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A comment on Released from a gag order regarding a federal investigation into a silly comment. Parent comment

Re:Released from a gag order regarding a federal investigati... by CamperBob2 on Friday July 23, 2021 @05:55PM (#27936063)
It's one of those scale-dependent things. As a rule, history's greatest atrocities didn't originate in secret. From the Communist Manifesto to Mein Kampf to the PNAC charter, the architects were not shy about telling anyone who would listen exactly what they thought should happen or what they planned to do. It's fair to place the Christchurch shooter in that category.

At the other end of the spectrum, it seems that people who go online and rant about how someone should shoot the President or cut a judge's brake lines or whatever are the least likely to follow through. They aren't exactly the movers and shakers of civilization, more likely just thoughtless kids or random loudmouths. Wasting law enforcement time on nonspecific threats is the sort of thing a government that has too much power tends to do.

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Re:Released from a gag order regarding a federal investigati... by mulmen on Friday July 23, 2021 @06:04PM (#27936149)
Wasn't the Christchurch shooter known for ranting online in advance of his murders?

Did he not say exactly what he was going to do, then do it?

I don't see what scale has to do with it.

I also don't see how an absolute statement like "The person who is going to rob you is the one person who is definitely not going to tell you in advance that you're going to be robbed." can be believed. It only takes one counter example.

This is a thread about anticipating crimes based on online commentary, something that could absolutely have flagged the Christchurch massacre.

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Re:Released from a gag order regarding a federal investigati... by CamperBob2 on Friday July 23, 2021 @07:19PM (#27936769)
Did he not say exactly what he was going to do, then do it?

Yes. The point being, he wrote a manifesto, not a vaguely-ominous sounding tweet.

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Re:Released from a gag order regarding a federal investigati... by mulmen on Friday July 23, 2021 @07:25PM (#27936823)
Well he did both as far as I know. He had a history of posting racist messages including threats of violence. Ultimately he posted a manifesto and then took action on his words. The video itself was a warning because it started before the shooting. A timely enough warning based on that alone could have prevented this tragedy.
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Re:Released from a gag order regarding a federal investigati... by markdown on Saturday July 24, 2021 @07:09PM (#27945141)
> He had a history of posting racist messages including threats of violence. Ultimately he posted a manifesto and then took action on his words. The video itself was a warning because it started before the shooting.

Seems you know this background and motivation well. Since it perfectly fits the definition of terrorism, why won't you call him a terrorist? Is it because he isn't brown?

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