E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSGene Rosen was finishing up his morning routine this past Friday when he noticed six small children sitting at the end of his driveway. He soon discovered they were some of the lucky ones to escape gunfire alive. He talks about taking them into his home and learning that their teacher, Victoria Soto, had been killed.
Retired psychologist Gene Rosen was hailed as a hero for taking six terrified first-graders into his home and giving them fruit juice during the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
The four girls and two boys told Rosen they couldn’t return to class because a man with guns had killed their teacher. Indeed Victoria Soto was among the 26 dead – 20 children and six staffers – gunned down by Adam Lanza at the Newtown, Conn., school that day.
“I comforted them because I’m a grandfather,” Rosen, 69, who lives across the street from the school, said in an appearance on TODAY after the tragedy. “They were mortified.”
Now, Rosen and his wife are scared. He says he is being harassed by so-called Sandy Hook "truthers," conspiracy theorists who believe that facts about Newtown are being covered up by the media or other forces as part of a government or anti-gun plot.
“I’m getting emails with, not direct threats, but accusations that I’m lying, that I’m a crisis actor,” Rosen told the online magazine Salon. A white supremacist message board, Salon said, had ridiculed the “emotional Jewish guy.”
New York passes major gun control law - first since Newtown massacre
A photo of Rosen's home was posted online and fake social network accounts have been created in his name, according to the report. Blog posts call him a fraud. “What is the going rate for getting involved in a gov’t sponsored hoax anyway?” said one message accusing him of acting, according to Salon.
“The quantity of the material is overwhelming,” Rosen said, adding that his wife is worried for their safety.
Rosen’s treatment is the outgrowth of Newtown shooting conspiracy theories expanding on the Internet. Such claims are even coming from sources that appear to be mainstream.
Florida Atlantic University communications professor James Tracy, who in a blog post stated, “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.”
Or reporter Ben Swann, who questioned police accounts of the Aurora, Colo., shootings as well as the Sandy Hook massacre in an online program called “Full Disclosure.” Swann, in both instances, latches on to witness accounts reported in the early confusion of the tragedies to question whether more than one gunman was involved. There is “reason to question this whole narrative,” Swann said.
Some of the conspiracy theories blame Jewish people for roles in the Newtown tragedy. Those claims even led Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League to respond. In a blog post Foxman laments the inevitable rumor mill that sprouts up on the Internet after major disasters and tragedies that the news media is hiding the truth and that Jews or Israel play a role.
“But never in a million years did I think that the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, an event that has so traumatized Americans and shocked people the world over, would become the latest fodder for cynical anti-Semites and anti-Israel conspiracy theorists,” Foxman wrote.
Conspiracy theories are nothing new, the ADL's Director of Investigative Research Mark Pitcavage points out, but they come in different stripes. One type is based on a single event, such as Sandy Hook, rather than a long-running series of complex machinations spanning the globe.
"What they tend to share is an incident occurs that is large and heinous, so much so that psychologically there will be people who are unwilling to accept a simple explanation for how the event took place," Pitcavage told NBC News.
Whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating John F. Kennedy 50 years ago is considered the "ultimate example."
"Psychologically people are unwilling, unprepared to accept that it was a lone gunman. So if they can't accept that, there must be some other explanation. That's why these conspiracy theories emerge."
The terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, also spawned conspiracy theories, and led to the coining of the phrase "truthers" to describe them.
Related stories:
- Connecticut school named for slain Newtown teacher
- Obama to release gun recs as early as Wednesday
- Support soars for tougher gun laws, surveys show
Leave a Comment:
Goddam stupid crackhead conspiracy nutburgers can't find anything else to do but harass a man like this.
I honestly believe we've always had these very troubled people among us, but the internet and the media have given them a voice. How many are thinking that this is a great opportunity to get their 15 minutes of fame? The media loves nuts: the loonier the better because it generates clicks or sells papers, or gets people to watch the TV. I honestly wish I knew what the answer was, but I don't think it is to showcase these people. They love it.
Why does this report make ZERO mention of any of the suspicions around this guy's story(ies)? Surely at the least there was misreporting and inconsistencies that could make reasonable people ask questions. Why not at leat acknowledge why some would find this suspicious? Instead, this is discarded as "anti-semetic" hate speech unworthy of any credence whatsoever...i find this bias suspicious and more supportive of the "nut jobs'" beliefs than Salon's.
Anti-semitic, nothing. I discard it as crackhead nonsense from people who should be kept in cages.
