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The original HN thread is littered with people calling to kill all liberals and talking about taking specific people's heads. The reporting that followed that

by oooyay 2y ago

The original HN thread is littered with people calling to kill all liberals and talking about taking specific people's heads. The reporting that followed that post suggests the shooter donated $15 to Act Blue when he was 17 and registered as a Republican at 18. All of this within the context that this young man is from a very rural town in Pennsylvania that Trump easily won. The whole situation is just odd. The best thing for everyone to do is to do nothing, because nothing good comes from this point. No point in making things worse.

listless 2y ago
This is the right take. There’s a lot here we don’t know and tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance. We have none of the nuance right now. But I fear that even when we do, nobody will care. Because isn’t that kind of the current state of affairs on pretty much every issue?
_zagj 2y ago
The contradiction is easily explained by him registering as a republican to vote in R. primaries (against Trump and for downballot candidates likely to lose against presumptive democratic opponents): https://newhampshirebulletin.com/briefs/ahead-of-primary-nearly-4000-democratic-voters-switch-affiliation-to-republican-or-undeclared/ https://newhampshirebulletin.com/briefs/ahead-of-primary-nea... But I wouldn't be surprised if he was just some lone nut who fell down some conspiracy rabbit hole, or if some history of drug abuse and psychiatric problems is unearthed.
- oooyay 2y ago
  Right, and a conservative that doesn't want Trump is still a conservative. It's just as easy to surmise that this is a conservative who would rather have anyone but Trump. What I dislike is that immediately there was a reaction to kill liberals. Anecdotally, I have group text messages with my friends from the military and the theme was similar to what it was on HN last night. Hence, people should probably hold their horses.
  - newfriend 2y ago
    Conservatives don't typically donate to ActBlue
    - oooyay 2y ago
      ActRed went almost exclusively to Trump. My point was it's equally possible that he's just a conservative never Trumper, of which there are many thanks to the great work of the Lincoln Project. Trump's new VP was one of them, calling him "America's Hitler" at the time.
      - newfriend 2y ago
        > ActRed went almost exclusively to Trump "ActRed" isn't a thing, and the shooter didn't donate to "ActRed". > it's equally possible that he's just a conservative never Trumper Of course it's possible, but it's more common for someone to register as the other party to vote against them in the primary than it is to donate money to a PAC of the other party. https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-georgia-campaign-2016-congress-df4fa72d2d4a1e4d9344d61c0a3d4b9e https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-tru... https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-crossover-voting-gop-primary-republicans-trump-1850387 https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-crossover-voting-gop-prim... https://www.reddit.com/r/SaltLakeCity/comments/o2yiyq/should_i_register_as_a_republican_to_influence/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SaltLakeCity/comments/o2yiyq/should... > the great work of the Lincoln Project No.
        oooyay 2y ago
        It was called WinRed, not ActRed. ActBlue and WinRed were the DNC and RNCs respective PACs. The Lincoln Project was incredible, especially once you take events like January 6th in context. The kind of Republicans that made The Lincoln Project and investigated the actors behind January 6th are what our political system needs more of.
        newfriend 2y ago
lilsoso 2y ago
[citation needed]
- oooyay 2y ago
  You can use Algolia search just as well as I can: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 The rest is well documented in the news.
  - lilsoso 2y ago
    There are four censored comments in that thread that cannot be read along with a few benign downvoted comments. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that at least someone behaved poorly, but this is HN -- the thread is not littered.
    - oooyay 2y ago
      lol ok, you and these other folks are amazing.
dotnet00 2y ago
There were a couple of green accounts spamming comments like that, taking them seriously as part of the normal HN community is disingenuous, as this sort of incident is bound to attract trolls looking to stir the pot.
- oooyay 2y ago
  A couple? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 make sure you can view all the dead comments. Not taking people's alt accounts that are also spamming this and other Trump related posts seriously is dangerous at best. There's a pattern here that's not hard to see.
  - josephcsible 2y ago
    The point isn't how many there were. The point is that they were a bunch of newly-created troll accounts and aren't actually members of the HN community at all.
  - dotnet00 2y ago
    I see 4 accounts making direct death threats, all 4 are green. You're choosing to intentionally assume the worst case about them being people's alts. The most dangerous thing here is your desire to prop up the narrative that a meaningful portion of this community were proposing to respond to this attack with political violence.

by oooyay 2y ago

listless 2y ago

This is the right take. There’s a lot here we don’t know and tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance. We have none of the nuance right now. But I fear that even when we do, nobody will care. Because isn’t that kind of the current state of affairs on pretty much every issue?

