I’m not in the mood to post today, and I need to go off-topic.
Yesterday a gunman opened fire at a local pizza place under the belief that it was connected to a made-up conspiracy theory spread by far-right neo-Nazis through Reddit, 4chan, and social media.
A close friend of mine is a manager at a nearby business and had to lock down his workplace and protect customers.
I like Comet Ping-Pong. I could have easily been there. I can’t go out to eat anymore without running the risk of being shot by internet-bred white nationalist extremists.
To anyone who says that online hate speech, abuse, and harassment don’t mean anything, this is it. The lives of people I love are being endangered by violent supremacists who have hijacked public forums to spread a message of hate and fear – and are willing to open fire at a random pizzeria to prove it.
This is the disgusting end-game of years of seething white male entitlement. First it was just pick-up artists who convinced themselves the world was owed to them. Then it was Gamergate telling themselves that they owned culture. Now it’s armed gunmen showing up at my doorstep because they believe so deeply in this sick, fucked-up worldview that they learned through online hate speech.
It’s not “just the internet.” It’s not “the trolls.” Words and actions have consequences.
If you can’t speak up against this, you stand for nothing.
Regular content resumes tomorrow.
(via bababooeybabooey)
