3 ms·

'baseless' is perfectly right; there's no basis for it. The guy said he had a theory. Guy goes on to yell racist and antisemitic words while shooting a rifle.

'baseless' is perfectly right; there's no basis for it. The guy said he had a theory. Guy goes on to yell racist and antisemitic words while shooting a rifle. Given that there have been literally tens of thousands of ridiculous right wing conspiracy theories over the last few years (plandemic! Hillary executed in gitmo (again)! Biden body double! Deep state! Venezuelan dictators!), and this is the same old Our Enemies Are Amoral Supervillains Who Victimize Us, why should anyone legitimize this one?

tivert 4y ago
> 'baseless' is perfectly right; there's no basis for it. No. The issue is: how can you tell that? Do you have top-secret clearance to see what this "OG" guy saw? Do these Washington Post reporters? "Baseless" means it has no foundation at all, not that it has a foundation inaccessible to you. It's impossible for us to reasonably distinguish between those two with this guy. There's a serious possibility he had access to scandalous secrets due to his position and security clearance.
- felixgallo 4y ago
  and indeed, it has no foundation at all. The aforementioned jew-hating racist who has made these accusations has presented zero evidence, despite theoretically having a position, security clearance, means and motive. So not only is it part and parcel of what has been an avalanche of lunatic right wing jew-hating racist conspiracy theories, but it doesn't even come with a basic sop towards proof. It's dark right wing fantasy cosplay and it's great that the media is beginning to label it as such, rather than legitimize it with 'well gosh it could be true that the FBI is in a grand conspiracy to murder black people for money'.
  - tivert 4y ago
    > The aforementioned jew-hating racist... You keep saying that, but nothing written in the source doesn't go that far. The closest it comes is to say he made a video where he yelled "a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera...," but there's no other context. Saying stuff like that certainly indicates he almost certainly rejects modern liberal identity politics, but it's quite possible he's was just being tastelessly edgy and transgressive for his friends, and nothing presented disconfirms that possibility (though I can't watch the videos through the paywall bypass). I'd expect if it was clear he was a "jew-hating racist" the article would have outright said he was. > ...who has made these accusations has presented zero evidence, despite theoretically having a position, security clearance, means and motive. The accussation was reported secondhand (OG -> interviewee -> journalist). As far as I can tell, this "OG" guy is probably on run or getting ready to be arrested. Proving that claim (apparently made some time in the past) is probably the farthest thing from his mind right now.
    - felixgallo 4y ago
      he yelled 'a series of racial and antisemitic slurs' into the camera and we don't know he's a jew-hating racist because we lack context?
      - tivert 4y ago
        > he yelled 'a series of racial and antisemitic slurs' into the camera and we don't know he's a jew-hating racist because we lack context? Yes, exactly. It appears you disagree, but I think your thinking is sloppy on that point. There's a reasonably large chance he doesn't actually hate Jews and that he was just being tastelessly edgy and transgressive.
        felixgallo 4y ago
        So your new formulation of Occam's Razor is that the most probable thing is likely true, unless that thing is the possibility that a tastelessly edgy 21 year old 4chan gun nut who yells racist and antisemitic slurs and a military security clearance just so happens to have uncovered a massive FBI (note: not military) conspiracy to murder blacks in order to increase their funding, in which case we should hear them out and not use hurtful language like 'baseless'. I see. Are you sure I'm the one with the sloppy thinking on this point?
        tivert 4y ago
        Come on, dude. Quit being so needlessly confrontational. My only point was "baseless" was too strong a word, because of all the unknowns. The allegation is almost certainly untrue or distorted, but "baseless" is certainly-level 10/10, and the unknowns just don't let you reasonably get to that level (only, say, to level 9/10). Baseless is for nonsense that couldn't possible even tough the ground, like Q-Anon level garbage (e.g. some dude who never leaves his basement alleging he's discovered that Hillary Clinton drinks children's blood to live forever). > in which case we should hear them out and not use hurtful language like 'baseless'. No. The reporters should have asked the government for a statement and reported the denial, so "a notion the government says is baseless," instead "a baseless notion." Alternatively, they could have exposed their thinking and said "a notion that we know is baseless because we trust the government to never do such a dastardly thing."
l3mure 4y ago
> Authorities investigating if retired federal agent knew of Buffalo mass shooting plans in advance > Authorities believe the former agent – believed to be from Texas – was one of at least six individuals who regularly communicated with accused gunman Payton Gendron in an online chat room where racist hatred was discussed, the two officials said. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/authorities-investigating-if-retired-federal-agent-knew-of-buffalo-mass-shooting-plans-in-advance/article_bd408f18-dd39-11ec-be53-df8fdd095d6f.html https://buffalonews.com/news/local/authorities-investigating...