_zagj 2y ago

The contradiction is easily explained by him registering as a republican to vote in R. primaries (against Trump and for downballot candidates likely to lose against presumptive democratic opponents): https://newhampshirebulletin.com/briefs/ahead-of-primary-nearly-4000-democratic-voters-switch-affiliation-to-republican-or-undeclared/ https://newhampshirebulletin.com/briefs/ahead-of-primary-nea... But I wouldn't be surprised if he was just some lone nut who fell down some conspiracy rabbit hole, or if some history of drug abuse and psychiatric problems is unearthed.

oooyay 2y ago
Right, and a conservative that doesn't want Trump is still a conservative. It's just as easy to surmise that this is a conservative who would rather have anyone but Trump. What I dislike is that immediately there was a reaction to kill liberals. Anecdotally, I have group text messages with my friends from the military and the theme was similar to what it was on HN last night. Hence, people should probably hold their horses.
- newfriend 2y ago
  Conservatives don't typically donate to ActBlue
  - oooyay 2y ago
    ActRed went almost exclusively to Trump. My point was it's equally possible that he's just a conservative never Trumper, of which there are many thanks to the great work of the Lincoln Project. Trump's new VP was one of them, calling him "America's Hitler" at the time.
    - newfriend 2y ago
      > ActRed went almost exclusively to Trump "ActRed" isn't a thing, and the shooter didn't donate to "ActRed". > it's equally possible that he's just a conservative never Trumper Of course it's possible, but it's more common for someone to register as the other party to vote against them in the primary than it is to donate money to a PAC of the other party. https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-georgia-campaign-2016-congress-df4fa72d2d4a1e4d9344d61c0a3d4b9e https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-tru... https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-crossover-voting-gop-primary-republicans-trump-1850387 https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-crossover-voting-gop-prim... https://www.reddit.com/r/SaltLakeCity/comments/o2yiyq/should_i_register_as_a_republican_to_influence/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SaltLakeCity/comments/o2yiyq/should... > the great work of the Lincoln Project No.
      - oooyay 2y ago
        It was called WinRed, not ActRed. ActBlue and WinRed were the DNC and RNCs respective PACs. The Lincoln Project was incredible, especially once you take events like January 6th in context. The kind of Republicans that made The Lincoln Project and investigated the actors behind January 6th are what our political system needs more of.
        newfriend 2y ago

lilsoso 2y ago

[citation needed]

oooyay 2y ago
You can use Algolia search just as well as I can: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 The rest is well documented in the news.
- lilsoso 2y ago
  There are four censored comments in that thread that cannot be read along with a few benign downvoted comments. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that at least someone behaved poorly, but this is HN -- the thread is not littered.
  - oooyay 2y ago
    lol ok, you and these other folks are amazing.

dotnet00 2y ago

There were a couple of green accounts spamming comments like that, taking them seriously as part of the normal HN community is disingenuous, as this sort of incident is bound to attract trolls looking to stir the pot.

oooyay 2y ago
A couple? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40957344 make sure you can view all the dead comments. Not taking people's alt accounts that are also spamming this and other Trump related posts seriously is dangerous at best. There's a pattern here that's not hard to see.
- josephcsible 2y ago
  The point isn't how many there were. The point is that they were a bunch of newly-created troll accounts and aren't actually members of the HN community at all.
- dotnet00 2y ago
  I see 4 accounts making direct death threats, all 4 are green. You're choosing to intentionally assume the worst case about them being people's alts. The most dangerous thing here is your desire to prop up the narrative that a meaningful portion of this community were proposing to respond to this attack with political violence.