Been thinking about this one. Looking for a way to explain it. Yes, he is a dumbass, deserving of every insult hurled at him. However, let’s take it apart. What happened, as objectively as I can muster?
BEFORE the rally, he had no place to put his anger (edit: except maybe the internet). Because of the rally, he finally had a place to express his feelings of being in the majority class but feeling a perceived threat from minority groups. Then, VICE showed up and he was able to display his collection of guns, feelings and buddies. He was celebrating because he felt he was winning, and also [in his mind] finally able to express all his joy about being on the righteous side of all that is good in the world.
The VICE piece aired. Then, he was told that a warrant was issued for his arrest. Now this.
What happened?
What I see is that at the moment when he realized he could get into actual legal trouble and have his entire life changed out from under him, he went from feeling like he was in the majority to feeling singled out and placed into a minority. Not a racial minority. Just a minority class of society: “lawbreaker” in this case.
Pivotal! And very important to notice what happened, because if it happens once, it can happen MANY times.
Unmask the KKK. Identify and call-out racists. Arrest lawbreakers. Photographically ID individuals in lynch mobs. Use social media to square off with these guys (& a few women) and, in effect, place them in the position they should be in but have up to that point never felt: a minority position. They feel it immensely as soon as they are.
Insults are how we feel, but the insults don’t get the job done. The job gets done by exposure, just like with this guy. We can do it a million more times and make it into a science.
