I know they’re going to say it is only jokes. Fuck that. I get y’all want to be edgelords, but this is the most dangerous thing that has happened this century. I would be surprised now if we make it to the end of the year without some people getting assassinated for real, and it will target overwhelmingly the leftest end of the spectrum.
Example, example, example. There are others.
Y’all are on the precipice of finding out firsthand the difference between “OMG I’m so oppressed, the police are racist and I’m struggling to pay my bills, civil war y’all” and “OMG I’m so oppressed, a gang of big violent fuckers with bats and boots and the support of the government just attacked my whole community, seriously hurt me, and burned part of my house down. They told us if they find us here tomorrow, they’ll kill us.”
The thing I think you might be missing here is that: regardless of any external factors, the right is going to weaponize this. This is not a healthy society, and based on available data it is not heading in the right direction, and people coping with memes on the internet is not going to change any of that. With the level of rhetoric coming out of the right (and some, but a non-zero amount from the left/center), and with the escalation of violence in this year alone, getting to the point where people are going to be taking shots at public officials (or candidates, in this case) was an inevitability. The only outstanding question was who, when, where, and by whom. And of course, when the next one’s coming.
There’s no amount of ‘high road’ that will change this. All we have is that the victims this time weren’t a bunch of innocent kids, they were fascists at a fascist rally, and, for tonight at least, I’m not going to pretend I’m upset about that.