Gamer Culture and Guns
The other thread on the Charlie Kirk killing has gotten really long, so I thought I’d post another.
The investigation into Tyler Robinson’s ideology is still quite early. What’s clear is he was raised in conservative Republican culture, around guns.
What’s unclear is whether the cultural references that AFT initially misrepresented as “trans ideology” is sincerely, or only ironically, tied to further right culture than Kirk himself.
Here’s a good explanation of the known gamer references in the things he scratched onto bullet casings (though the song Bella Ciao has been appropriated by Groypers).
But the full arrow sequence was quickly recognized as something else: a combo from Helldivers 2 for calling the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem. The world of Helldivers — which evokes Robert Heinlein’s book Starship Troopers and the subsequent movie — concerns fascism thematically; developer Arrowhead has characterized it as a satire where players fight for a fascist state.
[snip]
Fans of the game immediately noticed. Shortly after the press conference on Friday morning, the Helldivers subreddit was flooded with players who had picked up on what may be references to the game. A thread, now deleted, was titled: “Hey Facist Catch!” with the poster asking, “Did anyone else hear/notice?!” A commenter, responding to the thread, said, “The moment I heard [the arrows] my eyes widened.”
Another thread, also apparently deleted by moderators, referenced the arrows that authorities say were on one of the unfired bullet casings recovered at the scene. “It sickens me having people like this playing this game and using it to real violence to tarnish this awesome game and community,” the poster wrote. Other posts implored the subreddit moderators to lock down the forum. Moderators for the subreddit didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A thread in the separate r/Helldivers2 subreddit remains active, with people discussing the apparent parallels.
And this is a worthwhile reflection — originally written about the suspect in the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting — about how muddled this online ideology can be.
As incoherent, unhinged, or even cringey as the Minneapolis shooter’s videos might seem, they are part of a familiar template of terroristic behavior—one that continues to spread in online communities dedicated to mass shootings and other forms of brutality. In these morbid spaces, killers are viewed as martyrs, and they’re dubbed “saints.” Really, they’re influencers.
These disaffected communities live on social networks, message boards, and private Discords. They are populated by trolls, gore addicts, and, of course, aspiring shooters, who study, debate, and praise mass-shooting tactics and manifestos. Frequently, these groups adopt the aesthetics of neo-Nazis and white supremacists—sometimes because they are earnestly neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and sometimes because it’s the look and language that they’re cribbing from elsewhere. It’s always blurry, but it usually amounts to the same thing. In an article published by this magazine last year, Dave Cullen, author of the book Columbine, summed it all up: “As you read this, a distraught, lonely kid somewhere is contemplating an attack—and the one community they trust is screaming, Do it!”
There’s no reason to rush to pin this down. What matters is the right wing launched a cultural war against the left…
… Only to discover that the culprit was one of theirs.
H/T Alejandra Caraballo for the Nancy Mace screengrabs.
The closest Nancy Mace gets to praying is being on her knees before Trump.
There’s no hate like MAGA Christian love.
I once infiltrated Nancy Grace’s telegram group either before or soon after elections and she was promising that Trump will launch NESARA and GESARA, people’s debts will be forgiven and gold/silver standard will be back.
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Do you really mean Nancy *Grace*? Nothing you wrote that you discovered sounds like her type of grift, which features “Ladies! How to Stay Safe” merch based off of her long cable TV career.
It does sound more like Congresswoman Nancy *Mace* of SC, who is the subject of many comments on this post. You seem to have interesting input. It would help if you keep your referencing accurate.
yes, nancy mace, the congresswoman
More on Mace today, from the Guardian liveblog:
They should appropriate funds for a Charlie Kirk Ashley Babbitt monument. The “most beautiful the world has ever seen”.
Her Jeebus uses an AR-15, and preaches violence and hate.
Well, a rifle sight. In 2010. Used on weapons bought by the U.S. Military.
Yuck, I called this move in the prior thread. I though I was being sarcastic. Now I feel that I have the right kind of luck to win a lottery ticket to visit hell.
For a man who espoused the view that gun deaths were the cost of having and defending the second Amendment and that empathy is a woke construct, I would think the only way to honor Kirk is to just not. No lying in state, no statues, nothing. Just offer our lukewarm thoughts and prayers.