We discard it because that's what NORMAL people do with insane, pathetic, cruel lies.
Someone who would believe that the Sandy Hook tragedy is anything significantly different then what we have been told by the best free press in the world is borderline mentally ill in that they cannot accept a narrative that is different than the black and white, good and evil mindset that they have.
ahahahahaaahahahahah free press thats funny! it aint so free when you have to watch 4 different channels to get the whole story is it?
The best free press in the world? You mean the most corrupt, right?
what is amazingly humorous to me is that every single human being will believe every little peice of evidence that is being basically punched in your head as if you would just believe anything anyone has ever spoke of... if people would actually take some time out of their lives and seriously pay attention to the facts besides just taking all the crap people tell you, you might just be intrigued on how these heinous ideas could even be though of. The situation in insane do not get me wrong but you yourself has to be the moron to even believe for one second that this government has all of us in their bests interests? the reason why the internet is valuable is because you are able to find such research it will never be shown on tv again because of crap like this.... me myself can put you in a environment, repeatedly tell you something and after while it will be believed in... its proven. especially after hearing something as drastic as this....i shake my heads at you because you will be the first in line to simply give up everything......good luck to you.
Unless, by 'showcase' you mean lock away for the good of decent, thinking people.
I know this isn't relevant and I think this man is a hero, but people really need to learn the correct definition of "mortified". Mortified mean "very embarrassed". Sorry, it's a pet peeve...people mix up the word "mortified" and "horrified" a lot.
I just can't think of any word to describe these tinfoilers. I can think of several but I'd never get on the 'vine anymore. Bat@!$%# crazy, insane, ignorant, fools, idiots. And then come the really nasty ones.
As for you Jacques, go hide under the rock you came from. Take your conspiracy theorists with you. Then you can all grab your high-capacity weapons, the ones I call assault weapons, and turn them on yourselves. That way we, the sane and thinking people, those with at least some level of intelligence, can live without you fools.
In a perfect world, these tinfoiler's posts would be sufficient basis to require them to undergo a mental health evaluation and, for one thing, ban them from ever owning guns.
I wonder if any of you have read Plato's "Allegory of a Cave." If not perhaps you should familiarize yourselves with it.
I see a lot of prisoners here. Believe nothing, question everything.
whats unbelieveable to me is that tremendously intelligent human beings are syaing the things we are.... what else is extremely freaking unbelievable is that people are so idiotic and lazy they would not care enough to even think of lookin into anything of the sort... they would rather take someone elses word for it like its someone who actually gives a flying crap about them......oh ive had people thinkin the same way until i got them to sit their lazy ass down to literally look at some things... point blank things do not add add up.. you living in the box are ridiculous...and thats whats so great about this country now is the freedom of speech but that is all about to be changed if you ever watch anything political.... smh
I have a name for some of these truthers...stalkers. Whatever you chose to believe is your own business (no matter how ignorant it makes you look). But when you start harassing people, you are BREAKING THE LAW! It is called stalking, or criminal harassment (or whatever name they chose to call it on the books, it is the same thing).
If these people can't deal with reality, fine. But once they start harassing victims, they are lawbreakers, and should face the consequences accordingly.
a Bunch a republican doing what they do best spewl propaganda and use scare attacks. These people are domestice terrorist. The USA does not support terrorist, so the repubs need to stand up and speak up.
@terry what do you call what odumma is doing to the constitution? i would call that domestic terrorism at its finest keep pushing blame here and there when the fact is that people like you living in your fantasy land and choosing to beleive everything the goverment shoves down your throat as truth is the main reason they get to walk all over us as citizens and continue to rape our rights as they choose for who ever may put the most money in their pockets.
Please don't call them "Truthers" Call them what they are liars and NRA thugs.
how about we just call you and your kind a naieve bullcrap eatin crap for bragins jackass?
This country does not have a shortage of nuts. You wonder what drives this. Is it something in our water? It's unfortunate that a real hero is harassed like this. I am glad to see that more of the public is waking up to the need for stronger gun laws. We are one of the most violent advanced countries in the world. Again you have to ask what is it about America that makes us so prone to violence.
Speaking of crazed gun nuts: Didn't Ted Nugent say if Obama got re elected he would be dead or in jail within a year? Could he hurry up and take the NRA jackals with him?
That poor man. People are getting more insane by the minute and I am getting a little scared because it appears to be spreading rapidly!
OK - Now I put up.... just of few of the many, many news articles validating my comments follolw.
