By David Futrelle
In the wake of every mass shooting, we hear the inevitable cries from NRA types not to “politicize” the tragedy by pointing out the obvious fact that stricter gun laws would make such tragedies less likely in the future. We watch the trolls and shitlords of the alt-right flood the internet with disinformation and conspiracy theories. These reactions are now as predictable as the reappearance of the sun on the horizon every morning.
The internet’s incels — the bitter fringe-dwellers who consider their “involuntary celibacy” to be a crime against their humanity — have their own predictable responses to such tragedies: they mock the victims as “normies” deserving death — and try as best as they can to adopt the latest mass killer as one of their own.
In the case of last night’s horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas — a massacre that at last count left 59 dead and more than 500 injured — Reddit’s incels did not disappoint on this front. In a number of different threads devoted to the murders, regulars on the Incels subreddit celebrated the death of “normies” and “chads” and even tried to claim that mass killer Stephen Paddock — a man with a girlfriend, and thus decidedly not an incel — was “a depressed and delusional former Chad turned to oldcel.”
For many in the subreddit, the news of the mass shooting was something of an inspiration. In a thread offering faux condolences for the dozens of “normies [who] just got fragged in Las Vegas,” several commenters had similar ideas:
Those calling for basic human decency got an earful from their fellow incels.
![lonelyrommel1998 32 points 3 hours ago RIP . Please my brothers, be civil during this time of tragedy. I know you guys hate anyone that isnt you, but they are human beings nonetheless permalinkembedsavegive gold [–]novalueinvictimhoodhttps://goo.gl/2yvNyj 2 points 44 minutes ago they are human beings So? Being a modern human being is the greatest crime you can commit. permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold [–]wandercampEmbracing the sublime terror of incel existance -3 points an hour ago Fuck off normie I fapped to that video permalinkembedsaveparentgive gold [–]fuck-women-everyday23 KV Approachcel Hopecel Knowledgecel -2 points an hour ago Las Vegas is normie heaven. People go there for drinks, socializing, one night stands, and gambling. Incels will never experience that.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/inm3.png?resize=580%2C636&ssl=1)
In another thread, Reddit’s incels lashed out at the “normies” expressing sympathy for the victims on social media — and at the alleged “degeneracy” of Las Vegas.
![BlackPill4831yo bald manlet escortcel 卐 'Self improvement is masturbation' 10 points 3 hours ago I hate all this 'competitive grief' on social media. They don't give a fuck about the homeless, jobless and sexless. permalinkembedsavegive gold [–]Bojack101 6 points 3 hours ago The degenerate las vegas city deserved it](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/inm6.png?resize=517%2C459&ssl=1)
![BlackPillRevolutionWeAreRevolting | Copernicus | ?NormiesCanAllBurn?| Hate 5 points 3 hours ago All virtue-signalling and posting it all over instawhore or fakebook to show how much they "care" just to fit in the rest of the conformitard sheep who do the same thing permalinkembedsavegive gold [–]touchbutt2Women can't be lonely. women can't be depressed. can't be incel 4 points 4 hours ago Exactly. they can call us evil all they want but at least we are honest. The entire degenrate city of las vegas and everyone in it could die and it wouldn't affect my day in any way](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/inm4.png?resize=517%2C724&ssl=1)
The subreddit’s regulars found it much easier to identify with the shooter.
Still, it’s unlikely that Paddock, a 64-year-old retiree who apparently lived with a girlfriend, will be embraced by incels as another Elliot Rodger, the incel mass murderer celebrated as a “saint” and “supreme gentleman” by this despicable crowd. But that didn’t stop some from trying to posthumously recruit Paddock to inceldom, none more ingeniously than this fellow.
It’s a bit of a reach, given that pretty much the only things we seem to know for sure about Paddock is that he was neither a former Chad nor an incel. I guess the Incels subreddit regulars are a little hard up for, er, “heroes” these days.
Don’t mistake romantic gestures from abusers for love. It’s not. It’s about control. It’s about evening the playing field. “There, I’ve reciprocated the gesture you made. Now I’m ahead again.”
It’s harmful to call it love because the recipient of the abuse has a hard enough time getting out when struggling to overcome their own love, add to that they usually think the abuser loves them back and they don’t want to hurt them. They’re wrong. Love is incompatible with abuse. It’s more about control.
@ Weird Eddie – Thank you. That would make some sense (as much as any of this does).
@Catalpa and WWTH – One of the reasons I like reading here (Normally shut up and just listen, honest! 🙂 ). Wouldn’t have thought of that for hours. Thank you both.
Hate to say, fellow Mammotheers, but I think I’m at the point where I honestly don’t really care what these people’s motivations are. If I were a law enforcement profiler, that’d be one thing, but as much as I tease apart the thought processes of the shitlord, it’s only in service of combating them wherever they rear their ugly heads online to inflict emotional distress on others.
