I also kind of think that, in a weird way, politicians and political parties are somewhat responsible for this type of reaction. All they do is tap into the MSM, 24x7, and scream at anyone and everyone who will listen, "everything bad in your life is because of the other party". Constantly. At some point you have to think that a whack-job at the end of his rope, his life crashing down around him, is going to buy into it and then decide to end things... and if he's going out, then he might as well take the people who caused it out with him. It's like people don't think that all the negativity and bullshit identity political messaging doesn't have some sort of consequence or impact on people. When you're reaching millions of people, that includes the bat-shit insane types that are reaaaalllyyy close to the edge and may do crazy shit if they get pushed over. But of course that won't be examined or discussed or considered... it will be more of "the other party made him what he is" and some failing in his own life. To be clear, anyone who does the kind of thing that he did has mental issues and that is the main issue here... shooting people like that is not normal behaviour. I'm just saying when you're dealing with people with mental issues, it's not that hard to politically motivate their breakdowns and actions.
I tend to think of it as a constant thing that is always happening, so of course it's going to happen again, but I'm just not ready to jump on the "Trump is fucking shit up so EVERYONE is going to go shoot everyone else" response train. If you look at that list that I posted, you'll see that most of them resulted in some sort of very close, personal thing that deeply affected them as a trigger. (God I hate using that word now). It became a personal, all-consuming thing that they felt they had to respond to. The guy that hired a contract killer to whack the sheriff that beat him in the election, the mayor that got killed because he wouldn't pass some zoning, the judge that got killed because he wouldn't clear the guy's record... and so on. It very well may be that Trump's actions may cause more of those kinds of triggering events; no more medical coverage due to the ACA repeal, fracking causing illness due to the removal of EPA restrictions, that kind of thing. Something personal and close to home that is perceived by the shooter to be caused by a top-level decision. It'll be very interesting to see if anyone digs into this shooter's life to see what the trigger point was.
I imagine the media will dig into every corner if this persons life to examine and then report on possible motivations. As we all know, they'll likely get the story wrong or sensationalize it beyond a reasonable point. My intuition is this guy compared Republicans and Trump to Hitler, and as you mentioned previously, hit some sort of tipping point. Who knows maybe it was an elaborate death by cop scenario but it seems more than likely a sad attempt to change the government.
Sanders just said he was informed the shooter volunteered during his campaign. So does that mean that when Scalise was shot he was, technically, "feeling the bern"?
The cynic in me thinks they will filter out shit that doesn't fit their narrative, and intentionally spin it to fit that narrative. I tend to think that it will boil down to "he was created by the Dems" or "The Republicans caused it".
I wonder if there will be some sort of religious aspect to this where he considered himself to be an avenging angel or some other religious martyr?
I agree, they likely have a sensationalistic story line that they will take the bits and pieces that support that or can be fit into it and run with that.
"Cynic"? That is exactly what's going to happen. Trump was the guy who --while on fucking campaign-- said that Obama is the founder of ISIS. Just wait until the "facts" come out about this guy. It will turn out he's the godson of Bernie Sanders.
I can see how some people will spin this... He was a Bernie supporter and he shot at congressman therefore all Bernie supporters are raging dangerous communists deadset on a socialistic revolution
I watch political and historical documentaries with el hubs and this political climate feels a lot like the 1960s political violence and bombings. The country is divided, people are pissed more and more every week, and I think it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. If the stuff Trump wants to do passes, it will negatively affect a bunch of people and tensions are going to escalate very quickly. All I can say is, I am keeping my shit together and trying to stay out of the way. I feel despondent about the future of this country.
You shouldnt, things are better now than they have ever been. Its just hard to see it that way when youre living through it.
You could be right. I did not live through those times. A lot has changed since then. Quality of life is better (if you can afford it), rights for women are better. However, what is also different is that we have instant and constant communication and 24/7 media. We have militarized police. We have a problem with mental health that stems from that same period of time that has not, in my opinion, been dealt with in any sort of positive way. I really do think we are at the cusp and stuff is winding up, not down. I blame self serving politicians and rabid, self serving media. VI said it several times and I don't disagree with him, that (paraphrasing) we are still in the era of Reagan and that all these problems are directly caused and a continuation of that era. We need resolution, not a bandaid that puts the problem off for the next generation to deal with.
Well there are a lot more factors at play than just trickle-down economic policies of the Reagan era. As for the instant, wide-ranging communication, its important to remember that its still in its relative infancy. The global society is still figuring out how its going to play out in the greater zeitgeist. Will it be looked back on as a full paradigm shift? Perhaps, but who knows. That too will come to maturation at some point, we are just on the road to it right now. Maybe I am the eternal optimist, but I think we are observing a very exciting period of history, despite the missteps here and there.
I agree with you, but I do find that not opting into the instant/constant communication and 24/7 media can really help. Check out of it often... hit the power button, and go do something positive. I liken it to stepping out of the firehose and just sitting by the side of the river.
I agree. It's just so much better for MSM business to focus on the shitty stuff, until all you are surrounded by and see is the shitty stuff. It takes effort to not consume that stuff... because it's everywhere.
Case in point... today all of my news is around the shooting and the high rise fire in London. How does that even remotely affect me in any way? Why is it so important to me that it's being plastered everywhere like it's the end of the world? Right... it's not important, at all, but it's bringing in the eyeballs like any good train wreck will. So that's what I'm being presented with.
I absolutely agree with you, and find a lot of ways to occupy my time other than staying in the 24-7 news cycle. I read about what's going on a couple to a few hours a week total. I don't have an antenna for the tv or have cable or dish so having constant passive access to the news cycle isn't something that happens at my house. What I am saying is that when I do peek in the dumpster, the fire is still raging.