It was shit because it was so inconsequential. It turned a bunch of creeps and dweebs into martyrs and invoked a ton of racist backlash that targeted the most isolated and vulnerable Muslim communities.
The only thing the Hebdo shooting achieved was five years of “Draw Muhammad” contests sponsored by the most vile right wing shits you could imagine.
Same with the YouTube office shooting a few years later. No material benefit. Played right into the “Taliban sleeper cells are hiding in your bushes” hysteria. And ffs, don’t give the national news media an excuse to be sympathetic to YouTube.
That youtube one started my minor fascination with music and music videos made by very troubled people who would later do mass shootings or murders. That guy who decapitated his dad a month or so ago for “being a fed” also made music, and it is strange, sad, and not entirely unlistenable. I think I look at these things, these artifacts, as little personal postmortems that reveal the extent of the atomization that’s become so widespread.
It was shit because it was so inconsequential. It turned a bunch of creeps and dweebs into martyrs and invoked a ton of racist backlash that targeted the most isolated and vulnerable Muslim communities.
The only thing the Hebdo shooting achieved was five years of “Draw Muhammad” contests sponsored by the most vile right wing shits you could imagine.
Same with the YouTube office shooting a few years later. No material benefit. Played right into the “Taliban sleeper cells are hiding in your bushes” hysteria. And ffs, don’t give the national news media an excuse to be sympathetic to YouTube.
That youtube one started my minor fascination with music and music videos made by very troubled people who would later do mass shootings or murders. That guy who decapitated his dad a month or so ago for “being a fed” also made music, and it is strange, sad, and not entirely unlistenable. I think I look at these things, these artifacts, as little personal postmortems that reveal the extent of the atomization that’s become so widespread.