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Maybe the shooting in Canada triggered/inspired the shooter in Rhode Island.
The Canadian kid had a history of mental illness and threats against family prior to and then continuing after announcing gender transition.
A healthy society would be able to have a complex view about several recent cases suggesting disproportionate representation of transgender individuals in mass violent attacks and the extent to which violently mentally ill individuals might be drawn to gender transition (or such feelings might be destabilizing psychologically and lead to violent ideation) for reasons arising from underlying mental health issues, while also acknowledging they are a fraction of the already small number of people who are not violent or threatening but seek recognition/tolerance of their own gender fluidity and/or seek gender transition.
In the Rhode Island case, the shooter apparently had a fairly extensive online history of being a vocal Trump/MAGA supporter, so the shooter was apparently consumed with deeply contradictory behaviors and opinions.
Unfortunately literally every mass shooting now is immediately followed by online lunatics insisting the shooter was trans. Every one. Maybe that in itself has had a negative impact on violently mentally ill people, creating an association between gender transition and violent mass murder that didn’t previously exist. There is a well established history of serial and mass murderers taking inspiration from and emulating prior killers. Sick online culture of hatred toward trans people may have created an additional murderous ideation that incorporates a warped view of trans people. It’s a notion that has permeated pop culture for decades, with one case (Ed Gein) feeding a long line of gender confused fictional murderers (Norman Bates, Leatherface and Buffalo Bill most famously).
Whatever the case, It is repulsive how transphobia people will exploit one trait over all others to promote hatred toward and further isolate and torment the vast majority of transgender people who are not violent or a threat to anyone (perhaps other than themselves at a very high rate). But it would also be irrational to ignore a recent series of actual or attempted mass violence by people who were or claimed to be trans without having society examine whether there is a behavioral trend or a coincidence of timing.
Same could be said for the disproportionate representation of white biological men as the perpetrators of such attacks and perhaps the over representation of political extremism among such violent actors.
We’ve chosen or conceded to living in a country with more guns than people, so we know that violently mentally ill people have easy access to weapons that enhance violent ideation and make mass killings easier. As a matter of self-defense if not basic societal decency we have to rationally examine any and all contributing factors to such violent behaviors.
The Canadian kid had a history of mental illness and threats against family prior to and then continuing after announcing gender transition.
A healthy society would be able to have a complex view about several recent cases suggesting disproportionate representation of transgender individuals in mass violent attacks and the extent to which violently mentally ill individuals might be drawn to gender transition (or such feelings might be destabilizing psychologically and lead to violent ideation) for reasons arising from underlying mental health issues, while also acknowledging they are a fraction of the already small number of people who are not violent or threatening but seek recognition/tolerance of their own gender fluidity and/or seek gender transition.
In the Rhode Island case, the shooter apparently had a fairly extensive online history of being a vocal Trump/MAGA supporter, so the shooter was apparently consumed with deeply contradictory behaviors and opinions.
Unfortunately literally every mass shooting now is immediately followed by online lunatics insisting the shooter was trans. Every one. Maybe that in itself has had a negative impact on violently mentally ill people, creating an association between gender transition and violent mass murder that didn’t previously exist. There is a well established history of serial and mass murderers taking inspiration from and emulating prior killers. Sick online culture of hatred toward trans people may have created an additional murderous ideation that incorporates a warped view of trans people. It’s a notion that has permeated pop culture for decades, with one case (Ed Gein) feeding a long line of gender confused fictional murderers (Norman Bates, Leatherface and Buffalo Bill most famously).
Whatever the case, It is repulsive how transphobia people will exploit one trait over all others to promote hatred toward and further isolate and torment the vast majority of transgender people who are not violent or a threat to anyone (perhaps other than themselves at a very high rate). But it would also be irrational to ignore a recent series of actual or attempted mass violence by people who were or claimed to be trans without having society examine whether there is a behavioral trend or a coincidence of timing.
Same could be said for the disproportionate representation of white biological men as the perpetrators of such attacks and perhaps the over representation of political extremism among such violent actors.
We’ve chosen or conceded to living in a country with more guns than people, so we know that violently mentally ill people have easy access to weapons that enhance violent ideation and make mass killings easier. As a matter of self-defense if not basic societal decency we have to rationally examine any and all contributing factors to such violent behaviors.
