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Last Saturday, a gunman allegedly assassinated a prominent Minnesota leader in her Brooklyn Park home, killing her husband and fatally injuring their dog as well. Earlier that morning, the man shot and badly wounded a senator and his wife, according to charges. In his vehicle, he carried a detailed plan for a killing spree cut short by the timely and relentless intervention of peace officers.
And yet, already, the aftermath of this tragedy reveals why it happened in the first place. Online influencers made concerted efforts to twist the facts of the still-developing case. Social media denizens displayed a near-pathological urge to deflect blame from the extremist ideologies that fed the killer’s mindset.
In this, even a tragedy that everyone agrees was horrible again begins to divide us. We walk on eggshells, hoping not to offend online screamers who can’t give an inch in their ideological warfare.
This was an American mass shooting, like countless others before, but different because the shooter chose specific targets in an attack not only symbolic, but destructive to civilization itself.
Yes, civilization.
We live in a democracy, which he sought to mutilate. We live under a system of law and order, which he subverted. Now, whenever we see police lights illuminate our darkened bedrooms, doubt replaces trust. How much future suffering will result from this crime? How many lives will it cost?