Charleston shooter's manifesto apparently discovered

[fm93]

(lilpixieofterror is not allowed to post in this thread. At all.)

In Rogue's thread about the shooting, I posted the following statement:

In this incident, I think it's undeniable that the killer was, in fact, motivated by some form of racial hatred. I'm interested in the question of how. That is, how did the killer come to hold those ideas? How was he allowed to continue holding those ideas--were too few people aware of his thoughts? Did those who were aware do nothing to discourage him from them? Worse, did they somehow actively encourage him? How might the steps that led to this man becoming such a killer have been stopped or even prevented altogether?

One thing I'd neglected to ask was what exactly those ideas were. I knew the reports indicated that he had racist thoughts, but I knew little beyond that. Since then, a manifesto that reportedly belongs to the shooter has emerged. The website from which it was discovered is now defunct, but the text has been preserved:



(I will admit that the last line amused me.)

Thoughts on his thoughts?

[jordanriver]

directed by Martin Scorsese?

[Spartacus]

There are those who hold to the opinion that the people who go on these mass shootings should, to the greatest extent possible, have their motives, indeed, their very names, kept out of our public consciousness. These shooters do what they do because they want mass media attention for themselves and whatever deranged fantasy they've invented about the world, so, if we don't want to give them exactly what they want, we shouldn't give them any more attention than we have to.

Personally, I'm sympathetic to that opinion.

[Darth Executor]

Thoughts on his thoughts?

Entirely predictable. I know because I predicted it back when the Zimmerman case was in full steam.

The manifesto itself (I only read those 4 pages) is fairly clear and coherent. There are some minor writing errors, about what I'd expect from an amateur writer who didn't bother with editing.

Anyway, it's a pretty short story:

Smart naive kid with no guidance because he's surrounded by dumb trashy people discovers leftists are slimy evil scumballs who fed him a heavily distorted view of reality all his life
Smart naive kid takes to the Internet for research
Smart naive kid is suddenly exposed to a high concentration of disturbing material that in a sane world he would have been exposed to over a much longer period of time
Smart naive kid's brain cannot process high concentration of disturbing material, concludes he's in an immediate existential crisis and acts accordingly. Hilarity does not ensue.

You could probably build a Jack Chick comic around the whole thing.

Incidentally, I just read a very interesting article on why people commit violence:
http://aeon.co/magazine/philosophy/p...des-demand-it/

The article goes on to explain that people will engage in violence to fulfill moral duty even when they find the violence itself distasteful.

[Darth Executor]

There are those who hold to the opinion that the people who go on these mass shootings should, to the greatest extent possible, have their motives, indeed, their very names, kept out of our public consciousness. These shooters do what they do because they want mass media attention for themselves and whatever deranged fantasy they've invented about the world, so, if we don't want to give them exactly what they want, we shouldn't give them any more attention than we have to.

Personally, I'm sympathetic to that opinion.

I'm not. The manifesto and its various points should be discussed in detail. In fact make it mandatory for the current crop of candidates of both parties to write a 20 page essay analyzing the manifesto and its merits in excruciating detail. The material is a mixture of truth, exaggeration, lies and insanity, and this kid's metamorphosis was directly triggered by the American left destroying an innocent man after being unable to get the state to do it for them. Discussing it is paramount to the broader discussion about race, violence, and the destructive effects of progressive social policy.

[firstfloor]

I'm not. The manifesto and its various points should be discussed in detail. In fact make it mandatory for the current crop of candidates of both parties to write a 20 page essay analyzing the manifesto and its merits in excruciating detail. The material is a mixture of truth, exaggeration, lies and insanity, and this kid's metamorphosis was directly triggered by the American left destroying an innocent man after being unable to get the state to do it for them. Discussing it is paramount to the broader discussion about race, violence, and the destructive effects of progressive social policy.

Do I detect a little inter-nutter sympathy?

[Cerealman]

G

[Leonhard]

He's a racist, he's wrong, nuff said.

[DesertBerean]

Is there more proof that this is indeed his?

[fm93]

It is a strange world when Darth is the one with whom I agree the most.

Is there more proof that this is indeed his?

Before the website went defunct, some news sources managed to save pictures from it, which seem to be of him.

[Darth Executor]

Do I detect a little inter-nutter sympathy?

I sympathize with you even though nobody else likes you. Does that count?

[JimL]

Do I detect a little inter-nutter sympathy?

No doubt about it!

[Darth Executor]

No doubt about it!

Weren't you one of the people loudly arguing that Zimmerman should have been thrown in jail despite virtually all the evidence being in his favor? Would you like to apologize for all this death?

[JimL]

Weren't you one of the people loudly arguing that Zimmerman should have been thrown in jail despite virtually all the evidence being in his favor? Would you like to apologize for all this death?

Which evidence was that? You mean the fact that he followed a 17 yr old black kid (when he was asked not to by the police) who was walking home from the store until he cornered him in an alley and shot him to death him for defendeing himself.

[Darth Executor]

Which evidence was that? You mean the fact that he followed a 17 yr old black kid (when he was asked not to by the police) who was walking home from the store until he cornered him in an alley and shot him to death him for defendeing himself.