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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   42009 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 8, 2025

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Tyler Robinson, Kirk shooter, has been caught after a family friend turned him in

The markings on the bullets described by authorities indicate that the suspect, Tyler Robinson, was steeped in online culture and included references to the Antifa , or the anti-fascist, movement. A fired shell casing was inscribed with “notices bulges OwO what’s this?” - a reference to a “copypasta” - a piece of text that is repeated over and over again, often to troll people online.

Authorities say one unfired casing had the words “Hey fascist, catch!” and three down arrows - a common symbol used to represent the anti-fascist movement. A second casing had the lyrics to a song “Bella Ciao” inscribed on it. The song honours WWII-era partisans of the Italian resistance who fought Nazi Germany.

The third unfired casing was inscribed with the words “If you read this, you are gay lmao” - again an apparent reference to online trolling humour.

Parents, keep your kids away from Discord. Will be interesting to see if this guy is a true believer or just ragebaiting.

Two law enforcement sources tell CBS News, the BBC's US partner, Tyler Robinson's father relayed his son's confession to a clergy member - the family friend we heard about earlier.

That clergy member took the tip to the US Marshals Service, and then Robinson was detained.

Is this allowed from a religious standpoint? Beyond that, would the shooter have gotten away with it if not for yapping to his dad, or his dad yapping to a clergy member?

The seal of confession isn't a universal feature across all Christian denominations.

It's not an actual, literal Confession. His dad recognised him from the FBI photos and got him to admit it.

But then the dad allegedly tells a member of the clergy who then notifies the authorities, according to the article.

Even if we assume that the clergy member in question is a Catholic priest, the seal of confession only applies to things said during the sacrament. If you go up to a priest after mass and say "I just murdered someone", he could report you as that wasn't said during the sacrament of reconciliation.

That's got nothing to do with religion, though. I think it's more the unfortunate word choice of "confession" (which can refer to the sealed sacrament, or just any generic declaration to anyone) in the context of a clergyman.

I'm not fully aware of the nuance here. So the context of when and where matters? You can't just call and 'confess' over the phone?

I mean, you might be able to perform the sacrament over the phone in extenuating circumstances, but I'm not up on my teleCatholicism. It is (in Catholicism) a sacrament (like Marriage or Baptism or Last Rites), and it's generally done in a little box called a confessional. The priest sits in one part, and is screened so they cannot see the person in the other part... although in Catholic School, we sometimes did it with the priest in a chair just turned away so they can't see. The petitioner confesses their sins, and the priest can then assign them penance to perform and absolve them of their sins in God's eyes. If the sin involved harming another, the penance usually involves making amends somehow.

In this situation, the "seal of the confessional" is that the priest will not - under any circumstances - divulge what has been confessed to them. If it's, say, confessing to a murder? The priest may assign "turn yourself in" as penance, but cannot act outside the confessional to try to get the fellow arrested.

There may be extenuating circumstances for cases of ongoing/near future harm that can be prevented, but I don't think so. I think the "seal" really is that absolute. It's... something I really, truly respect an awful lot as a concept.

This is only Catholics, mind you. If a Protestant tries to say they went to their pastor and said something under the seal of the confessional, that's just an ordinary gentleman's agreement. And yes, it's only in these specific circumstances, as part of the Sacrament. If you just roll up to your local Catholic church and say, "Hey, Padre, just letting you know I stole a bunch of stuff", he can absolutely dial the police, no problemo.

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