Where are the apologies? (Oh, I forgot.. there are NEVER any apologies - only more ATTACKS.)
And BTW: Since when is searching for the truth now a cause for ridicule? How eager you all are to become slaves!
=================
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eHv_RhVgfUQ#!
http://www.dailypaul.com/270101/sandy-hook-scam-confirmed-hard-evidence-of-foreknowledge
http://www.rep-am.com/news/connecticut/doc50d3398284faa524602732.txt
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/12/report-adam-lanza-was-on-fanapt.html
http://beforeitsnews.com/conspiracy-theories/2013/01/sandy-hook-weapon-inconsistencies-multiple-shooters-evidence-ct-cop-speaks-out-2447680.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/038664_Sandy_Hook_security_video_footage.html
Not one legitimate source.
shut your pie hole.
Jacques,
how about CREDIBLE and VERIFIABLE links to prove your point? Not FAUX news sites and NOT conspiracy stupidity sites.
CREDIBLE AND VERIFIABLE SITES.
Doesn't everybody know that they can't put it on the internet if it isn't true! ;)
The Sandy Hook Shooting - Fully Exposed video taken from MSM sources
how the hell does this guy come out of this as a "hero"? for simply letting kids in his house after they were already away from the school? i think the term "hero" is used too loosely now days. not to say he didnt do a good deed but by no means a hero. and has anybody figured out or heard why the children were sitting in his driveway to begin with? who in a time like that would simply drop the children off in someones front yard and walk away? makes no sense at all.
Didnt those children RUN from the school because they were scared at the time and wound up in his driveway? No one dropped them off.
idk i read and heard that someone had came back for them and in his words " was talking to them very sternly" so i dont think they got there on their own but im not sure.
HE didnt call himself a hero, the media did.
God bless you, Mr. & Mrs. Rosen. I'm so sorry to hear about this harassment. Unbelievable.
Poor man, I would be forever grateful to a person who comforted my grandchildren in the face of evil. God will bless you.
It is AMAZING to me that some who do not trust our government think that its a hoax to get gun control passed, BUT they believe that on 9-11, two tall buildings came down just PERFECTLY.....as if they had been detonated on purpose. Now what are the odds of that happening? And they said the fuel MELTED the metal in the building...EVENLY on all sides, of course to allow this to happen. Does any of them wonder if maybe our CIA or MILITARY (BOTH government groups who have been in business for lifetimes) wanted the outrage over those buildings coming down to be so loud that we would all SUPPORT invading the middle eastern countries? Its amazing to me that they see grieving parents who lost their children and dont believe it. What a slap in the face THAT is to them. They need to discern....who the REAL enemy is.
You must be a structural engineer. I'm sure you can tell us who the REAL enemy is by looking in the mirror. Amazing how you rolled several conspiracy theories into one huge rambling fairy tale. Take the tinfoil off please. Planet Earth is calling.
whoa easy there you cant question the goverment or you will be labeled a "nutjob" or a "crazy". lol those who choose not to question the goverment are the real nutjobs the goverment has been in the business of lying and deception for the last 50 years and is only getting wosr to satisfy their agenda. so if they choose to keep following the heard off the cliff so be it i for one will not fall pray to the propagand that spews from every orifice of this very troubled goverment!
Armed Wombat: "democrats hide behind their merry band of terrorists." I think we should come up with a label for nuts like you who weave in untruths like this to any story, whether applicable or untrue.
Thank You Mr Rosen ! God used you in a special way on that horrible day. I sincerely hope the "truthers" and anyone else making threats is arrested and put in jail. We all have to stand before God for judgement, when your time comes Mr Rosen God will smile upon you ! God Bless you and be strong. It will all pass in time.
It's this type of harrassment that helps to create the mistrust that makes people not want to get involved in helping anyone for any reason regardless of the consequences of their inaction.
"Truthers" never heard a conspiracy they didn't like. Garbage in, garbage out. Get a job.
get a job huh? well there jackass i do have a job and i am tired of seeing this goverment run unchecked and pissing away every tax dollar i pay. so get a job huh how about you get a brain and a life? lmfao retard
it's nice you have a job, and you like to blame it all on Obama, but the point is that this wasn't a hoax. 20 six and seven year olds and 6 adults were murdered by a sad individual with high powered weapons, and the fact that you support these @!$%#s who are berating and harassing a man who tried to help a group of scared kids makes you just as equally an @!$%#. Take your job, and your bitching about taxes and go to hell.
its a big planet.Move.Theres over 200 countries to choose from.
