School shooters are the poster children for Facebook
And we should reclaim our society from Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch.
A few months ago I penned a thought experiment. The subject being Michael Knowles’ call for the eradication of transgender people and how he skirted the hate speech laws. In that piece I clearly indicated I thought violence begets violence and as such is not a moral option.
But then something changed in me.
Not long after that, I read an article from a transgender author who is at the threshold of radicalization. It all but made the case for direct action against those elements within society that seek to harm trans people.
I agreed with the article.
Worse yet, I needed to reword the comment I posted in response to the article because it sounded like an endorsement and promotion of violent action.
Obviously, I am not in that mental space anymore. In fact you may say I have found a guru or savior. By his sacrifice, my savior, redeemed me from the path of destruction and violence. Indeed, I have been deradicalized and I cannot thank my savior enough for taking the scales of blindness from my eyes.
I would even go as far as saying that my savior has immunized me against future radicalization as well and the vaccine is extremely effective.
Before I tell you about my great redeemer, I would like to dive into radicalization for a moment. I want to write a little on this because I see it creeping into the transgender community. However, my story and my path away from radicalization is applicable to many outside the communities I am a member of. If you feel yourself imagining violence, take a moment and read my story.
In 1990 the Persian Gulf War kicked off. The details of this conflict are relatively unimportant for our purposes beside one set of facts. A United States led coalition force was invited, by the Saudi Arabian government, to use Saudi Arabia as a launchpad to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi annexation.
This stationed a large number of western soldiers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and ultimately Iraq.
And then this idiot became obsessed with Western defilement of Arab land.
Osama had some concerns relating to American soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia and the greater middle east. The USA was, correctly, viewed as a staunch ally of Israel. He was already a religious fundamentalist acting as an irregular soldier involved in an insurrection, the Afghan Soviet war. So for Osama Bin Laden turning his attention to the new occupier of Arab lands, the USA, after the Soviet Union had been dispatched was a natural progression.
We see an inciting incident where the media quickly loses interest in the very reasonable reasons for the event and amplifies the salacious and gory details of the aftermath. Someone like Osama Bin Laden is drawn in and loses contact with reality and starts adding fictional layers and motives to the original events. He is then picked up by the media, given a platform and allowed to radicalize other people. Depending on who is running the media and their ideological bent, the radicalization could work in the radicalized person’s favor or against them. Looking at Osama Bin Laden, the growth of Al Qaeda and Western Islamophobia are two sides of the same radicalization coin.
In 1993, David Koresh and his cult, the Branch Davidians, hoarded guns on a compound near Waco, Texas. The ATF raided the property, which escalated to an FBI siege. The siege ended when people who think guns solve problems (read American law enforcement) used guns and an armored vehicle to pump CS gas into the building. Killing several cult members and their kids.
Personally I think the allegations of child abuse against the Branch Davidians were far more concerning than the stockpile of guns and that is what should have triggered an appropriate intervention.
This is however America and as such the guns were the central focus of the ATF, FBI and this delusional moron.
Timothy McVeigh viewed the raids and siege as overreach by a tyrannical government attempting to deprive citizens of the right to own guns. As a result, in 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a massive truck bomb next to the Alfred P Murrah building, killing 168 and wounding 680 people.
Again we see an inciting incident, the actual facts forgotten and the gory details amplified by the media with images of the actual raid. Instead of pointing out that what was happening was an incompetent police force attempting to free hostages, the children and unwilling cult members. The media focused on the guns as a justification for the siege and raid, then showed terribly violent images in an orgy of on screen violence. The consequences of police incompetence were painted as the original intentions of the raid. Looking at the coverage you would get the idea that the FBI intended to kill the cult members. After all, what type of moron pumps CS gas into a building with a tank and has men armed with anti material rifles at hand unless they plan to kill. Timothy McVeigh watched this, added a level of fiction and misinterpretation to the incident and became radicalized. Following that he committed mass murder via bomb. In right wing and white nationalist circles today, Timothy McVeigh is seen as a hero and a martyr. His image is now being used to radicalize the next generation of gun toting idiots.
In 2003 this massive douchebag ordered an invasion of Iraq.
The motivation for this invasion was ostensibly Iraqi involvement in state sponsored terror and weapons of mass destruction. The allegations against Iraq turned out to be completely fictional and it’s more likely that George W Bush was compensating for a somewhat less than feral hog.
This resulted in a shit ton of radicalization and the formation of Islamic State.
Then this group of massive butt plugs harnessed the power of social media and the 24 hour news cycle to unleash a wave of radicalized Facebook users onto Europe and the USA.
When considering the case of Osama Bin Laden, it’s clear that Osama didn’t have a firm grip on reality. The Persian Gulf War was triggered by an invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. None of the surrounding states had the military will to oust Iraq from Kuwait. Consequently it fell onto the shoulders of the only standing super power at the time to do something about it. Had Osama not become so obsessed with American soldiers on Saudi Soil, one could argue that the 2003 invasion of Iraq would not have transpired.
