Fucking bizarre

  • FnordPrefect [comrade/them, he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Having the PA set up makes this so hard to try to figure out. If they just wanted to blow themselves/a big vehicle up they would choose a different location. Clearly, they intended to convey some sort of message by doing this, why would you not use the PA to this end.

    If it is just an elaborate suicide, they wanted people to take notice, why would you not identify/explain yourself.

    Or if it's political/ideological explain what you intend to cause to happen.

    Or if it's a false flag add something to point at a likely target you would like discredited/attacked.

    Or if they are trying to cause terror for terror's sake, it's a total failure. People will be confident that they could just leave the area if it were to happen again. Suggest that this is a warning but the next one will be sudden or something.

    So the only thing I can come up with is that they thought their motivations would be so obvious that no explanation would be needed. If so, this is a very strange mix of delusion, motivation, and capability.

    Or straight up nihilist "the universe is a scary and random place and jokes on you for trying to make sense of it"

    • VHS [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      The PA really is the sticking point. Almost every theory makes more sense without it. Just a thought though...

      If you've been following the far-right online, they have been talking about invoking Martial Law since the election: using a state of emergency and military force to keep the WH. The Q faction in particular talks about "10 Days of Darkness", a planned(?) media/communications blackout to keep Trump's enemies and the public at large in the dark while Trump consolidates power (this is a good thing to them, of course). While this is almost certainly not Trump's actual plan, maybe a Q follower really wants it to be. Blowing up a bomb downtown then serves two purposes: general terror and a stab at comms infrastructure.

      But then there's the PA. Just seems too courteous and high-quality, like an unrealistic movie. Can only think of a three-letter answer for that part.

      • kilternkafuffle [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        But then there’s the PA. Just seems too courteous and high-quality, like an unrealistic movie. Can only think of a three-letter answer for that part.

        I think a nerd/technician could do that easily. Justify it that way to themselves and look more noble - "I'm not a murderer, I'm a terrorist", just sending a message.

        If it turns out to be someone connected to AT&T - an unhappy former worker, say, then the location makes sense, too.

        Not that the military-security apparatus element are above this sort of thing. But I think someone who's had it all with this shitty system - perhaps without any political explanations, even, may still have done this. Just a Fuck You to the world on the way out - but not a murder, which leaves you hated by everyone.

        • VHS [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          I see what you're saying. A layman with some technical knowledge could rig up a PA like that, it's just unusual. Someone without political convictions who wanted a spectacle would go with the weirdness of it.

          • kilternkafuffle [any]
            ·
            edit-2
            4 years ago

            Haha I know people with technical knowledge and strong, but very bland political convictions. You can be angry, but still only want to say, "Oh, if only we had a Canadian system of government...!" You're right that it's weird - but it also takes someone weird to do a terrorism in the first place.

      • penguin_von_doom [she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        The PA makes a lot of sense if you consider someone who wants to only hurt the bad guys, whoever the bad guys are. It also makes a lot of sense if the person doing this has watched a lot of movies or genuinely didn't want to hurt civilians. This to me makes perfect sense with the idea that this is a q person or some conspiracy theory rando. Wasn't there some rumour that that AT&T station held some voting machines data? If I remember this correctly it could then be a stop the steal person.

        • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Yeah or a 5G nut. But usually those types can't shut the fuck up about their theories, so it's odd there wasn't a brainwormed manifesto or something that turned up. Unless maybe the cops found one and decided to keep it under wraps to avoid copycat attacks. Not enough puzzle pieces rn to get any satisfying conclusions.

        • VHS [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          "PA system", a loudspeaker system for addressing the public. Sorry if that's not a common term.

        • VHS [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          4 years ago

          Gab has a group for Q posts, and a segment of thedonald.lose's userbase posts Q stuff (less so now than previously). I'm sure there's some on Parler, but I haven't made an account.

      • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Caring about civilian casualties seems uncharacteristic of any three-letter clandestine operations. I don't think the PA makes that possibility more or less likely.

    • The_word_of_dog [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      Eerie is the word I've been using. It feels like a portent of things to come.

      It's fucking confusing and scary in a strange way. So eerie.

      • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        That's definitely why I've been obsessing over this. It feels like something from a movie that marks that start of the really bad shit happening

        Or I'm just being anxious again