Paranoia Kills

 I think my brief comments added to these excerpts from the article are worth a blog post.

https://apple.news/AgcMMVquURzG24N6PgMHzIA

Great article which which makes the point.

Recently a gun  nut for some reason decided to start posting the emoji of hilarious laughter wherever I made a post regarding guns.  He thought it was funny when innocent teenagers were killed or shot. He thought it was hilarious when an Oklahoma lawmaker said he regretted it was no longer possible to lynch Black people.

Finally, he actually responded to me yet with real words and I thought he and I could have a conversation. But he went right back to the same garbage and stopped the conversation after a couple of exchanges.

I would've enjoyed conversing with him but he just wanted to laugh at human tragedy.  That was not acceptable. I blocked him.

>Lester is not just "staunchly right wing," but addicted to "a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia," including "election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies." Lester's ex-wife told the New York Times, "I was always scared of him," because he was would go into rage fits and smash her things. 

Ludwig is getting trashed by the right on social media, but for many who have helplessly watched older relatives fall down this rabbit hole of right-wing paranoia, his story felt all too familiar.

...But in every case, we have angry, paranoid men with guns harming — or killing — innocent young people who are just trying to live their lives. 

...The leading cause of death to people under 18 years old in America is guns.

... "A lot of our fellow citizens feel like they live in a castle. There is a moat. And anyone who crosses your moat, they need to be murdered." 

...The panacea offered for these imaginary threats isn't just "vote Republican," but also "buy a gun." Or really, buy lots of guns. The handsomely funded marketing campaigns for guns get a huge assist from the GOP...

Gun nuts are overcompensating for their own flaws, but the bullet tears through the flesh either way. Indeed, guns are even more dangerous in the hands of the losers that gun marketers see as their target demographic. Paranoid or jealous people who want to believe the rest of the world is out to get them tend to be trigger-happy. And a favorite target will be young people, who "threaten" them by just being free and rambunctious. <