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On the manifestos killers leave behind

lrb.co.uk

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Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#21

Post by nickysielicki »

I link to this far too often, but it's relevant to so many discussions had on this site.

    The Great On-Line Equalizer
    Date: 21 Mar 1996
    https://subgenius.com/bigfist/answers/articles2/X0095_The_Great_On-Line_Eq.html

    Relevant quote:
    """
    All the people who are invisible in the normal world (the world
    run by the rich and powerful), all those people you can dismiss
    on the street as powerless and harmless -- ALL THOSE PEOPLE are
    now in your face.
  
    You can feel their hot breath on the Internet.
    """
It seems the more we become intertwined with the Internet, the more we start feeling their hot breath in real life. Or at least, the more we notice it.

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#22

Post by waterlesscloud »

dang wrote: post #5
Laaw wrote: post #2

I realize this is the actual title of the piece, but it's going to get much fewer views/reads because of it. For the sake of HN readers, it might be worth editorializing this title to add some kind of context.

This is a common misunderstanding, but in fact the HN guidelines ask you not to use the original title when it is linkbait. We changed the linkbait title to the subtitle. Once you get past that, this is a substantive piece.

Perhaps adding a note to that effect on the submissions page would help.

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#24

Post by tunesmith »

I think this is a good read when combined with the Gladwell article from the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/thresholds-of-v...).

I'm not against gun control efforts or better mental health efforts (whatever that might mean) but I think that both articles suggest that a lot of progress can be made in figuring out how to arrest this kind of societal disconnect.

In the days after Columbine, there was a huge reaction from people who wanted to paint with a really broad brush, along the lines of random kids being potential suspects just because they liked wearing trench coats. John Katz had a project called "Voices From The Hellmouth" over at Slashdot, that invited people that had similar difficulties to write in and share their thoughts and experiences of being bullied or ostracized. I'm convinced that efforts like that can save lives.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/99/04/25/1438249/voices-from-...

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#25

Post by untog »

nickysielicki wrote: post #21

I link to this far too often, but it's relevant to so many discussions had on this site. The Great On-Line Equalizer Date: 21 Mar 1996 https://subgenius.com/bigfist/answers/articles2/X0095_The_Great_On-Line_Eq.html Relevant quote: """ All the people who are invisible in the normal world (the world run by the rich and powerful), all those people you can dismiss on the street as powerless and harmless -- ALL THOSE PEOP…

I'm not sure how much that applies here. Killers with manifestos have always existed, it has little to do with the internet. They were always in people's faces because, well, they killed people and left manifestos.

Where the internet does come into its own is allowing these disturbed people to find other like-minded (like-disturbed?) people, and feed off each other's misery, perhaps making them more likely to kill.

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#26

Post by roflc0ptic »

cuberator wrote: post #15
justinator wrote: post #8

...what about the Unabomber?

He doesnt have much in common with the people mentioned in this article, except Breivik maybe, though i might be completely wrong since i havent read up on the Unabomber.

Yeah, as I understand it the Unabomber was politically motivated terrorism. He also had the distinction of being a pretty smart guy, which is unusual for the demographic that gets into mass murder.

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#27

Post by dropit_sphere »

devindotcom wrote: post #9

It's a very strange time, when anyone can reach anyone else (or any knowledge) instantly, but many use this as an opportunity to isolate themselves even further. It seems to happen a lot when the exceptionalism common to young white men runs straight into the reality that they are in fact un exceptional and what power they have is not just unearned but waning. The cognitive dissonance that results is, as we see over…

> what power they have is not just unearned but waning

That's the interesting thing, though, isn't it? Leaving aside questions of "earned," is their power waning? Does it console Veronika Weiss or Katherine Cooper that we might have a woman as POTUS? I know no one is crusading for it but I will: when will we see equality in mass shootings? To put it in less obviously straw-man terms: why should women have to live in fear when men don't?

My point is: the exceptionalism is apparently justified, because when it couldn't be, they went out and justified it. Got any breathless expose's about your troubled writings?

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#28

Post by aaron-lebo »

rrggrr wrote: post #17

People alone with their thoughts. Early, frequent and long-term intervention can ease the suffering of mentally troubled individuals. Instead we build prisons, invest in security and hire more police.

Are you advocating more spending on mental healthcare and less spending on prisons? If so I agree, but that isn't explicit in your comment.

These people committing these acts don't usually end up in prison, anyway.

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#29

Post by roflc0ptic »

FussyZeus wrote: post #13

Who cares honestly? It's the same rehashed garbage. First world problems galore. Not getting enough sex, not having enough money, not making enough friends but not being willing to do anything about those things but sit in their basement of choice and whine. Clarifying: The first world problem I'm talking about are the things the shooters cite as reasons for their actions, not the shootings themselves.

Sure, it's a first world problem. I guess you can either emphasize "first world", or "problem." As a resident or denizen of the first world, I'm interested in first world problems.

Re: On the manifestos killers leave behind

#30

Post by VT_Drew »

From your first paragraph:

>‘I have noticed,’ it says, ‘that so many people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. A man who was known by no one is now known by everyone. His face splashed across every screen, his name across the lips of every person on the planet, all in the course of one day. Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.’

So, PLEAE can you stop fucking mentioning these assholes names? For the the love of God you are perpetuating the problem.

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