Canada occupies an unusual spot in the global gun culture. We’re a country with an enormous backyard to hunt and fish, a country that was essentially founded as a hunting and trapping colony of European powers, so we do have a gun culture all our own. But the fact that the majority of Canadians use firearms for hunting and sport-shooting rather that this pathological need for “protection” has enabled us to enact a pretty reasonable legal framework for licensing and safety.
I personally don’t have a PAL (Possession and Acquisition License), but I have taken the course and the instructors are very professional about handling firearms; this is always the tell for me between a responsible firearm owner and an “ammosexual” to use the internet term. I still have my RCMP-issued course book and if you look at any of those rallies where a bunch of yahoos have AR-15s strapped to their backs, you see them failing their ACTS and PROVE (those are mnemonics for safe firearm handling and storage) all over the place. Contrast that with the instructors who drill ACTS and PROVE into your head so you can do it backward and forward. For them, it’s safety first. They explain the importance of trigger locks and gun safes. They explain the importance of storing ammunition separately from the weapon. Control of muzzle direction while carrying. Finger position while holding. Even crossing a fence has a specific procedure of where to place the gun, how to cross and then requiring you to do your ACTS and PROVE all over again. I know plenty of folks when I worked up north who hunted on weekends, and as unsettling as some of their photos were posing next to dead animals, they were more apt to talk cars and hockey in the office than firearms.
When was the last time you heard an NRA spokesman emphasize safety? Nah, safety risks alienating the wannabe militiaman demographic, which is where their real cash-cow lies. That was probably the most disturbing statistic I’ve read in light of Las Vegas… that 3% of Americans own half its firearms. That’s who the NRA sells to, and they’re not in the market for trigger locks and gun safes. But that doesn’t stop those guns from crossing the border to kill Canadians, and that’s why I feel a personal stake in this discussion: too many American guns are flooding Canada’s streets and end up in the hands of gangs. That’s why Toronto’s gun homicide rate is as high as it is; handguns are classed “restricted” in Canada, so there are far fewer of them around to be stolen.
Sorry to rant, but it’s the gun lobby that is the malignancy in this equation. Motives are one thing, but there’s too many guns floating around in the US already and there needs to be a fundamental shift in the American gun culture that emphasizes safety over access, which won’t happen as long as the dominates the conversation.
Thanx, Gussie, for this!!
Nuh, uh… rant all you can, it’s our refusal to talk about this issue that allows the “ammosexuals”* to control the debate (along with $ome other i$$ue$, of course)
* I hadn’t heard that… I’m “appropriating” it
@Shadowplay
Comments policy, please.
I personally like the phrase, “gun fondler” as a substitute 🙂
Interesting piece on “devil’s advocate“-ing from Slate.
More properly, “without ever having to admit to holding it“, as I’m betting long odds that the overwhelming majority of people who advocate for the “right” of trolls to spew hate and discord online actually hold those same hateful beliefs.
Thank you, David.
@ The Adjunct
Dammit! I read that post over three times before posting – still missed it. 🙁
Gun fondlers is nice.
Couple of my mates call them Tackleberrys. Me, I don’t like admitting I’m that old and had that bad a movie taste. 😛
No problem. And this not to say that Canada’s legal framework doesn’t have some significant flaws or that we don’t have NRA-like organizations trying to push to loosen firearms laws. After Ecole Polytechnique (which was committed by a semi-automatic long gun), the Chretien Liberal government instituted some stringent measures, including the long gun registry in the 1995 Firearms Act. This registry was attacked by the Harper Tories and ultimately done away with, despite law enforcement agencies and many long-gun owners pleading for it to be maintained. Quebec even tried to preserve its records, but the Supreme Court ruled that it was within the federal government’s jurisdiction to demand the records be destroyed. The debate really felt like a stripped-down version of the America debate, where it was portrayed in the media as “pro-gun” vs “anti-gun”, which only helped the Tory cause.
At the very least, all PAL applicants are screened by the RCMP and there are strict regulations regarding safe storage, handling and transport. Just the emphasis on safety I consider a huge factor in keeping the firearms discussion in Canada properly grounded.
Shadowplay,
“Tackleberrys” is actually a really good descriptor for those who have an inordinate amount of affection for their firearms.
@ gussie
Just for comparison our (England) gun laws are:
No pistols.
No fully automatic anything.
Rifles are allowed. In 22Rimfire you can pretty much have what you want. High capacity magazines, semi auto, assault rifle configuration etc. For all other calibres the gun can only have a two round magazine.
Shotguns over 24″ barrel length ok, but again there’s the two round limit.
You need licences for firearms and shotguns. Shotguns you just have to meet the personal test*, good character, doctor’s letter. For rifles you also have to demonstrate ‘a good reason’ for owning one. Vermin control, hunting, target shooting etc. (it’s not a hypothetical reason, you have to explain where you’ll be shooting). ‘Self defence’ is explicitly excluded as a good reason.
