“I’ve described this as sort of like a mass shooter creation machine,” said Alex Newhouse, deputy director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. “A lot of these communities are designed to spin out mass shooters over time, over and over and over.”
Well, that’s a cheerful take on this shitty subject.
I’ve described this as sort of like a mass shooter creation machine
The 1974 movie “The Parallax View” comes to mind, but only in contrast to what we actually have. No evil corporation carefully and deliberately brainwashing troubled young white men into becoming assassins to serve it’s greedy aims here, but rather a whole unguided system and network of right-wing meme factories, funded by capitalist greedpigs and churning out stochastic terrorists.
Great movie- I own it.
I’m going disagree that these people are completely divorced from political motivations too. The most recent guy was at Trump rallies etc.
They may not be as tied up with far right groups- but they are motivated by those ideas.
I should pull together a movie night with that - Three Days of the Condor - Winter Soldier & maybe Borne. Movie week.
Also, the political aspects are a sine qua non of the memes that are involved. This is a right-wing project however we look at it.
The brainwashing film still creeps me out, especially now that I see the memetic elements that are all too familiar to us today.
I doubt this film would be made today.
“It is all designed to be, one, shared; two, completely incomprehensible to anyone like us who are looking onto it; and three, to be a way of breaking down a person’s natural reluctance to commit violence,” said Newhouse. “It is designed to break a person’s brain.”
So my question, and even to me this sounds a little out there, but it is this: Did this shit evolve organically, or was it put there by nefarious actors interested in destabilizing the country? Either is terrifying, hell, the existence of sites like this, is terrifying. But it stinks of psychological intervention, either way.
My theory is that bad actors with money (right-wing billionaires, Putin, etc.) discovered these organic platforms populated by young white cis-het male edgelords (4chan, etc.) and saw them as good frameworks on which to hang commissioned and custom-designed memes that would further their goals.
The practise quickly metastasised onto poorly moderated mainstream social-media and gaming platforms and became part of the larger right-wing Mighty Wurlitzer pipeline.
Without the Marjories and Boeberts and trump rallies would people like this would still murder? I wonder if sooner or later something would set them off. Don’t misunderstand, those people need to stfu and take responsibility for their words.
I get that without the guns this doesn’t happen, and I want guns gone no matter what but would these mass killers still kill and look for some other reason and method to kill?
That kid in my neck of the woods in Oxford Michigan appears to just be really troubled with idiots for parents. Without the gun he doesn’t shoot up a school but does he kill with something else for the same reasons?
Brenda Spencer Didn’t like Monday’s and wanted to liven up the day. No politics involved.
The list of school shootings goes way back, many just being angry students or just disturbed people.
In other words, it’s not just the wackadoodle conservatives pushing these shooters over the edge, there are many reasons. We can start with removing the guns and wack jobs egging them on but we need to really figure out why these shootings are getting more and more prevalent because if we don’t, even without guns, these people are still going to find ways to murder.
Which is why I’m glad they took this kid alive, maybe we learn something and use it to try and prevent more shootings.
And in case I wasn’t clear, I want the guns gone but I also want to figure out how to help the people that need help. Evil can’t always be stopped but that kid in Oxford could have been stopped and helped before he killed if someone heard his cries for help. But they can’t just hear the cries, they have to do something when they hear those cries.
IMO, a combination of the maturation of un- or improperly moderated social media forging connections and coalescing communities of the like-minded; in turn creating intense desire and opportunity to be seen/popular/heroes in said communities via influencing/extreme behavior; and internal & external malefactors perfecting social engineering in the service of weaponizing those vulnerable individuals for anything from nefarious political ends to merely the lulz. The latter element sometimes isn’t even necessary if the rest develops organically.
Similar to how the internet has facilitated the explosive blossoming of fandoms in the 21st century, with their various standout influencers and stanning, whether it’s gaming, Bronies, tonsil stone obsessives, or incels. The Highland Park shooter seemed to be seeking attention from some cultural group with his aspiring rap and Waldo-wear in Trumptown, further suggested by his heavy Discord, YouTube, and Twitter contributions.
The 1972 documentary?
Did not need to know this one…
Ick.
Was he GG Allin? Seems like he could have been GG Allin?
I agree. Mass violence in a nihilistic bent is most certainly right wing.
They were both in Affliction (1996).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292894/
You can easily watch it online but I won’t link it here.
Ah! But together?
Also…
The father had a conservative background…
No.
More precisely, if they weren’t radicalized, then no, they wouldn’t mass murder.
At first that stuff disdained conventional politics —4chan mobilized against Scientology, not “liberals,” and Alex Jones accused all politicians of the same crimes until Trump came along 
Nope. These are the Frank bits:
Yes, but which one?
This is a lovely place to visit any time, but they’re taking advantage of being the next suburb over from Highland Park to offer a bit of respite:
