Late Saturday morning, a young white man entered a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and opened fire with an AK-47-style rifle, killing 20 people and injuring 26 more. Police apprehended the suspected shooter, a 21-year-old man from Allen, Texas. It didn’t take long for internet researchers to find a four-page manifesto posted less than an hour before the violence, a document that El Paso’s police chief appeared to later confirm was being examined by officials. The document had been uploaded to the notorious, unmoderated message board 8chan at 10:15 a.m. local time, and it included a request: “Do your part and spread this brothers!”
In the anti-immigrant screed, the author describes plans to perpetrate a mass shooting against the Latino people he believes are invading the United States, the weapons he will use to do it, and his white-nationalist beliefs. Soon after it was first posted on 8chan, the manifesto could be found on 4chan, another message board with scant rules about what people can or cannot share. And not long after that, it was circulating as images on Twitter and Facebook and easily findable in a Google image search. Clearly someone got the author’s message.
The writer of the manifesto said he was inspired by the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand—before which the gunman, another young white man, posted a sprawling essay on 8chan as well as a link to a Facebook Live broadcast of the massacre and instructions to share. That video was removed about 45 minutes after the broadcast began, giving his audience ample time to copy the footage. It was posted to Facebook 1.5 million times in the first 24 hours after the shooting.
The involvement of 8chan is becoming a familiar detail in cases of white-supremacist violence. The El Paso shooting appears to be the second one since the Christchurch massacre to draw from that killer’s playbook. About five weeks later, two hours before another young man murdered someone at a synagogue in Poway, California, the suspected shooter also posted a manifesto to 8chan. In it, he detailed his ideological rationale for mass murder and gave instructions to spread his words far and wide. Each of these shootings appeared to have been designed to go viral—a horrific act would catch the world’s attention, and a manifesto would deliver the hate-filled payload.
In light of this and the shooter in Dayton, here’s something I had written a while ago, just to get the conversation started (I’m literally out the door, about to be late to work; but wanted to get something up so readers could discuss/debate):
The trend over the last few decades (overall until maybe very recently) in murder rate and violent crime has been going down.
What’s really been changing is our connection to each other and to be overwhelmed with news. If it bleeds, it leads. Social media is lit up. Every morning on FB, friends and news sites are flooding my news feed with endless talks about the Florida shooting (back in February when it happened). And because of that? It’s a magnet that draws other troubled people to find attraction in earning “fame” and try and outdo the previous shooting that attracted so much notoriety for the shooter.Bullies and the bullied have been around for ages. The disturbed and mentally-sick; ones who don’t quite fit into society. Yet in the past, how many decided to act out through school shootings? When we consider how many schools in society exist, is it an epidemic uptick of school shootings? Or just that we live in the information highway age of social media and 24-7 news coverage of if-it-bleeds-it-leads? And does that massive amount of attention feed into the likelihood of inspiring other copycats who also seek attention and fame, even if it’s negative fame? Everyone seems to want to be noticed; even those not interested in harming society and achieving negative attention (look at all the Youtube channels from people trying to get subscribers and earn celebrity notoriety through facebook pages and video channels).This is a little dated now:Recent school shooters seem to indicate that their actions are finding inspiration from all the attention given to previous shootings.Joshua Alexander O’Connor from Everett, just a day or so before the Florida Stoneman Douglas school shooting:“O’Connor wrote that he wanted the death count to be as high as possible so that the shooting would be infamous, according to court papers. He went into detail about building pressure-cooker bombs, activating inert grenades and deploying explosives for maximum casualties.“I need to make this count,” O’Connor reportedly wrote. “I’ve been reviewing many mass shootings/bombings (and attempted bombings) I’m learning from past shooters/bombers mistakes.”And the Stoneman Douglas shooter himself made comments about wanting to become a professional school shooter and being influenced by those who came before him.“Investigators found messages on his cellphone that showed the teen had been planning an attack for at least a week at Jackson Middle School, near Massillon. He also showed admiration for the two students who carried out the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado nearly 19 years ago.“I’d hurt and destroy something bigger but my schools an easy target,” Simons wrote in one message found on his phone.“I want to leave a lasting impression on the world,” he said in another message written days before he took the.22-caliber gun to school on Feb. 20. “I’m going to die doing it.”He had been researching other school shooters for months and, determined to outdo them, learned exactly how many people they’d murdered: 13 at Columbine High; 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary; 32 at Virginia Tech.“I think ill probably most likely kill around 50 or 60,” Jesse declared. “If I get lucky maybe 150.”On Valentine’s Day, at the same time police say another angry teen, Nikolas Cruz, slaughtered 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school with a semiautomatic AR-15, Jesse was sitting in a South Carolina courtroom, waiting to find out if he would be tried as an adult for a 2016 rampage that left his father and a 6-year-old dead.The two teens have much in common. Both, investigators say, tortured animals, obsessed over guns and bragged of their deadly intentions on social media. And in the hours after Cruz’s alleged killing spree, as the nation began, once again, to ask why, a group of detectives, prosecutors and psychiatrists were providing answers about Jesse, now 15. He’d detailed his motives in dozens of online messages, in his 46-page confession and in lengthy interviews with doctors who evaluated him, offering extraordinary insight into the mind of an American school shooter.For Peter Langman, one of the country’s leading experts on the subject, the teen’s calculated approach and lack of empathy called to mind Eric Harris, one of the Columbine killers Jesse idolized.“The coldbloodedness, the callousness of the attack — not only before but afterwards,” said Langman, who was not involved in the case but has reviewed Jesse’s confession. “Even having done it, he’s not struck with horror or guilt.”In fact, James Ballenger, a psychiatrist who interviewed Jesse for a total of nine hours, found that the teen reveled in what he’d done.“He wants to talk about how dangerous he is,” Ballenger testified. “He wanted people to know.”~~~~“I HAVE TO BEAT ADAM LAZA …,” he wrote nine days before the Sept. 28, 2016, shooting in a misspelled reference to the Sandy Hook killer, Adam Lanza. “Atleast 40.”
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
@Greg: Oh. So that guy was NOT on NBC and did NOT say that Trump was putting the flags at half mast to celebrate Hitler? Who reports it is immaterial if the facts are true.
Why would a respectable network have such an idiot speaking? I mean I know why NBC would, but why would a RESPECTABLE network do it?
Here, moron…. is THIS better?
https://nypost.com/2019/08/07/ex-fbi-official-claims-trumps-half-mast-flag-order-is-neo-nazi-symbolism/
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nbc-news-trump-order-flags-halfstaff-homage-adolf-hitler
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/456499-nbc-analyst-trump-re-raising-us-flags-on-aug-8-very-significant-to-the-neo
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/08/07/msnbc_contributor_frank_figliuzzi_discovers_hidden_nazi_message_in_white_house_statement.html
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/msnbc-guest-uncovers-super-secret-nazi-code-in-trumps-half-staff-order
Yeah, that is the “IC” you rely so exclusively on. In addition to Brennan, there were far too many left wing ideological hacks posing as people that cared about this country. YOUR response is, “Alex JONES?” as if HE made this idiot think the way he thinks.
Here’s some helpful advice: whenever all you have to say is something profoundly stupid, it would be best not to say anything.
@Deplorable Me:
Unfortunately, that seems to be a lesson Greggie Goebbels is simply too dumb to learn.
@Deplorable Me: The expert in numerology guy, friggin funny! And next Wretched Madcow has a gypsy fortuneteller and Chris Mathews has the thrill up his leg analyzed by a phrenology expert.
88 to you all, (you know what I mean…..)Hulk Hogan yes Hulkamania was running wild again!
@retire05: Would look forward to that meeting–you’ve gone to my FB page to find me–let me know if you need assistance—it’s 75. sunny and clear in San Clemente —couple of cold Corona’s and a Catalina sunset—then you can fire away till your heart’s content—-anytime
RW
@Richard Wheeler:
I have absolutely no desire to be in Loonafornia, for any reason. I certainly would not go to Loonafornia just to meet up with a misogyist racist who seemed to have started going after me after I stated my heritage.
And I don’t drink alcoholic beverages, of any kind.
