it like that if it was full-auto, surely. I suppose I should've picked a better video, there's plenty of pistols being rapidly-fired on youtube.

[QUOTE=Craigewan;39178552]Oh my god, I don't believe that you people are actually entertaining this guy as if it could be serious. You fucking disgust me, America.[/QUOTE] Cool, let's not use critical thinking for anything and accept everything we hear as absolute truth 100% of the time.

[QUOTE=Forumaster;39178553]I honestly don't know which is worse, someone thinking that a tragedy like a school shooting isn't real, or the idea that the government would fake it to further their own agenda.[/QUOTE] Either way, they're advancing their own agenda's almost immediately after the shooting.

[QUOTE=Roger Waters;39178684]if you want free speech, then everything must be discussable, everything must be accessible, all notions must be entertained. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] you understand that's a beretta M93R in that video, right? a fully-automatic pistol. the killer was using a semi-auto pistol at sandy hook iirc. [editline]11th January 2013[/editline] correction, it's a beretta M92 modified to fire in full auto.[/QUOTE] Wrong. If you look closely, he is bumpfiring a semi auto Beretta unmodified.

[QUOTE=JerryK;39178678]i'm confused, where does he blame the government?[/QUOTE] That's the beauty of it. He doesn't blame anyone. He points out inconsistencies and leaves it open-ended for people to decide on their own what the truth is.

Actually, he's got good points. Among the inconsistencies are that the original police and news report has the Bushmaster AR-15 in the trunk of the car the entire time, but stories that came out after the fact and the wikipedia article state that it was the primary weapon. Do I think it was staged: no. Do I think that official accounts could have been manipulated: yes. Also, source?