Routine Shootings at US Schools and Universities Megathread.

[DGuller]

I'm conflicted on who to blame.  On the one hand, it's the voters that subscribe to a hateful ideology from which the vast majority of inexplicable political opinions originate.   On the other hand, we should know by now that modern propaganda methods are extremely effective, and they can really warp your perception of reality if you fall into the rabbit hole prepared for you.  A lot of the GOP voters subscribe to a hateful ideology because they fell under the spell of modern day Jim Jones and his cable news channel, and they wouldn't have subscribed to it otherwise.  Assuming that the voters have full agency does not seem to capture what is actually happening.

[Tamas]

I'm conflicted on who to blame.  On the one hand, it's the voters that subscribe to a hateful ideology from which the vast majority of inexplicable political opinions originate.   On the other hand, we should know by now that modern propaganda methods are extremely effective, and they can really warp your perception of reality if you fall into the rabbit hole prepared for you.  A lot of the GOP voters subscribe to a hateful ideology because they fell under the spell of modern day Jim Jones and his cable news channel, and they wouldn't have subscribed to it otherwise.  Assuming that the voters have full agency does not seem to capture what is actually happening.

Hell no. You don't need to be some superior ball of light to be repulsed by the far-right bile, plenty of people who fall into patronised demographics can't stand it. The likes of Fox News reinforce unpleasant personality traits for sure, but they don't create them.

Like it or not there will always be a segment of people who will not subscribe to anything that is not hate-driven. Contain them by force of law (such as not letting them own military grade weapons) is the only thing we (as in civilised people) will ever be able to do about them.

[frunk]

Hell no. You don't need to be some superior ball of light to be repulsed by the far-right bile, plenty of people who fall into patronised demographics can't stand it. The likes of Fox News reinforce unpleasant personality traits for sure, but they don't create them.

Like it or not there will always be a segment of people who will not subscribe to anything that is not hate-driven. Contain them by force of law (such as not letting them own military grade weapons) is the only thing we (as in civilised people) will ever be able to do about them.

When you get fed hate for over 30 years (and critically get very little other input) you start to internalize it.  Nobody is immune to hate, and getting a constant stream of propaganda will warp most people.

There's an assumption that critical thinking is innate to us.  It's something that has to be learned, and if it isn't then it makes you much more vulnerable to influence.

[Syt]

Isn't Geraldo on FOX News? 

(I've seen commenters drawing parallels to pro-life/anti-choice activists using images of aborted fetuses to drive their anti-abortion message.)

[Syt]

Oh, also:

[Syt]

[Valmy]

It is very hard for them to believe that a Nazi white supremacist could ever do anything evil.

[Admiral Yi]

 

[Syt]

Also seeing a bunch of "can't have been white supremacist, because he's Latino" and "so suspicious that all his views were documented online and then removed ... psyops to distract from the transgender shooter?"

[Sheilbh]

Surely on the last point, by now you just need to wait a week for a new mass shooting to distract from the previous mass shooting No need for psyops.

[Admiral Yi]

Surely on the last point, by now you just need to wait a week for a new mass shooting to distract from the previous mass shooting No need for psyops.

Word.

I've honestly already forgotten the last one.

[grumbler]

Surely on the last point, by now you just need to wait a week for a new mass shooting to distract from the previous mass shooting No need for psyops.

Word.

I've honestly already forgotten the last one.

The one before that in Texas was a week earlier (gun nut decided that he didn't like his neighbors complaining about him firing his AR-15 in his back yard, so he went next door and killed five of them, including one child). 

[Admiral Yi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RetXzscemDQ

12 yo and 20 yo kill burger joint worker in Texas.

[Valmy]

Yeah, well, what else is new? 

[Josquius]

Surely on the last point, by now you just need to wait a week for a new mass shooting to distract from the previous mass shooting No need for psyops.

I have a funny feeling we'll be hearing about that trans one for years to come.