Similarly when we look at Timothy McVeigh. We see a person radicalized by news commentary and fear mongering around the concepts of gun control. Undoubtedly the current gun violence crisis in America has been fueled by the nature of the reporting on the Waco Siege and the subsequent coverage of Timothy McVeigh. The actual crisis was that a violent small cult had been stockpiling guns and abusing members at a compound. Contrary to what the Gravy Seals will tell you, cults and wannabe soldiers should not be able to own guns. While the siege was ended by a poorly coordinated and ham-fisted operation, it was still a required operation. Society simply cannot allow fundamentalists to own guns and abuse kids. Had the ATF and the FBI not intervened, the Branch Davidians would have killed a lot of people sooner or later.
When we look at Islamic State and the lone wolf attacks they inspired it becomes clear they were a very media savvy group. They had very certainly looked at radicalization as a media driven phenomena and very deliberately utilized both the News Media and Social Media to directly radicalize their audience.
Zooming out to the bigger picture we see relatively banal events, hyped and spun into ever more dramatic news flashes. Commented on and analyzed in a deliberate manner to drive fear.
Saddam Hussein was a sad little man running a bankrupt country, he tried to hold Kuwait to ransom and lost. The world had to help Kuwait and the US army needed a parking space from which to launch the counter attack.
David Koresh was a child abusing polygamist and an insane religious fundamentalist. He was not a symbol of defiant liberty slaughtered by rapacious gun grabbing politicians.
Timothy McVeigh was not a brave patriot taking a stand. He was a delusional and desperate war veteran who lashed out in anger at a state he was told was out to get him.
Islamic state drew from examples and experiences such as the above and weaponized those systems of radicalization.
Radicalization is the product of an individual being led away from reality by the siren song of drama. Events are exaggerated, fictional motives invented and words molded around the ideology of some pathetic person whose only goal is a rapt audience.
Islamic State took the work pioneered by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, removed all subtly and amped up the drama. Then dumped the product onto social media. They turned the silenced pistol of the 24 hour news cycle into an AK47 by using social media and bullshit effectively.
Looking at Islamic State media, remove the blood, replace the Islamic fundamentalism with Christian fundamentalism and you have Fox news. Drop the black flag, replace it with baby blue and you have uncle Larry raving about the “woke mob” on Facebook.
Islamic State realized that social media and news media today are the vanity projects of rich people willing to grant legitimacy and voice to anyone they can use to drive clicks to their platform.
Twitter/X is not the town square, it’s a 40 year old man preying on high school girls. Facebook is not a place to reconnect with lost friends, it’s a rich person staging hobo fights. Fox is not the news, it’s scared kids in Sunday School being made to watch Left Behind.
So how did I escape?
Who is my savior?
What triggered this revelation in my thinking?
This greasy, arrogant, sad asshole.
I watched this clip;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3St5XimKi6U
And it came home to me that Graham Linehan is a deeply pathetic person who lacks even the most rudimentary level of self awareness.
At around the seven minute mark, Mr. Linehan explains his spouse left him because he couldn’t break his obsession with trans people. He literally sacrificed his marriage on the altar of transphobia.
Much like Osama Bin Laden, Graham Linehan has become so consumed by something and has lost all link to reality. Looking deeper into the Transphobiverse we spot JK Rowling, a billionaire who cannot separate herself from twitter for even a moment and stop posting anti trans garbage. She has latched onto an imaginary event and created an entire fictional universe of men attacking women in restrooms. JK Rowling, like the vast majority of radicalized transphobes, is simply not rational.
Simply put, I cannot take Graham Linehan seriously enough to warrant concern. A friend of mine has a tattoo that says “live for something or die for nothing”. Radicalization in the name of a delusional greasy middle aged idiot would be dying for nothing.
The members of the Transphobiverse are universally deeply pathetic obsessed people who need an audience of agreeing fools and marks. Sure the scale and nature of transphobia cannot be compared to actual terrorists, but parallels can be drawn. Osama Bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh, JK Rowling, Graham Linehan, Allison Bailey et al are all raving loons that need a public to worship and follow them. These are not rational actors, they have all chosen a cause that is devoid of any real meaning and have become obsessed and delusional.
Like Timothy McVeigh and Osama Bin Laden, the members of the Transphobiverse don’t need an assault rifle, they need help, they need psychotropic drugs, they need an intervention.
Instead they get support and amplification.
The owners and operators of the news media and social media need drama, and they are using these irrational actors to create fear and drive intolerance. Their motivation for this is simply that they need the attention. They want to be the center of your world. Money is not enough to satisfy the greed of the billionaire class, they need you too. There is no low they will not stoop to, too drive up their views. There is no victim they will not harm, no taboo they will not break, no immorality they will not endorse in pursuit of one more click, one more willing enraptured consumer to worship them.
Looking at the Israel/Gaza war, we see the same thing repeated. Polarization driven by dishonest reporting and amplified by social media.
Palestinians, transgender people, immigrants, the LGBTQIA community, Muslims are all merely useful concepts to drive your fear.
We are not talking about freedom of speech, we are looking at radicalization and the weaponization of extremists by complicit billionaires.
We need to look at free speech, social media and the news media. We simply cannot let the lives of millions be impacted by a few pathetic and insane delusional bigots.
We need to take our society back from Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