People like Kirk lead countless people away from Jesus.
More like running screaming away from Jesus…
Nancy Mace has embraced the #1 rule of today’s politics in America. Intensity is Destiny. She’s fully engaged (she’s also a sex obsessed nut). But I don’t think it’s hurting her in the polls. That’s the big problem.
She seems to be polling ahead of other Republican candidates for Governor of South Carolina, the “home of sedition,” but there is this:
Nancy Mace Cancels Speech After Almost No One Shows Up
https://www.aol.com/nancy-mace-cancels-speech-almost-031856343.html
One of my family members noted that the Kirk killer was a 22 year old young man and then asked what was the motive. I wanted to respond that 22 year old young men often rely more on emotion than the reasoning sufficient to constitute a motive.
Add to that being immersed in the gamer world and community. It is a recipe for tragedy.
But what excuse can Trump and his media allies give for using Kirk’s murder to stir up their supporters before evidence was gathered.
So, after evidence is gathered is the time to stir up supporters, is it?
Biden and Dems are responsible.
So what are Hillary and Obama, chopped liver?
That’s almost back to another century.
Violent video games DO lead to real world violence. Who knew?
To repeat a previous post of mine, https://www.cmaj.ca/content/197/29/E918
The legalization of online gambling (iGaming) in Ontario in 2022 turned any smartphone into a betting platform, compounding existing epidemics of technology and social media use addiction. Although youth are theoretically banned from iGaming, advertising influences young people to start gambling and to gamble more, and it likely makes recovery from problem gambling more difficult.
“what excuse can Trump and his media allies give for using Kirk’s murder to stir up their supporters before evidence was gathered.”
An arsonist never lets good kindling go to waste.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
– Voltaire
There’s more to the Groyper connection from what I see online. Trump’s one-time dinner guest, Fuentes and his fans hated Kirk. I don’t know if Kirk’s assassin is a Groyper, but I have seen a couple of Tweets where people posted screenshots from 8chan indicating the shooter was one of them. I don’t know enough about that crowd or their feuds with others. But I knew there was little chance the shooter was Antifa (the Right’s favorite boogeyman). I worry the shooter’s family scrubbed all social media since he was apprehended last night, and it was announced this morning (perhaps with Republican help?). I’m trying not to fall into conspiratorial rabbit holes, but very curious.
So what were the stated causes of Fuentes hatred of Kirk.
As EW noted in a comment, Kirk wasn’t nearly racist enough for Fuentes and his fans.
Also, Kirk heeded Trump’s call to stop talking about Epstein. Fuentes has kept up the drumbeat and accused Trump of conspiring in a cover-up.
Yes—although I believe Kirk recently called for the full release of the Epstein files, which led Loomer to accuse him of betraying Trump “stabbing him in the back.” She’s also apparently deleted a slew of posts harshly criticizing Kirk. FWIW.
Screams Volumes!
“Less than 48 hours after Kirk was shot in broad daylight at the campus of Utah Valley University, Trump replied: “I tell you something that is going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less.””
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/trump-fox-friends-charlie-kirk-shooting
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lynbjh63l426
September 12, 2025 at 8:34 AM [8:30 AM ET VIDEO]
Transcript:
The weirdest part about what trump says about the left is that they’re politically savvy. Democrats are the least politically savvy party of them all. EAIAA. I swear without the support of the media brainwashing everyone he would be laughed at for so much of what he says.
It doesn’t take a lot of political savvy when your party is overwhelming cisgender heterosexual white. You only need one appeal, some variations of the base appeal that’s 14 words long.
He quite a lot says I won’t tell you…, but in next breath does tell you….
It’s his gossip impulse that he can’t control.
That’s standard Trump framing. I assume he thinks it makes him look like he’s tough, in control, and doing the right thing, regardless of consequences, a principled stance no one who knew Trump would ever accuse of him of practicing. I would associate none of those attributes with Donald Trump, except the false framing.
It’s straight up DARVO by proxy, like he always does, and always has: “Look what you made them do!”
I really don’t think he knows how to process things any other way, than that.
