Conservapedia:2012 Colorado Shootings

On Friday, July 20, 2012, the United States and the world was horrified to learn about the mass shooting at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado.

Conservapedia responded with solemnity and respect, expressing its sadness and concern for the victims and their loved ones.

Ha-ha! Fooled you! Conservapedia responded as it always does: politicizing the event to push their own agenda.

Andy opens
Only hours after the shooting occurred, Andy Schlafly speculated that the shooter might have played violent video games, an old favorite boogeyman of his. This was before the shooter had even been publicly identified.

That wasn't enough, though. He moved on to point out the accused shooter was a PhD student in the "liberal education system."

Ken chimes in
Ken learned that the suspect was actively involved in a local Presbyterian church. This, of course, did not fit with Ken's worldview, in which mass murder is perpetrated by atheists and "evolutionists."

To make up for that inconvenient fact, Ken added that his denomination supports evolution and gays and asked if his local church was a "Bible" church.

Terry goes nuts
Terry Hurlbut added a link to his Conservative News and Views site, which proposed a bizarre conspiracy theory that the shooter was affiliated with Occupy Wall Street and was a "false flag" plant by the Obama administration to start a push for more gun control in the United States. Perhaps most horrifically, he even said the media's behavior was worse than the shooter's.

Andy continues
Andy's penchant for half-truths continued as facts became public knowledge. He pointed out, accurately, that the accused liked video games, but left out that his game of choice was the completely non-violent Guitar Hero.

He also pointed out, again accurately, that the suspect "took drugs" before the shooting. The statement was accurate, but failed to mention the drug was Vicodin, which is legal, albeit only available via prescription.

Human decency?
No senior editor at Conservapedia, as of yet, has expressed sympathy for the victims. Several low-ranking editors have expressed varying degrees of concern about the tone, but the leadership at Conservapedia was stuck to their positions.