So, Chris,
Where'd you hide your intelligence since being a 'truther', you are obviously more than a few fries short of a happy meal....
Keep in mind that many of these are people who just want to have their names in the paper or on TV. They are parasites using this tragedy for their 15 minutes of fame. Westboro Baptist Church. That sheriff in Arizona. They all just want attention.
And the 24 hour media is all too happy to provide.
True, and most, if not all, lack intelligence and the common sense God gave a flea. And I REALLY don't wan to insult the flea.
I enjoyed marking "Ignore This Author" on the posts of so many of the wackos. My Newsvine threads in the future should be a bit nicer and less crazy.
Really? Then debunk them please. I implore you.
Show us your facts Mogul218 and Mark-515467.
You and the rest of the brainwashed sheep refuse to actually answer any of these good questions because they are admittedly difficult to swallow and the answers might be scary. God forbid our babysitters in Washington might be guilty of any wrong-doing or gasp..........MURDER, you know, because they have never, ever, lied to the American public, ever, they've never ever conducted false flag operations in order to rally the people to a common cause, they've never, ever, tried to assassinate or remove foriegn leadership that wouldn't be pushed into falling in line with the American oil agenda, they've never, ever, spied on American civil rights leaders or those deemed as trouble makers, we've never ever put people in concentration camps, or filled mass graves in South America with inocent civilians, and we've certainly never, ever, ever, gone to war because we were lied to about WMD's.
Instead of engaging in honest and genuine thought and conversation on the matter, utilizing logic, facts, and reason, you chose to bury your yellow, cowardly heads in the sand and you blindly swallow what the corporate media spoonfeeds you on a daily basis, then like good little cogs you react out of emotion instead screaming for the government to come to your rescue, because aparently we are all to stupid and weak to think for ourselves anymore.
You instantly lable all those who have actually picked up a history book and absorbed it's contents, and those that dare to ask questions that are not in line with the status quo (aka the bleeding heart, empathetic, fear induced opinion that the media gives you and you later tout as being your own because you're such free thinkers), crazy, anti-American, and racist.
Since when is demanding transperency regarding inconsistency, crazy, anti-American, and racist?
When did this country become such a bunch of ignorant, forgetful, utopian pussies?
I swear I read somewhere that we were a country founded by proud, educated patriots that didn't take @!$%# from tyrannical powers, not a bunch of easily lead, easily influenced, sheep that worship highly paid media elites like they were Jesus F'ing Christ.
How about we go about this the other way around. How about YOU prove YOUR conspiracy. Just because you have some wild and unfounded ideas and questions doesn't mean the world should step up and wipe your nose for you to prove YOUR case.
And don't be so high and mighty that you're some radical "free thinker" and the rest of us are "sheep, ignorant and utopian pussies". Your rant is only a rant with misguided musings from someone who clearly has nothing else to do but peek under the carpets to see if the bogeyman is hiding under there.
Queue the Looney Tunes melody.
nah - cue the Napoleon XiX song. this is WAY BEYOND PORKY PIG.
I think there are conspiracies we know nothing about and I have been known to question authority most of my life, however, to think people would stage this sort of an event in order to take guns out of the hands of Americans is ludicrous. I guess these "truthers' also believe that every mass murder we've had is a government plot to get rid of parts of the 2nd Amendment. There have been too many funerals for me to believe this. I would be more willing to believe people are afraid of losing their guns because their sexual potency is at risk. Makes more sense.
There are no unanswered questions moron...except the one about why your mother didnt get an abortion, kory.
Nobody is saying its a conspiracy to take our guns away!! Theres so many posts here refering to that, and it makes whoever says that look really dumb! There are questions being asked here because theres a handfull of things that don't make sense! You people saying that truthers are nuts are the same ones who'll say our government AND media are honest
amen brother. opps i said amen i more than likely offended some people there. o well f em. @ clearshot just another typical uneducated mouthy jackass. you aperently have not looked at all the info because there are many things that dont make sense with this story like if the shooter killed everyone with the "long gun" aka assult weapon and he was killed in the school they how in the hell did they find his "long gun" in the trunk of his car? and who the hell are the other people that were arrested running away from the school? so take your non knowing ass and go jump off a cliff! lol
and i guess the goverment never experimented on the american people with biological weapons to test their ability to spread and infect people either right? you people who dont beleive our goverment is capable of such things better go read a book.
Kory Cordier, I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks! Too bad there are so many people who are willing to believe all the info they hear without even a single thought as to whether it's true. Sheep.