Righties judge people based on who they are not what they do. Tell them what identity group someone is in and they’ll tell you the motive because we’re all just think-alike stereotypes and not individuals. Only they are freethinking individuals, while we’re all responsible for what the worst anyone in our group says or does.
And if a shooter fits their preferred identity group and ideology, it lessens the crime especially if the victims are in the wrong group. Just hearing that white cis conservative men are capable of bad behavior offends them because they know that’s the default setting and not an identity. So those killers are only responsible for their own actions as individuals and it’s wrong to even mention their traits because that’s a smear against the group.
Yeah. If there’s any silver lining at all it’s that the shooter was not Jewish, Muslim, Black, Gay, Trans or an undocumented immigrant.
I need a “Why Not Both” meme that goes all the way to “Why Not All Of Them, Katie?”
My spouse, who follows current events at least as much as the average person, astonished me this morning by asserting that the shooter was apparently trans, thanks to having read the initial “leak” of misinformation about the bullet etchings. The administration’s lies work, even on intelligent people of good faith, and I don’t see a solution for that.
This is why I say not a lot of people knew of Charlie Kirk prior to last Wednesday – only us news junkies and politically aware.
‘Radicalized’ Evergreen High School shooter appeared to hold antisemitic, violent views in online accounts
Officials say suspect, who fatally shot himself, was Desmond Holly. Two students remain in critical condition.
The 16-year-old boy who shot two students and then himself at Evergreen High School this week appeared to espouse white supremacist views online and showed an interest in mass shooters in …
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/evergreen-high-school-shooting-colorado-updates/
A pattern with radicalization of young men.
Here’s a WaPo pie chart about ideology wrt political violence and killings:
https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a616233c-c851-4060-8fdb-f7722ca3eeea_900x562.jpeg
Since you bring up Mace, she had screaming match with Jackson over trans https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/u-reps-nancy-mace-sara-003852735.html
Mace latched on to transphobia as a means to boost her political career. My sense of her is that she will adopt any strategy or view as long as it serves her purpose, which seems only and always self-promotion.
Her participation with the Epstein victims, backing Marjorie Taylor Greene and Massie, surprised me somewhat, but I decided it must fit in with some as yet undeclared longterm plan as part of her governor race.
Hey, xyxyxy, just a heads up. Don’t know if you noticed the error in your comment. Maybe it’s a typo. Or you didn’t catch an auto typed name error. Or you didn’t read the article in your link carefully. But you are giving out misinformation. So, you might want to correct your comment.
Please expand as I don’t know what you are referring to.
Jacobs, not Jackson
So I changed a Jewish name to a non-Jewish name?
You substituted an incorrect name for the correct name, thereby posting misinformation.
And the xyxyxyxy also failed to mention that Mace is quoted at the end of the article tossing out a racial/Jewish slur directly at Jacobs. That’s worthy of mention beyond the pro/anti-trans exchange on the House floor. She told Jacobs that she’d give her contact info for her own plastic surgeon if she wanted to get a nose job.
edit: “And the xyxyxyxy post…”
So I went to the TNR interview that was the source of Sara Jacobs getting “Maced” story and there was no nose job joke there. It was posted to look like Mace’s PS, but I can’t see that it was. That website give me the skivvies. Maybe it’s a honey trap. Sorry I didn’t click all the way through before posting above.
Mace was sexually abused I believe when she was in college & the perp of course denied that he did anything. Her motives may be more career focused than that but the abuse did happen. As a survivor myself I find that victims of abuse frequently are all over the place with a slowly growing self-awareness that enables them to focus.
Agree. Displaced anger and hurt from the past. Signs of PTSD. Therapy would help. As a survivor, I had no sense of the self until I went to therapy. Life changing.
Therapy has saved my life, over and over again. Early childhood abuse left me without a core sense of self, and my therapist has walked me through the slow steps of building a semblance of one as an adult.
But my early trauma did not cause me to excoriate anyone else (trans people, for example); if anything, it made their outsiderness more palpable and resonant, because it seemed somehow like my own.
