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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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In a "what the fuck even is this timeline" update: Anderson lee Aldrich, the Q Club shooter, is apparently non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, and already had an Encyclopedia Dramatica article detailing his career as a 15 year old "professional hacker", calling him a pedophile, and describing his absent father as an MMA fighter and porn star.

I'm feeling very vindicated in my impulse to hold off conclusions... but I would think that, given my biases, wouldn't it? The real test would be a tragedy that looks at first glance to fit my biases perfectly and allows me to cathartically Boo Outgroup. I suspect that differences in media ecosystems have that less likely... but I would think that too, wouldn't I?

Plus obvious, audacious narrative updates in real time.

And our first echo shooting, as usually happens in the immediate wake of a highly publicized mass shooting. No apparent political/CW element, disgruntled employee.

I'm not remotely surprised. I don't know what the exact "law" has been named, but whenever details about the shooter are scant and/or the incident doesn't quite garner the attention you'd think the media atmosphere would shower on it, you know it goes against the narrative.

I didn't know if the shooting was going to turn out to be gang related, or Islam related, or a disgruntled employee, or what. But the lack of any detailed confirmation that it was a right-wing inspired anti-LGBT shooting basically screamed out to me that it wasn't. Because if the evidence had been there to support it, even if it required a lot of squinting, you know the MSM would have crammed it down our throats and made sure everyone and their uncle knew Republicans were to blame. Not that a few didn't run with that narrative in the absence of evidence anyways.

Not that a few didn't run with that narrative in the absence of evidence anyways.

The one that inspired “stop Asian hate” comes to mind. They had zero evidence it was hate motivated but that did nothing to stop the fake media outrage