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Notes -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor and Nuclear Physicist, Nuno Loureiro, was shot to death last night in his own home. Loureiro was reportedly Jewish and somewhat vocally pro-Israel. No suspect is in custody. I cannot help but think that this might be related to the shooting at Brown University last week. My knowledge of the geography of the northeast United States is limited, but I believe the two locations are at most a couple of hours apart. The shooting at Brown seems to have targeted the class of a professor of Israel-US relations.
I think we are are now approaching five left wing domestic terrorist attacks in as many months. When I suggested we were on the verge of slipping into another Days of Rage after the Israeli embassy attack, everyone here pooh-poohed the idea. But my concerns have only deepened since.
I find it interesting how things come to be a narrative about a ‘problem’. Journalists love to see a couple of vaguely related events and group them together. I remember how all the MeToo accusations came out at once and it became a thing that everyone was concerned with. I haven’t seen much, if any, attempt to pull together a narrative about the violence this and last year. Despite the reasons for much of this violence being fame, definitional terrorism, and weird alliances to online bedfellows.
I will admit that it’s difficult to directly link all the events over last year or two, but some of it sure seems memetic. Attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, his lackey, a healthcare ceo, to name a few. What’s it gonna take for people to notice?
If you're a committed progressive, i.e. most journalists, what's the incentive to notice?
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