There is no question that the shooting at the Trump rally is big news. But it is also a good rule of thumb that in the immediate aftermath of unexpected events like a shooting, the amount of actual factual information available is very small and yet the media feel the need to spend vast amounts of time on it. The inevitable result is that you get huge amounts of mindless blathering as news media try to fill the time without having anything to say.
So you will get reactions from politicians who were nowhere near the scene, from people who were at the scene but did not really see anything, and also the inevitable discussion about what this means for the election, again accompanied by speculations from politicians, political pundits, and ordinary people, none of whom really know anything.
Much of the chatter will be about the possible motives of the shooter, whom the FBI identified as a 20-year old man Thomas Matthew Crooks. They have released his name so people have immediately scoured the internet to find out information using that name, in order to seek a motive that will bolster their preferred narrative. But this is dangerous because few names are unique, though in this case having three names narrows things down, assuming that it is correct. I have often been surprised when searching for someone on the internet to find out how many people have the same name. In addition, inferring motive from biographical data is a practice that has dubious value.
I find it helpful at these times to just tune out the news and occasionally check the headlines to see if anything new has been discovered. It is best to wait until firm information is unearthed before forming any conclusions. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
Like you, I am really tired of the endless speculation that happens after any breaking news (not just this one in particular). I really wish for “Breaking news! THIS terrible thing happened, and we’ll let you know when we have more detail to share”. But in a 24-hour news cycle catering to DRAMA-addicted watchers, we get hour after hour of “We don’t know anything! Now, we go to some random person speculating about it for another 2 hours!”
I ended up watching a DVD when it became obvious that the show I had tuned in to watch wouldn’t be shown.
Let’s be real: the media wants Trump to win and sorely missed him during the last 4 years. He gave them big ratings and something to always talk about. Outrage and hate give them more clicks than highly researched and informative content. They dislike Biden because he’s just doing his thing so they attached themselves to anything, like the recent debate debacle. This event will make sure Biden is overshadowed and all news from now on will be about lionizing Trump. I’m also frustrated over the double standards. If this happened to Biden, Republicans would still use their aggressive and reckless tactics and rhetoric against him and the media would be silent about it. Yet, article after article coming out soon will blame Democrats for inciting violence, encourage us to let Trump win for repentance and even relinquish the idea that liberal democracy is good so let’s give Trumpian autocracy a try. All this dreck with the likely chance that the shooter was just a young psychologically disturbed person.
I am very much concerned that this is the case. I am very much concerned that this fact drives politics more than the competence of the candidates.
I’m very much concerned that this will end up being the epitaph of humanity: We could have done better, but it was easier to just not bother.
Not really a bombshell -- just the same profile as every school shooter. Seeking ‘death by cop’.
“FBI Drops Bombshell About The Trump Shooter”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=UITmb6LiN-0
Nothing but speculation for the motive, but the gun the shooter used was (reportedly) owned by the shooter’s father, who (reportedly) is a Republican. If true, Republicans might wish to reconsider their stance on gun control. Or if not, maybe just kill their kids now as a preventative measure /s
[In other news that has been of interest here previously: manslaughters charges against Alec Baldwin have been dismissed with prejudice.]
I completely agree with this post. We call these guys talking heads. It’s almost all blather. I try to avoid this kind of TV .
I wonder what kind of home life this kid had? So far we know his Dad is the type of person to buy an AR15, belong to a local gun club, and vote Republican. His son likewise, though he didn’t live long enough to vote in his first Presidential election,
Death by Secret Service is possibly the biggest FU to his Father he could plan. It’s impossible to know anything about motive from the available information.
In a week or so, I’ll read the Wikipedia article about it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Donald_Trump) . Like with science, learn from the consensus not a single study. I will make no decisions which require understanding the situation well, so it’s just not that important to me.
I stopped watching when I heard that he hadn’t been killed.
Steve Oberski @ 10
The rules over at Pharyngula requre me to pretend I am not depressed about the outcome. When the nice guys get shot, the killers never miss but Hitler and Khomeini survived a ridicilous number of assassination attempts.