Guess you will just have to do without the pleasure of my company. Deal with it.
@retire05:I think that Texas heat has got you. You probably could use a couple of drinks
You said you were a southern white girl recently—I believe you said you were no lady —and you’ve continued to prove that.
I’ve never “gone after you”—waste of time.
Keep throwing your insults from the safety of your home—what a coward you are 05. I’ll meet you face to face any time.
@retire05: You are a coward. You hide behind your computer and throw insults—you said “be glad we’re not face to face”
I’m giving you that opportunity.
@retire05: My wife and I will be driving to California this fall to visit her aging aunt. Because California will not reciprocate Texas’s CHL’s (Texas recognizes theirs), I will not be able to carry a weapon on the trip there and back. The same was true when I drove with my grandson to Washington were he was assigned to submarines; all the states there recognize Texas’ CHL’s… except liberal Washington. Same with California.
I guess, though liberals demand everyone get an FBI background check to purchase a weapon, they really don’t trust the FBI background checks.
Curt Since you won’t allow me to respond to nasty old 5 —I’ll go the way of previous authors and great Conservatives Mata Harley and Aye Chi who I stayed in touch with after they left. I hope what has become the Party of Trump is able yo recover it’s center and it’s soul. My best to Word, your remaining beacon of light.
Semper Fi Marine
Richard
You’re constant whining about the past has grown into ridiculousness…get over it. If you don’t like it here, go away. But this kind of shit is just childness. Move the fuck on.
He might after he reads this:
Businesses of Trump donors skyrockets as a result of Joaquin Castros’ doxxing (publicizing.)
Just for starters:
*Business at Bill Miller’s BBQ is exploding!
The lines to Bill Miller’s BBQ in San Antonio are now winding around the block!
*Phyllis Browning, a real estate agent is seeing loads of new clients, both sellers and buyers.
(It’s like Chick-Fil-A all over again!)
@Deplorable Me:
If you want to see what America will look like under radical left wing control, look at California. No truer is the saying “the pathway to Hell is paved with good intentions” when it comes to California.
I have thought a lot about the El Paso shooting and for me, one important question remains unanswered. It was reported that there were approx. 3,000 shoppers in Wal-Mart that day. Considering the Texas laws on open carry (which no one I know “open” carries because that simply makes you a target, everyone I know “conceal” carry) was there not one current or former military/current or former police officer licensed to carry in that store? Since not one person tried to take the shooter out and neutralize him, why was no one with a carry license not packing heat? Are we to believe that out of 3,000 shoppers, no one held a CHL? Was that particular Wal-Mart a gun free zone? It is possible that the store still sold ammunition but was a gun free zone.
Gun free zones are nothing more than target rich environments. A school, a store, a church, a restaurant, all target rich with being gun free. When the El Paso shooter talked about “low hanging fruit” in his manifesto, he was referring to gun free zones.
Those who carry firearms should also be required by law to carry firearm liability insurance, and be subject to large fines and lengthy jail sentences if they don’t. The GOP would love it. There would be many new lobbying and influence peddling opportunities. The government could privatize background checks and let market forces and insurance companies determine how much firearm liability insurance costs, based on their risk assessments of the applicant. And there would be benefits to the public. Given what insurance companies would risk in monetary losses from multi-million dollar law suits, we’d probably begin seeing some very thorough risk assessments. Monotonous headlines announcing the latest mass murder could begin referring to “uninsured shooters”, which would make for a bit more variety.
@Greg: When we want public safety ideas from someone that supports the party that puts citizens at risk in order to reap the political benefits of tragedy, we’ll be sure to let you know.
How about those low-life, scumbag, vulture Democrats trying to make campaign points while the Philadelphia shootout was ongoing? Talking without any knowledge or facts, they throw out their common, predictable, blanket “solutions” to gun violence, giving us an indication of how serious they actually are about making in progress of solving the problem. This shooter was a repeat offender, violent ex-con who was banned from owning or purchasing a gun by every law in existence or proposed yet the Democrats only propose what is proven to have failed. This, of course, is the only characteristic the Democrats maintain: failure.