A shooter opened fire in a Dollar General store on August 26th. When the bullets stopped flying, the shooter killed himself and three other black people. The local sheriff informed the public within hours that the killer had been racially motivated and had written his views down in a manifesto.
Days after that, that manifesto was leaked, and it did indeed confirm all the priors of a breathless national press that sought to use the shooting as a political weapon.
The shooter, in writings reviewed by @RollingStone, also praised Justice Clarence Thomas (“The rare principled conservative”) and Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh. https://t.co/EjK6i3MAqN
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) August 30, 2023
I’m certain that the person who called for Eminem’s execution was in his right mind, and represented the Republican Party accurately. This was a crazy individual who held a wide range of incoherent opinions not shared or pushed by conservative politicians and figures.
It didn’t prevent the media from blaming a broader right. One cannot help but be struck by how politicized these manifestos have become and how the motives assigned to them are. It’s not a coincidence that we can identify the reasons for all shooters who are perceived to be right-wing in a matter of hours.
While left-wing murderers (and there are many of them) are sent to jail without any follow-up, the transgender Nashville gunman who murdered six Christians in a hate-filled attack, for example, wrote a manifesto. What is in it? It hasn’t even been released, nearly six months after it was first announced. Paraphrasing what the report contains has yet to be made public either.
What names did she mention in her manifesto What news sources has she consumed? What prompted her to attack? Because the media isn’t interested, we don’t know any solid answers. The only hint that there was a motive for the attack came at an early stage when local police let slip during a press conference that it wasn’t random but rather targeted.
There’s also the black supremacist in Waukesha who killed six people including children by running over more than 60 people. He has been tried and sentenced at this stage, but no official motive was ever stated. The question is no longer asked. Prosecutors framed it simply as a murderer fleeing a domestic violence event in which he made multiple turns specifically to drive toward the parade. Yeah, right.
In the case of this Florida white supremacist, his motive and manifesto are well-known and have been for several days. Do not tell me it’s a coincidence. It’s obvious that the assignment of motives for shooters is now overtly political to the point that killers will be covered as long as their views on politics are not convenient to the Democratic Party and mainstream media.
We should have access to a reliable description of the manifesto written by the transgender Nashville gunman. The public should also be informed what Waukesha’s murderer said to police when they asked him why he drove over those people. It’s not right to hide information to satisfy partisan interests, which is what’s happening here.
