Whacko Professor Says Sandy Hook School Shooting Didn't Happen, Was Hoax By Obama Administration
Jan. 9 2013, Published 1:20 a.m. ET
A Florida Atlantic University communications professor is making shocking claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn. didn't happen and that it was just the Obama administration's effort to sway public opinion in favor of gun control, RadarOnline.com is reporting.
James Tracy -- known for his outlandish conspiracy theories — established a chronological timeline of the massacre in Newtown on his blog, memoryholeblog.com, claiming to find holes in it, and also gave radio interviews pointing to a political agenda surrounding the shooting.
"As documents relating to the Sandy Hook shooting continue to be assessed and interpreted by independent researchers, there is a growing awareness that the media coverage of the massacre of 26 children and adults was intended primarily for public consumption to further larger political ends," James wrote.
"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."
James, 47, also a tenured associate professor of media history at FAU and a former union leader, is aware of the controversy he's caused on campus and even teaches a course called "Culture of Conspiracy."
"But I encourage that," James said. "I want to get students to look at events in a more critical way."
However, FAU wants nothing to do with James' point of view and media director Lisa Metcalf said, "James Tracy does not speak for the university. The website on which his post appeared is not affiliated with FAU in any way."
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School with an arsenal of firearms and killed 20 children and six adults before turning a gun on himself and taking his own life.
"Overall, I'm saying the public needs more information to assess what took place," James said.
"We don't have that. And when the media and the public don't have that, various sorts of ideas can arise."
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