I am sensitive to Mace’s history. But I cannot excuse her vitriol against marginalized people who did *nothing* to her. I am glad to see her standing up for the Epstein victims. May it lead to a greater understanding of people whose suffering she has been willfully blind to so far.
Right-Wing Activists Urge Followers to Expose Those [They Allege Are] Celebrating Kirk Killing
The widespread and fast-moving campaign has already resulted in lost jobs, suspensions and internal investigations, heightening tensions online between supporters and detractors of Charlie Kirk. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/us/politics/charlie-kirk-shooting-firings-celebration.html Alan FeuerKen Bensinger and Pooja Salhotra Sept. 12, 2025, 5:04 p.m. ET
After Charlie Kirk’s Killing, The Right Dreams Of A Chilling Crackdown
Less than two days later and with much still unknown, right-wing figures
are making declarations of war and calling for retribution. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/charlie-kirk-donald-trump_n_68c433f0e4b0b50574082e19
Paul Blumenthal Sep 12, 2025, 12:07 PM EDT
They sound like they need 90-day evaluations. They’re not seeing reality.
Is Political Conservatism a Mild Form of Insanity?https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/genius-and-madness/200809/is-political-conservatism-a-mild-form-of-insanity
Except that, through Trump, they’re *defining* reality.
What Would Jesus Do?
Not THIS. Maybe Tarrio, Rhodes, and the rest of these folks should pray to St. Charlie of Kirk for guidance. They are forgetting the Gospel they claim to follow–if they ever read it at all.
He must be referring to immigrants when he says “hire a quality human being to replace them,”
Extremist Groups Hated Charlie Kirk. They’re Using His Death to Radicalize Others The Oath Keepers are apparently restarting, and extremist groups like the Proud Boys are calling for “state violence” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death.
https://www.wired.com/story/extremists-hated-charlie-kirk-now-radicalizing-others/ WIRED David Gilbert Sep 12, 2025 4:24 PM
Because of course they are. And thanks to Donald Trump setting all of them free, they can.
They’re the ones who don’t care about being guilty of rank hypocrisy.
Have the markings supposedly on the bullet casings been proven not to be manufacturer’s marks? Arrows, for example, are among signs used by some manufacturers..
SFAIK, marks on casings are on the base (the headstamp) which will have such data as calibre, manufacturer, etc., that is, not on the sides of the case. Cd be wrong, but that’s my understanding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headstamp
It’s not easy to etch any mark on a brass casing, and on a .30 caliber, not a lot of room to do it.
And yet, the inscriptions are being widely quoted and reported, verbatim, such as “Hey Fascist, Catch!”, although often without context or background.
So, maybe not easy to do, but clearly have been done in this case.
They may have been done, but it’s hardly clear, given how frequently Patel and Kirk supporters overreach with their statements.
Tyler’s rommate showed law enforcements chats on Discord between himself and Tyler regardings Tyler’s plans. Yet the roommate said nothing to anyone about what was to come. Doesn’t that make the roommate involved by not reporting the plan?
Maybe he thought that he was joking.
I note that Fuentes quickly dissassociated himself with what happened. Looks like he had no difficulty recognising what the underlying motivation was.
Hello? This is the MAGA cult eating itself. It is a cult at the end of its lifespan. It is going to get worse.
Agree. The killer identified as a Fuentes follower and a Gropyer. This looks like a stochastic terror hit by Fuentes on Kirk. That is why Fuentes has told his troop of incel fat frogs to knock off the violence. My guess is that Fuentes may be sitting under the hot lights soon. This had NOTHING to do with progressives – this was all within MAGA world – who is the bigger racist / fascist / anti-Semitic asshole.
If the shooter has some sort affiliation with the Groypers/Nick Fuentes, it would be unsurprising. Kirk has had beef with them and he had a very pronounced about face over Epstein.
To get power, Trump has had to rely the antisemitic alt-right and the most pro-Zionist elements in the country. I don’t understand how that coalition sustains itself.
how they sustain themselves, good question. You do wonder what is up with these groups, but to begin with each group isn’t really playing with a full deck, so there is that. Each group think they are right and the other maybe some what helping them so they let it go thinking they can kill of the other group later. Each group hates a lot and so perhaps there is some decision to keep things going because both groups are haters.
