Huffington Post Blames Alt-Right and 4Chan For Capital Gazette Shooting
It is ridiculous to suggest that users who frequent anonymous message boards such as 4chan and 8chan along with right-wing media commentators are responsible for the shooting at the Capital Gazette. That is, however, what Huffington Post journalist Andy Campbell is insinuating in his column that is presented here below. His column is less about the Capital Gazette shooting proper and more about the ongoing culture war that rages in America.
Campbell fails to mention that the mainstream media (MSM) is quite rightly maligned by members of the right-of-centre traditionalist clerisy for their jaunisme, bias, collusion, ad hominem invective, and outright fabrications. For example, Red Ice’s own Lana Lokteff presents a veritable avalanche of headlines that contain vicious anti-white hatred from a whole range of mainstream media sources in her latest video. Take a look at some of those headlines. Apparently, this sort of race baiting is acceptable to most news outlets as long as it’s aimed at the traditional American nation. According to the MSM, we have to sit there and tolerate this viciousness.
It’s amazing that journos are incredulous that people are pushing back rhetorically, cancelling their subscriptions, and going elsewhere for news. Campbell did not even acknowledge the fact that these misgivings about journalists are based on actions that the MSM itself has taken. The bias is obvious for all to see: whether it’s a journalist like Connor Berry who falsely reported that the Capital Gazette shooter dropped his Maga hat on the newsroom floor before opening fire; the laudatory, fawning coverage of Maxine Waters incitements against Trump officials; or everything that challenges Leftist apocalyptic fantasy being denounced as conspiratorial. The MSM is in the midst of a battle of its own making as the alternative media and the citizenry are taking them to task.
The Dark Parts of The Internet Are Celebrating the Capital Gazette Slayings
Andy Campbell, The Huffington Post, 28 June 2018
Within hours of the mass shooting Thursday at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, the worst factions of the internet were doing what they do best: starting the “false flag” threads, celebrating that “leftists” ― in this case, five people in a newsroom ― were dead, and worrying about how this horrible shooting would play for conservatives.
“Dead journalists can’t spread leftist propaganda,” one 8chan user wrote.
“Here we go! Right on time,” another on the subreddit r/The_Donald wrote, as another said, “So it begins.”
On Twitter, “Spectre,” a white supremacist podcast host, made fun of an intern at the Gazette begging for help during the shooting and said, “I wonder if it’s only journalists or if any real people got hurt.”
Make no mistake, some of these posts are just trolls trolling. But glancing at various anonymous forums and troll figurehead accounts as a mass shooting develops provides a window into how conspiracy theories start and how the dark corners of the internet prepare to spin the message.
“How convenient,” one 4chan user posted, echoing others who worried that “the left” would benefit from an apparent attack on them. As of this writing, there was no confirmed indication of a political motive for the shooting.
Multiple people were shot at the Capital Gazette newspaper building in Maryland.
— cristina lópez g. (@crislopezg) June 28, 2018
Not enough facts are known yet, but 4chan users are already gleeful. This sentiment is not isolated, it stems from right wing anti-journalist rhetoric. They own it. pic.twitter.com/paBaDDp4vs
“Right on cue,” wrote a Redditor. “The left must have realized the damage Rosenstein was doing on live TV,” referring to congressional testimony Thursday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is in charge of the special counsel investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Another wrote, “Oh look another false flag.”
One user was concerned about the optics for conservatives now that journalists had been killed:
“Why do righties shoot people up? This looks so bad,” the user wrote. “Goodbye red storm, here comes the blue wave again.”
The alt-right has been rooting for violence against journalists for years. Now that blood has been spilled in Annapolis, these guys could't happier. pic.twitter.com/2Fo2f4MJr3
— Michael Edison Hayden (@MichaelEHayden) June 28, 2018
Fringe-right figurehead Milo Yiannopoulos, meanwhile, was backpedaling on Facebook ― in his own way ― as people began to point out that two days ago he’d called for “vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.”
“I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight,” Milo Yiannopoulos told Observer over text message in response to a longer feature in development about an Upper East Side restaurant he is said to frequent. https://t.co/tesmGHIOIz
— Katie Watson (@kathrynw5) June 26, 2018
In a statement to HuffPost, Yiannopoulos denied any involvement ― and there’s no indication this shooting was related to his message ― but on Facebook, he dug himself a deeper hole, saying, “Let’s hope it’s another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal.”
At least five people were reported dead Thursday as a shooter shot through a glass window at the Capital Gazette building, according to reporters who were tweeting from the scene.
“A single shooter shot multiple people at my office, some of whom are dead,” tweeted reporter Phil Davis. “There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.”
President Donald Trump offered his thoughts and prayers.
Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018