tivert 4y ago

> 'baseless' is perfectly right; there's no basis for it. No. The issue is: how can you tell that? Do you have top-secret clearance to see what this "OG" guy saw? Do these Washington Post reporters? "Baseless" means it has no foundation at all, not that it has a foundation inaccessible to you. It's impossible for us to reasonably distinguish between those two with this guy. There's a serious possibility he had access to scandalous secrets due to his position and security clearance.

felixgallo 4y ago
and indeed, it has no foundation at all. The aforementioned jew-hating racist who has made these accusations has presented zero evidence, despite theoretically having a position, security clearance, means and motive. So not only is it part and parcel of what has been an avalanche of lunatic right wing jew-hating racist conspiracy theories, but it doesn't even come with a basic sop towards proof. It's dark right wing fantasy cosplay and it's great that the media is beginning to label it as such, rather than legitimize it with 'well gosh it could be true that the FBI is in a grand conspiracy to murder black people for money'.
- tivert 4y ago
  > The aforementioned jew-hating racist... You keep saying that, but nothing written in the source doesn't go that far. The closest it comes is to say he made a video where he yelled "a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera...," but there's no other context. Saying stuff like that certainly indicates he almost certainly rejects modern liberal identity politics, but it's quite possible he's was just being tastelessly edgy and transgressive for his friends, and nothing presented disconfirms that possibility (though I can't watch the videos through the paywall bypass). I'd expect if it was clear he was a "jew-hating racist" the article would have outright said he was. > ...who has made these accusations has presented zero evidence, despite theoretically having a position, security clearance, means and motive. The accussation was reported secondhand (OG -> interviewee -> journalist). As far as I can tell, this "OG" guy is probably on run or getting ready to be arrested. Proving that claim (apparently made some time in the past) is probably the farthest thing from his mind right now.
  - felixgallo 4y ago
    he yelled 'a series of racial and antisemitic slurs' into the camera and we don't know he's a jew-hating racist because we lack context?
    - tivert 4y ago
      > he yelled 'a series of racial and antisemitic slurs' into the camera and we don't know he's a jew-hating racist because we lack context? Yes, exactly. It appears you disagree, but I think your thinking is sloppy on that point. There's a reasonably large chance he doesn't actually hate Jews and that he was just being tastelessly edgy and transgressive.
      - felixgallo 4y ago
        So your new formulation of Occam's Razor is that the most probable thing is likely true, unless that thing is the possibility that a tastelessly edgy 21 year old 4chan gun nut who yells racist and antisemitic slurs and a military security clearance just so happens to have uncovered a massive FBI (note: not military) conspiracy to murder blacks in order to increase their funding, in which case we should hear them out and not use hurtful language like 'baseless'. I see. Are you sure I'm the one with the sloppy thinking on this point?
        tivert 4y ago
        Come on, dude. Quit being so needlessly confrontational. My only point was "baseless" was too strong a word, because of all the unknowns. The allegation is almost certainly untrue or distorted, but "baseless" is certainly-level 10/10, and the unknowns just don't let you reasonably get to that level (only, say, to level 9/10). Baseless is for nonsense that couldn't possible even tough the ground, like Q-Anon level garbage (e.g. some dude who never leaves his basement alleging he's discovered that Hillary Clinton drinks children's blood to live forever). > in which case we should hear them out and not use hurtful language like 'baseless'. No. The reporters should have asked the government for a statement and reported the denial, so "a notion the government says is baseless," instead "a baseless notion." Alternatively, they could have exposed their thinking and said "a notion that we know is baseless because we trust the government to never do such a dastardly thing."

l3mure 4y ago

> Authorities investigating if retired federal agent knew of Buffalo mass shooting plans in advance > Authorities believe the former agent – believed to be from Texas – was one of at least six individuals who regularly communicated with accused gunman Payton Gendron in an online chat room where racist hatred was discussed, the two officials said. https://buffalonews.com/news/local/authorities-investigating-if-retired-federal-agent-knew-of-buffalo-mass-shooting-plans-in-advance/article_bd408f18-dd39-11ec-be53-df8fdd095d6f.html https://buffalonews.com/news/local/authorities-investigating...