With the shooting of Kirk many of those haters now have something to crowd around and an excuse for inappropriate behaviour
Of course Trump’s speech from behind his desk didn’t help matters either nor did the firing of media people who simply asked questions they would usually ask. It was as if these nut bars were given permission to carry on with their nastiness. If this continues, things will not end well.
Watched the Gov. of Utah make some comments/speeches which is what leaders do in these sorts of events. To bad Trump doesn’t take lessons from him. But the Gov. of Utah most likely wants to maintain peace and end violence. Trump most likely wants violence, war, killing and then invoke marshal law and end democracy as it is known in the U.S.A.
I’ve always thought guns were the biggest problem in the U.S.A. Now I think its Trump.
Why can’t it be both guns and Trump, and….?
I was referring to the biggest and that only allows for one. You could have more, but then I’d suggest we use what are the major issues/problems facing ………..
To think about it, it really isn’t Trump he is simply the result of the problems/issues facing the U.S.A. Those problems/issues led the U.S.A. to elect trump. Had he been impeached during round one, there might not be the current problems
my 2cents:
The biggest problem in America is LIES. This includes LIES by Trump, the lyingest of liars and Right Wing LIES about the 2nd amendment etc. Social media is the accelerant. The monetizing of rage and conspiracy on social media was a bad idea with terrible consequences for the country.
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“To get power, Trump has had to rely the antisemitic alt-right and the most pro-Zionist elements in the country.”
“I don’t understand how that coalition sustains itself.”
Because that’s a rather incredible oversimplification of the MAGA voting bloc AND the Anti-Democrats voting bloc AND of Zionism AND of Antisemites AND of regurgitated misinformation pumped into the political bloodline by foreign actors like Russia, China, Qatar (Al Jazeera) and Iran etc.
Start with, Trump is a RACIST who also supports Israel and things will begin to smooth out.
On the Zionist bit (which I personally think you’ve become obsessed with) These are approximations. About 80-90% of American Jews support Israel (I would describe that as Zionists, because simply supporting the right of Jews to self determination in their homeland IS Zionism)
Only 25 – 30 % of American Jews voted for Trump.
Trump was elected by racists (and people wanting tax cuts for themselves (Elon etc). Some of those racists are also Zionists (generally white Xtian Evangelicals), most Jewish Zionists voted for the Black Lady (including yours truly), and a minority of them voted for Trump.
Also, Charlie Kirk was (IMHO) a disgusting racist who happened to also support Israel. While his support for Israel would be welcomed by those who also support Israel; like if he supported an independent Taiwan, what he was really about was Xtian nativist white supremacy. Which is why I as a Jew and a Zionist found him a repulsive hypocritical fascist who at times said things I agreed with. Example: If he said water was wet I would agree. But not necessarily support his platform.
Very rarely does a single point of view or support for a singular subject fully define a person or their politics. Unless you’re in a cult. See: Trumpers.
“(which I personally think you’ve become obsessed with)”
Don’t do this. This was unnecessary. Focus on the issue, not the commenter.
Allow me to note a critically important and missing piece: Trump is a deeply venal POS and he is sympatico with those who are just as corrupt, and those who are willing to go along with his corruption if he serves their interests, ex. white supremacy.
Charlie Kirk was also critical at times of Israel and how it has conducted the Gaza War.
https://archive.is/L9n9I
https://archive.is/yJgOk
Fuentes has long had beef with Kirk, Including Grouper War I, as documented in these tweets.
https://archive.is/aA9Fp
https://archive.is/zWPnN
https://archive.is/Ig7Dr
https://archive.is/Dhfe2
And Fuentes has called for his followers pledge willing “to kill, rape, and die for Nick Fuentes”.
https://archive.is/klm4k
Fuentes ranting about Kirk, alleging that Kirk was being paid by Israel to do propaganda to ignore Gaza famine and genocide. Fuentes said Kirk either needs it “recant” on Israel, or he needs to “leave the stage”, cryptically.
https://archive.is/vKPXg
Emptywheel noted in the Friday episode with Nicole Sandler how instrumental Charlie Kirk was to Trump gaining power. Charlie Kirk was the front line of a major battle between MAGA factions, of which major issues are Israel and Epstein.
