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.
@ Mish
Now I want to know if Baby Baily turned out to be an outdoor cat or an indoor cat.
@Buttercup, @Tim
Sounds like a batterer, whose message to his partner often is, “You need me to protect you from other men.”
But who will protect her from the batterer?
Are we still winning? When will it end?
Tillerson Summoned to White House Amid Presidential Fury
by CAROL E. LEE, KRISTEN WELKER, COURTNEY KUBE and ANDREA MITCHELL
The uncatty valley strikes again… (seeing self out)
Oh the Trump cabinet is a mess. Supposedly Kelly’s already resigned (though I’ve only seen one source on that) and Mnuchn, McMasters and Mattis supposedly agreed to all resign if Trump fires any one of them. Trump with the walls closing in and no adult supervision is a scary thought.
Oh no they don’t, somebody has to stick around 45 as nominally non-moronic moron supervision and they all should have known who they were signing on to work in the administration of…
If they didn’t then maybe they are morons just like 45 is a moron.
At the end of the day, we need to understand how guys manage to reach the mindset of a “toxic incel”. Because they sure as shit werent born like this.
Notice I used the word toxic as I thin there are plenty of incels out there who are harmless, not entitled who just have self esteem issues
That’s not the first vagina beer. It was done way back in 2005. See the ‘Oktoberfest’ bit here: http://www.toisennhauser.com/work
JoeB:
So…she left her gun loaded at her boyfriend’s place, where it was accessible to said boyfriend’s roommate?
She was pretty much living at our place so the gun was at our place in my roommate’s room
tim gueguen:
“In Capitalist America, YOU are prop to the gun!”
I struggle to imagine how you’d pose as a sexy woman, holding a gun, but without looking threatening to fragile masculinity. Without looking like a woman WITH gun, rather than just a woman AND gun.
I guess it depends on the audience. The target audience here wouldn’t see guns as inherently threatening, or women as inherently having agency. They’d be experienced enough to perceive a “playful” gun pose very differently from any realistic gun pose.
OK, I just thought about the phrasing “getting it for her”, but I won’t inquire on this further.
@Arctic Ape
I came across a video on YouTube of Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme*, as a young woman, posing with guns. It was a fanboy video. The guy who made the video apparently thought the younger Squeaky was really hot stuff, and I get the feeling he really got off on the images of Squeaky caressing the gun. (Possible phallic symbol, maybe?). Someone left him a comment to the effect of, would he still be turned on by it, if she was pointing her gun at HIM?
*Squeaky Fromme was one of Charles Manson’s disciples. More appropriately, IS STILL one of his disciples. Not trying to be ‘splainy here, it’s just I don’t know if you’re ‘murican or not, nor how much is commonly known outside of the US about the Manson Family. “The family who slays together, stays together” as a newspaper headline read.
@ dormousing_it
And of course the inspiration for pop group Kasabian for some unfathomable reason.
ETA: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Kasabian
I imagine it would require the woman posing to completely ignore gun safety protocol when carrying/handling a gun. You know, peering at the gun in pursed lipped confusion, caressing the barrel like the dick it’s meant to represent, straddling the gun, offering it to the camera on flat outstretched palms, lying down and acting like a table for the gun, etc.
Though that’s just my guess based on other advertising I’ve seen; I don’t look at gun magazines so maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe gun fondlers just love seeing a woman holding a gun correctly while wearing, I dunno, a bathing suit or something. I’d lay more money on the former, though.
I’ve sometimes heard of the Mansons, if only because I follow US social media. They may have been more famous internationally sometime before I started reading the papers. Never heard of Squeaky Fromme.
Concerning the Breitbart emails: When folks were saying “Breitbart is full of Nazis”, the Very Serious Centrists were all “You’re being hyperbolic/You call everyone you dislike a Nazi!”. Like Zoe Quinn posted in her Twitter, she feels like such a Cassandra.
Concerning Weinstein: Any Cis Male Feminist, ESPECIALLY the ones with power, should be considered a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. Heck, I consider myself a feminist guy and I distrust myself! The only reason I have the”Feminist” on my Twitter profile is to scare away any “I Hate Everyone Equally” dudebros.
Catalpa:
Sounds plausible, even if it’s not exactly “holding the gun” in conventional sense.
I’d like to remind people that Squeaky Fromme also tried to assassinate Gerald Ford in 1975 and spent over 3 decades in prison for that.
@Alan Robertshaw
That I didn’t know, about the pop group Kasabian. They’re not well-known in the US, but I’ve heard them on satellite radio, and I like ’em.
@Arctic Ape
Squeaky Fromme spent nearly 35 years in prison for her attempted assassination of President Ford. She was released around 5 years ago, and seems to keep a low profile. I believe she lives in New York State.
Hers is really a pretty sad story, I’ve always thought. Her own father rejected her when she was a teenager, and then she had the misfortune to meet Charlie.
This vagina beer stuff…Roastie Ale, anyone? Aged to perfection!
Oops, ninja’d by PeeVee the (Tired of the Militant Plasticfaced) Sarcastic.
Roastie Ale.
Omg. Lmfao
@JoeB
Fascinating article. Whenever I try to wrap my mind about this apparatus, I’m always tripping myself up by trying to separate the true believers from the mere cynical charlatans by reading the tea leaves of people’s actions and words… articles like these really just blur those lines entirely. They can be cynics and true believers at the same time.
If there’s one thing that the deplorables have taught me (although it’s true of all conservatives) is the power of projection. Because the right-wing ideologies of the world have been demonstrably intellectually bankrupt for so long, their reliance on defense mechanisms to justify whatever atrocious actions they take in the often ridiculous causes they take up. I mean, really, what kind narcissism does it take to think that have some goofball harass transgender students is in the service of “protecting Western civilization”? Nah, the well-adjusted mind isn’t that self-deceptive. So they have to imagine that their opposition is just as grandiose in their goals. They have to pretend that there’s a shadowy cabal led by George Soros out to oppose them because they are the tools of big money like the Mercers and the Kochs.
That’s one of the real hallmarks I’ve noticed that separates the decent folk (or “SJWs” in their parlance) from the deplorables: the willingness to be authentic and genuine. How many times have these guys had to scrub swastikas off their arms and Bush-Cheney bumper stickers off their cars? How many times do they have to re-invent themselves because their latest messiah screwed the pooch? How often have they had to pretend they had never heard of that Richard Spencer or that Milo Y fellow? I don’t see mainstream feminists engaging in that kind of deceit. They own their support and they own their mistakes. And there really are no big money backers on the left, not even Soros (I gotta wonder who they’ll use when Soros passes).
I guarantee that after Trump resigns (and he will), they’ll pretend they never heard of him too.
It’s almost amusing to think about how much mental gymnastics they have to do to just to look at themselves in the mirror each morning. It must take a lot of effort.
As a feminist and lesbian woman, I once supported Laci Green before I came out. I learned a lot from her work, and I even have a picture with her.
Then it came out that she was a transmisogynistic bigot. Then she associated with the neo-nazis, and betrayed feminists to misogynists. I still have the picture. I made a mistake supporting her, but that’s still history.
So yeah, I get that. The difference between the left and the right is the left values clarity, and the right values self-deception. I mean, there are other differences, but still.
And now Harvey Weinstein is using Ashley Judd’s history against her to call her a liar
What a sack of shit.