Author Topic: Explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, Soros, CNN  (Read 1329 times)

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Offline Omni

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Re: Explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, Soros, CNN
« Reply #75 on: October 27, 2018, 01:11:38 pm »
Saw an interview with this guy's lawyer and something he said struck me as symbolic of much of the 'alt right' movement. He said this guy, who has been described as a white supremacist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay, who claimed to be a Seminole among other things, was lacking an identity. His father was Filipino, but abandoned the family as a baby. He was, the lawyer thought looking for something to belong to, some kind of identity, and he latched onto Trump.

With religion largely gone, with idea of 'clans' and tribes gone, with smaller and smaller families, a lot of people seem to be lost and seeking something to be a part of.

I don't think religion is "largely gone" in the US when surveys show something like 73% of the population claim to be Christian, while 18% claim to be atheist. Sounds to me like this guy simply had a poor family situation, became hateful, acquired a lengthy criminal record, drifted a little too far to the right, which is likely what led him to Trump. Being kicked out of the family home in your 50's is a rather bizarre concept.

Offline kimmy

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Re: Explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, Soros, CNN
« Reply #76 on: October 27, 2018, 01:43:19 pm »
Saw an interview with this guy's lawyer and something he said struck me as symbolic of much of the 'alt right' movement. He said this guy, who has been described as a white supremacist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay, who claimed to be a Seminole among other things, was lacking an identity. His father was Filipino, but abandoned the family as a baby. He was, the lawyer thought looking for something to belong to, some kind of identity, and he latched onto Trump.

With religion largely gone, with idea of 'clans' and tribes gone, with smaller and smaller families, a lot of people seem to be lost and seeking something to be a part of.

I've written about this in the past too.  I believe we're hardwired to seek community and belonging, to form tribes. Our survival as a species depended on it.  Now our families are spread out across the country or across the world, we live shoulder to shoulder with people we have no connection to, and the community institutions of days gone by don't really exist in the way they used to.  And people have latched on to all kinds of other things to fill that void.  People make synthetic tribes around other things. Sports teams being a prime example.  And apparently the cult of Trump is another synthetic tribe that people have joined.

True, but he had, according to the reports, a history of mental illness. This was not his first act of stupid violent dumbness.

We've seen cases where mentally ill people with no connection to Islam or the Middle East decide to convert to Islam and fight in a Holy War.  Amanda Korody and John Nuttall for example. I think several of our home-grown Canadian Jihadis are just people who wanted something to fight for.  I'm not discounting that that most Islamist terrorists are born and raised in the faith, I'm just pointing out that we've seen multiple instances of these people who had nothing to do with the faith, often people with drug problems, becoming radicalized and go to war within a short span of time. 

I think this MAGAbomber is similar.  He got radicalized and decided he wanted to fight a different kind of holy war-- the US culture wars.

I think the kind of life-or-death language that is used by Islamists or by culture-war fanatics appeals to certain kinds of people.  There seem to be some people who are just ripe to be radicalized and just need to find a cause.  And I think that the Internet's MAGAsphere-- places like Reddit's "the_Donald" message board, 4chan, and various Twitter and Facebook communities, are just as filled with radicalizing propaganda as anything the Islamists have ever come up with.

 -k
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Offline kimmy

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Re: Explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, Soros, CNN
« Reply #77 on: October 27, 2018, 01:48:22 pm »
I don't think religion is "largely gone" in the US when surveys show something like 73% of the population claim to be Christian, while 18% claim to be atheist.

Maybe so, but the church of today isn't the same as it was in years gone by.  Once upon a time a church was an extended family where everyone knew your name and asked how you were and worried about you if you weren't there on Sunday.  Now there are big halls, some the size of sports arenas, where people drive a half hour to get there and sit in a room full of strangers and drive away and don't see each other again until next week. It's not a community in the same sense.

It's like you can be much more alone in a city of a million people than in a small town or a rural area.

 -k
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Offline SirJohn

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Re: Explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, Soros, CNN
« Reply #78 on: October 27, 2018, 02:08:20 pm »
I've written about this in the past too.  I believe we're hardwired to seek community and belonging, to form tribes. Our survival as a species depended on it.  Now our families are spread out across the country or across the world, we live shoulder to shoulder with people we have no connection to, and the community institutions of days gone by don't really exist in the way they used to.  And people have latched on to all kinds of other things to fill that void.

I would add that this has happened just as families became smaller and smaller. Was a time your average person had half a dozen or more siblings, a dozen or more aunts and uncles, and dozens of first cousins, most of whom you were reasonably close to in both geography and affection. I know a woman like  that now. She has few friends because her family is where her life is at. Whenever she goes out, or out with her immediate family, to a play, shopping, to a cottage or cabin or whatever, it's with a cousin, aunt or uncle, sister, sister in law (she has 7) or mother and father. This is the way it used to be for most people through most of history. You had a huge, extended family that were part of your life. it was a tight-knit social circle. And now it's largely gone. People have one kid. Or maybe two. Or maybe none. Families are way smaller, and much more spread out. You might not even have any in your city or province - or country. That's a big void to fill.
"When liberals insist that only fascists will defend borders then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won't do." David Frum

Offline Omni

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Re: Explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, Soros, CNN
« Reply #79 on: October 27, 2018, 02:26:24 pm »
Maybe so, but the church of today isn't the same as it was in years gone by.  Once upon a time a church was an extended family where everyone knew your name and asked how you were and worried about you if you weren't there on Sunday.  Now there are big halls, some the size of sports arenas, where people drive a half hour to get there and sit in a room full of strangers and drive away and don't see each other again until next week. It's not a community in the same sense.

It's like you can be much more alone in a city of a million people than in a small town or a rural area.

 -k

Yes I guess that's true. I haven't gone to church in years but when I did it was a small country place where the old farmers, including my grandfather, would gather outside after the service to smoke their pipes and have a chat about how things were going in the fields and the barns. Then I grew up and moved to Toronto. Not quite the same. Luckily it didn't make me become hateful and mail bombs to people. If I was going to mail one though I have no doubt about the address. 

Offline JMT

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Offline Omni

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