“Grouper War I” — first belly laugh I’ve had in days. Triggered an image of large fish being catapulted across distances by opposing forces.
Reply to Rayne:
Groyper War I was the battle against Kirk and TPUSA in 2019. Groyper War II was the summer 2024 against elements from the Trump Campaign such as Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita.
From Amanda Moore, who is most likely the biggest expert on The Groypers:
https://archive.is/c9YZG
https://archive.is/4XaHL
Example work from Amanda on the Groypers.
https://theintercept.com/2024/07/18/nick-fuentes-america-first-conference/
reply to Rayne:
Bigtime grouper groupie here! Since childhood visits to the Shedd Aquarium. I could stare at those enormous boulder-like creatures forever, just waiting for a stirring of eye or flipper. Used to imagine what they had seen in their long years on this vexed earth.
Your image of groupers being used as ammunition caused me physical pain.
D’oh now I see my typo lol
Also, I just noticed the information on the Groyper Wars is even documented enough to be on Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groypers
It is not natural for Jewish people to align themselves with nazis and white supremacists. Hopefully you can agree with that.
So it stands out when Jewish people like Laura Loomer, Stephen Miller, and Mike Benz, have aligned themselves with nazis and white supremacists, somehow seeing utility in being able to further their own political goals through such alignment.
When digging in to the origins of Qanon, a similar dynamic appears. There is the alt-right and Microchip and weev and Baked Alaska and 4 chan and memetic warfare, which have been documented on this website. The topic of Iranian regime change and Iran hawks is another topic that appears when tracing back into Qanon origins, which is also a goal of Israel. The exact origins and who had control over the Q account are still open questions.
Your post didn’t mention that Miriam Adelson was Trump’s 3rd highest supporter with $148 Million. Adelson is also documented to pursuing Israel to annex the West Bank and Gaza, ie Israeli Manifest Destiny.
https://www.newarab.com/news/pro-israel-mogul-wants-west-bank-annexed-after-trump-donation
Sheldon Adelson was instrumental in getting elected in 2016, including a lot that was not generally reported on. James Bamford documented in his book Spyfail.
“It is not natural for Jewish people to align themselves with nazis and white supremacists.”
I’ve been Jewish-American all my life. And all too often, that’s just the way the matzoh crumbles; into a half-baked cracker.
You might agree, though, that Stephen Miller, of Jewish heritage, is rather unnatural.
Reminds me of a joke of a few decades ago.
Jewish elderly man sitting on bench in Central Park is reading Louis Farrakhan’s rag.
A friend of his comes by and sees what he’s reading and asks, why are you reading that rag instead of the Forward.
He responds, the Forward depresses me when it talks how bad things are in Israel, bad for Jews in the US and around the world, etc. while Farrakhan’s rag encourages me as it talks about Jewish wealth, success in business, ownership of newspapers, movie studios, tv networks, etc.
Reply to Rayne:
I can’t tell if your comment is a joke about Stephen Miller being from another world, or a straight comment.
Assuming it’s a straight comment, yes, my comment specifically says how unnatural I find it. So when an anomaly occurs, such as Stephen Miller being a Jewish person who aligns with white supremacists and Nazis, I find it unnatural, and want to dig deeper.
How about both? Miller’s complete lack of empathy for other humans borders on robotic, algorithmic. And having zero positive appreciation for his own ethnic heritage is dicey as well. I can’t imagine raising a child who hates their own kind.
A note on my fridge says: “It’s the theocracy, stupid.”
It is , to a large degree, mass mental illness. That Donald J Trump is the key to their redemption (despite what their preachers might allow) is the clearest sign of that. I’ll say it again: if I were an Evangelical, I’d be proclaiming Trump as the actual Antichrist.
There’s reporting out there insisting that the groyper stuff is actually antifa. I can’t tell if this is just bad reporting aka ignorance or deliberate. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/know-the-meaning-of-bella-ciao-anti-fascist-anthem-inscribed-on-bullets-in-charlie-kirk-shooting/articleshow/123859396.cms?from=mdr
I think you need to listen to part of Marcy’s latest Friday podcast in which she discusses the accused Robinson and gamer culture. The challenge in reporting on the bullet inscriptions is the inability to determine if Robinson was being ironic or not. Better reporting will add a proviso about gaming culture and irony.
