As a teenage girl watching it, I found his character exceedingly creepy to the point of being deeply uncomfortable watching the movie (despite how good it was in other regards).

I sometimes wonder if something about growing up under the existential threat of nuclear annihilation, doing bomb drills under their desks, just fundamentally broke something in that generation. (I mean, not all of them obv. But too many of them & too many of those desperately clinging to power.)

Were the EC & Senate actually set up to protect democracy or more to appease Southern states to join the Union by ensuring they enjoy disproportionate political power relative to their voting/pop. size? In this regard, these inherently anti/democratic mechanisms are working just as intended.

I teach undergrad and grad classes, and have been for nearly 20 years. I’ve been incredibly impressed with the young women in my classes over the past few years. I wish I had this kind of clarity at their age.

One thing I think about is how the media & tech platforms hold so much responsibility for this moment in US history. But, also how that same tech enables citizens to record & post these interactions. If ICE weren’t constantly being watched, I shudder to think how differently this might play out.

Hey guys! Just keep waiting, we swear... At some point trickle down economics is going to trickle down. Don’t you want that tiny sip?! All you have to do is just keep letting the uber-wealthy accumulate more wealth. It’s going to start trickling down any day now…

That’s what I have been wondering about.

Yeah, this country seems uniquely set up to empower and enrich the worst of us, across most of our industries. (Not saying I think that Porter is the worst of us. Fwiw, my guess is she is probably better than most, given the culture that’s in place in Congress, but that is a low bar.)

Agreed. However you feel about Porter, this has the clear markings of a hit piece. I’d like to think Americans are tired of being manipulated this way by bad faith actors. But, my guess is it will work regardless.

These spaces also deliberately prey on young men who are looking for identity and belonging and meaning.

A lot of these people’s political beliefs hold very little coherence or logic as a whole, particularly to not-very-online outsiders. The question is where were they exposed to the “debates” that created this incoherent belief system. Most of the time, those are staunchly rightwing online spaces.

The quotes on the bullet casings, if reported accurately, have a clear link to Groyper discourse online. There is a lot of rightwing meme brainrot that is familiar to people who study those spaces. As more empirical evidence comes out, we’ll see. But so far a lot of hallmarks there.

Agreed, but he also appears to be a Groyper. (At least based on what we know so far.) Which, although not MAGA, is in the same information ecosystem. So, yes, don’t conflate the two. But, also don’t ignore their proximity.

…martyr to inspire more acts of violence. By laundering or ignoring this part of who he was, you are enabling those who seek to leverage his death to call for more violence. If they want to hold him up as a martyr and inspiration, make them fully and publicly own what he stood for.

You can feel sympathy for his family & view this act of political violence as tragic—not only for the loss of life, but for everything that brought us here—WITHOUT sanitizing or downplaying his hateful, divisive, & violent rhetoric.

There is a coordinated effort underway to turn him into a…

I endorse this statement.

Interesting that this is also the day they’ve scheduled Trump’s statement for.