Ammo is licensed too, and there’s limits on the amount you can buy/hold at any one time.
You can keep weapons at home but they must be in a secure fixed gun cabinet and ammo must be secured separately.
[* That’s the law anyway; in practice the police grill you about why you want one]
@Alan Robertshaw
Yeah, that’s far more strict than Canada. Much like a lot of our culture, we kinda straddle British and American ways of doing things, although we definitely hew closer to European standards. Prohibited weapons include full autos, luparas, anything that shortens the stock for concealment purposes, as well as anything that can turn a semi-auto into a full auto like that bump stock that was used in Vegas.
Handguns are allowed, but fall into the “restricted” category, which actually requires an additional course for the Restricted license. There’s also additional restrictions on display and transport for restricted arms. Authorization to carry (ATC) is basically only given to security personnel and armoured car employees.
The RCMP will do a background check on you and you do have to explain why you wish to purchase the firearm. If you have any diagnosed mental health issue (like me and depression), you have to have a doctor’s clearance.
Ammunition I’m less familiar with the regulations on those. I don’t think there’s an ownership limit, but there is definitely a limit on magazine capacity (5 rounds for rifles, 10 for handguns).
My personal opinion:
Guns (as a function of US gun culture) and super loud motorcycles and cars fall into the category of D.A.D, Dick Augmentation Device.
The interesting part is that, based on what I’ve heard from friends in SF convention circuits, there are some weapons that are actually easier to get in Canada as long as you can pass the licensing requirements.
I suspect that’s because Canada has focused more on the licensing requirements, while the U.S. has got itself into this nit-picky debate over what does or does not qualify as a particular type of banned weapon (with the rules often written by local manufacturers trying to ban imports but allow their own products without explicitly saying that’s what they’re doing).
Yet more evidence that the NRA is really an association for the gun manufacturers, not the gun owners.
Ack. I think the sinus infection I had last month is coming back. My throat is ever so slightly sore. My lymph nodes are a bit swollen. It’s swollen and painful under my right eye especially, but my head and molars are a little sensitive on that whole side of my face. I took a zinc but doubt it’s going to be enough.
Wouldn’t be surprised, Jenora. There may be some individual states in the Union that are more restrictive than even Canada (in Canada, firearms are federal jurisdiction), particularly those in the northeast.
The way that they’re fetishized, I have to agree. Thom Hartmann does too. I mean, just look at how they’re marketed:
And people want to pretend toxic masculinity isn’t a thing?
WWTH: Hope you feel better soon!
Just found out Rep Tim Murphy will resign, effective October 21st.
Good.
Oh, uh well then. I’m sure glad that I wasn’t there at the time, hoo nelly that would have been upsetting. To balance out the bad animu, here’s a link to an anime artist who turns his sons’ art into fantastic art pieces.
https://grapee.jp/en/80682
@weirwoodtreehugger: chief manatee
That sounds incredibly agonizing, hope you get well soon.
http://i.imgur.com/r4CytJO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nL5cNQc.gif
http://i.imgur.com/p3hzUzc.jpg
https://globalnews.ca/news/3787332/las-vegas-shooting-bump-stocks-sell-out/
…
I have no words.
@Oogly
Thanks for the pictures. I knew I was getting an off feeling about the black cat one then I zoomed in and realised the “kittens” are all plushies! Uncanny Valley strikes!
@Gussie Jives – Bleah, what an appalling ad. It’s dripping with insecurity.
Ever notice how insistent a certain segment of the male population is on guarantees? Guns guarantee power. Marriage guarantees sex. They get ragefrothy when they think someone is threatening to take away their sure thing. Just as they hate laws that allow women to say “no” to sex, they don’t want any common sense safety restrictions that might hamper their gun’s firepower.
Okay, which speechwriter came up with that? That is way too empathetic to have come from Trump.
Trump hates like poison when he’s forced to behave like a decent human being. It causes him physical pain. I’m sure he would much rather have hucked paper towels at them.
One of his campaign people said if the tweet doesn’t end in ‘!’ Trump didn’t write it.
October 22nd there will only be one pro-life congressman who had an affair then urged abortion when he got her pregnant (That we know of).
Don’t worry, ladies! There are dainty pink guns for you too! Fight off rapists and compliment your latest manicure without making your boyfriend feel unmanly by getting a gun that looks like his!
http://faroutliving.com/menagerie/photos/home/targetshooting/ZebraOnPink_2012-05-30.jpg
This gun actually creeps me out not just because it’s gendered in the most stereotypical way but because it looks like a toy. All the pictures of pink guns I found did. I really hope that none of the people who purchase these have little kids.
White fragility defined… concise and to the point, thanx, Buttercup!
E.T.A.
Male fragility…
Heterosexual fragility, too, probably…
Xian fragility???