I lean toward ironic because he appears to be a groyper.
Cheers, Rayner
A Groyper or so-called antifa would seem to be world’s apart.
Via Cheryl Rofer:
https://bsky.app/profile/phillewis.bsky.social/post/3lypsqd2z2k2h
September 13, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Article at this time [There is no mention of this “verified source AT ALL]:
Charlie Kirk shooting suspect: details of messages and gun casings emerge Utah officials say they were contacted by family friend of Tyler Robinson, 22, accused of killing rightwing activist
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/12/suspect-charlie-kirk-shooting
Ramon Antonio Vargas and Anna Betts Fri 12 Sep 2025 14.38 EDT
What the original article said:
Editor’s Note:
So, NOT ONLY were those “quotes” removed…but, the TITLE had to change:
https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social/post/3lyozegvmoc2j
September 13, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Contents of that screenshot:
I’m not sure the average Utah high school student, or many high school students anywhere, know what a leftist is. Being to the “left” in rural and small Utah could be to the right of Genghis Khan. It is in parts of Washington state and Oregon.
Genghis Khan didn’t care what religion you followed as long as you bowed down to him. Wotta wussie lieberal!!!!
RitaRita’s comment (above) about 22-year-old men got me thinking. I’d made a last-second edit to my comment on the other Kirk post-thread; after an earlier WSJ report about “trans and Antifa ideology” being carved into bullets or casings found with the rifle, the actual messages had just been read at this morning’s press conference . With the exception of one kind of adolescent-sounding ‘joke,’ I found the rest I heard inscrutable (the word I used).
I know gamers. I don’t play anymore, but I married a gamer. In some ways spouse remains the same age when he started. Some attributes glom onto male gamers like cat fur in January static season. Hubby enjoys making in-jokes, the kind that rely on references to games I never played or comics I never read. Age has softened the pleasure he takes in confounding me, but that edge comes right back when we hang out with our nephews who are the age of the Utah shooter.
Having in-jokes. Knowing the feds will stumble and need help decrypting your bullet-sized messages–that in itself injects a surge of pleasure, as will every time you meet some new member of your own tribe in prison.
Thanks, Ginevra! This is very helpful for someone who has no idea about any of this.
See our entire discussion here, harpie…as we try to find the right pigeon hole in which to fit a young man who participates in a culture largely (and deliberately) foreign to us.
Brandy Zadrozny, always helpful in discussions of the extremely online, describes these young (mostly) male internet denizens as ultimately neither left nor right but “nihilistic,” and desirous more than anything of creating “chaos.” That dovetails with my own research, which I have had to curtail because of the leaden effect it had on my depression.
I know this is hard for us (mostly older, more diverse) folk at EW to assimilate. But in-jokes and trolling really are the life-blood (so to speak) of this world. Guns make the punchlines lethal–to folks who live IRL–but no less risible to the “lmao” crowd EW describes above.
There is a reason that insurance companies charge young men a higher premium than young women.
I watched a Pivot podcast today with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. They had looked at some of the shooter’s on line presence and concluded that he was an active gamer and user of Discord. They noted, as you do, that in the gamer world there are a lot of inside jokes, snarks, and double entendres. And that some of the alleged engravings come from the Hellrider game, which is a sarcastic takeoff of Starship Trooper.
The shooter has an interesting biography: smart, goes away from home to school but only makes it through one semester. Moves back close to his parents and attends a local technical skills school. Not the typical scenario for a well-adjusted young man.
I am confused by your insurance comment, unless it’s a joke.
What type of insurance are you referring to, life, health, disability, auto?
Life and auto insurance premiums are higher for men than women but health and I think disability insurance premiums are higher for women than for men.
Not a joke. Auto insurance has long cost more for young (under 25) men, especially unmarried men, than for women the same age.
The human brain does not complete development until the mid-20s. And inhibitions on risk-taking are among the last to mature; cultural influences exacerbate that lag in males. Insurers have always had the data to demonstrate this.