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Haven't seen a thread yet on the gay bar shooting last weekend so I figured I would start it.
Sticking to facts in this post, opinion will go in reply.
The shooter killed 5 and injured 25
The shooter is a 22 year old, Anderson Lee Aldrich
The shooter previously was charged after he threatened his mother with homemade explosives and kidnapped her, but the charges were dropped
The shooter is the grandson of a prominent local Republican
The shooter was stopped by a drag queen combat veteran, who used his high heels to stomp him
I think it's more complicated, at least I'd say that there's a clear fourth category: That the social/cultural/institutional power given to modern activism based around postmodern Critical concepts of power creates situations that are rife for abuse. I think there's a second side of it...in that I do think that internalizing/actualizing said postmodern Critical concepts of power is unhealthy on a personal level. In reality, when people talk about "Grooming" in this context, I think that's largely what they mean. It's just a very....ugly shorthand?
But someone down below said something I agree with. I don't think this language comes out of nowhere. I think people either try, or they see the reaction given to less ugly ways of saying/presenting the same idea. And it's not like those less ugly ways of presenting it, or even more moderate ways of presenting the same thing get a better response. You're just as much of a bigot either way. So there's really no incentive to NOT go full culture war TBH.
I'm not saying this in approval, to make it clear. And I'm not saying it as any sort of traditionalist. I'm a modernist liberal who does value diversity, but I also think that the above postmodern Critical concepts of power are stupid dangerous and unsustainable, speaking as someone who actually grew up internalizing them.
I'd even go a step further, and honestly...I don't see this as "hate". I see this as fear. And yeah, they can look alike and one can bleed into the other. But I do think there's too much discussion that has the effect of declaring that marginalized identities should be given essentially blank checks. It won't be abused, of course, because they're the good guys, not like those non-marginalized identities who are the bad guys. And this isn't a strawman...this rhetoric is too common, even if I don't think people usually actually mean it. But...not everybody gets that message. And certainly we're not talking about what that actually means....if it's not meant why do people say it? (Covering up for uncomfortable facets of power, privilege and bias that discussion of such would negatively impact people with social/network power)
But yeah. As someone who thinks that "whataboutism" is like just one of the most illiberal memes out there....we can't look at stuff like this in a partisan fashion. Again, as someone else mentioned below, you're not going to get your Yellow Card/15-Yard Penalty aimed at just Conservatives. It's not going to do any good, I don't think. Hell, even if you could take enough control to get all "Groomer" language excised from the internet...I do not believe that's going to help. Frankly, I think down that road, you gotta keep on going until you get to straight up mass violence. Not an option. Which is why I think it has to be holistic. I think you have to understand WHY this meme exists, and actually work to defuse it. People SEE the power. And they react to it. The best thing you can do, IMO, is negate that power. Don't give the activists a blank check. Again, this isn't meaning to be any sort of reactionary thing. It doesn't have to be. What's important for a liberal, modernist order is the perception that we're moving towards everybody playing by the same rules. Not throwing that out the window.
Edit: Just want to add one thing. I really do think a lot of this is caused by people who have an unrealistic notion of what "normal" is. This is something that sets expectations at a degree that just doesn't work. I see a lot of language out there that's like......"majority X would get away with this", when that's obviously not true at all. Or the idea that like, any white guy could walk into a bank, give the manager a handshake and walk out with a loan. Things like that.
So you have activists who are demanding this notion of "normal", who legitimately believe that this is what it means.
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