May 15, 2022

If there's "no doubt," why are you calling it an "alleged manifesto"?

I am attempting to read "Buffalo mass shooter’s alleged manifesto leaves no doubt attack was white supremacist terrorism" (WIVB.com).

The gunman was identified during his arraignment as Payton S. Gendron of Conklin, New York. That name that matches the name given in a 180-page manifesto that surfaced online shortly after the attack and took credit for the violence in the name of white supremacy.

A name is in the news and afterwards a document surfaces on line.

Law enforcement and government officials would not confirm the validity of the document in the immediate hours after the attack. Yet, the excruciating detail provided leave little doubt of its authenticity....

The details presented as authenticating are a description of the event that was in the news. 

The attack is terrible, whatever the motivation, and respect for the victims — and for the truth — demands that we not cast off doubts before it is justified.

The linked news article includes this embedded tweet but doesn't discuss it, puzzlingly: ADDED: At the NYT, a subheadline says "The gunman in the Buffalo mass shooting was motivated by racism," but then the text says, "Shortly after Mr. Gendron was captured, a manifesto believed to have been posted online by the gunman emerged, riddled with racist, anti-immigrant views that claimed white Americans were at risk of being replaced by people of color. In the video that appeared to have been captured by the camera affixed to his helmet, an anti-Black racial slur can be seen on the barrel of his weapon."

39 comments:

Critter said...

We are still in the fog of war on this horrible massacre. We should all let at least 48 hours pass to assess and determine the authenticity of information being pushed to the media.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Sad we cannot expect the truth out of our narrative-driven hack press.

I just want the truth.

(Aside - a young Arvada man shot and killed 10 people in a grocery store where I live, just a little over a year ago, and the media quickly dropped the entire story - because there was no narrative to exploit. The shooter's scant facebook postings revealed he hated Trump.)

RMc said...

It's a good thing this guy is a white supremacist, or else the media wouldn't have covered the story at all.

rhhardin said...

I doubt there are any white supremacists anywhere. For one thing how would you account for East Asians.

n.n said...

Allegations of rabid diversity (e.g. color supremacism) can't, shouldn't be considered lightly. The progress of constructing and exploiting diversity dogmatism, with liberal and fleeting evidence for leverage, is a reprehensible act designed to breed color adversity, an anachronistic residue often used to cover-up and obscure other crimes. They are playing with a double-edged scalpel that needs to be sheathed until properly deployed.

n.n said...

Abortion rites are historically and commonly motivated and held for dreams of redistributive or retributive change... or Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), Inequity, and Exclusion (DIE) in mass (e.g. Zulu vs Xhosa, Hutu vs Tutsi, Kenyan elite vs deplorables).

The Vault Dweller said...

The Manifesto emerged online, like Venus emerged from the ocean. But if the manifesto emerged after the gunman was captured, who posted it? People can set up auto-posts, and I doubt this mass murder was a spur of the moment decision by the shooter, so he could have set this up ahead of time. But I suspect from the vague language the reporters became aware of a manifesto online that was attributed to the shooter by random people on the internet and the reporters feel like this is probably this guy's manifesto, but they recognize they don't have a solid evidentiary basis to declare it is his as a matter of fact and they still want to talk about it as if it was known to be his, so they settle on alleged. The question is will this turn out to be his actual manifesto or will it be a repeat of the Bush Air National Guard memos?

Joe Smith said...

And just like that, Waukesha parade killer erased from history.

Gahrie said...

So whatever happened to the Black man that deliberately ran over a bunch of White people in Wisconsin?

Or any Black person that commits a crime for that matter?

This asshole deserves to fry, but so do Black people that attack Asians and Whites.

tim in vermont said...

The Azov black sun symbol he wore was a pretty strong hint he was a white supremacist too.

They are blaming it on Tucker who has actually called out the Nazis, who have been recruiting in the US, were involved in Charlottesville, and were seen in the J6 violent core. But we won’t be allowed to examine this inconvenient set of circumstances, it will just be twisted to attack Trump and Tucker.

BTW, The Emerging Democratic Majority was written by a liberal Democrat.

William said...

Over at Twitter they're claiming that the acquittal of Rittenhouse led to this atrocity. They also claim the the conservative who represents this district in some way was responsible for inspiring his actions....Well, finally, they have their ideal shooter. He's white, photogenic, and racist. There will be other atrocities and other shooters, but they will not get a fraction of this shooter's fame and notoriety. The lesson that will be preached is that this is what lies just beneath the surface of every conservative.

wendybar said...

He's a white Supremacist, Anti-semite, Authoritarian Left Wing, Green Nationalist hybrid Nazi according to people who have read his manifesto. Doesn't sound MAGA to me. He posted a poster with a lot of Fox news people who are Jewish, calling it 21st Century Fox. He claimed to get his news from the internet...not TV.

tim in vermont said...

How will they bury this?

https://mobile.twitter.com/mtracey/status/1525840341445787649

tim in vermont said...

Now there is a picture that purports to be of a US general who just surrendered in Mariupol after fighting with the Nazis. Big if true.

This is blowback from our foreign policy.

Michael K said...

Another excuse to attack Tucker Carlson. The shooter is a nut who hates Jews and calls himself a Nazi.

Owen said...

"...an alleged manifesto..." "...a manifesto believed to be..."

These adjectives have hidden owners. They describe something (an allegation; a belief) that somebody has made or formed. But we aren't told who that owner is. The words just float in space, like spacers in a block of type being put through the press, and they comfort or guide us without disclosing who is doing it or with what agenda. Because every one of us has an agenda; but these people don't want us to notice it.

I guess the new algorithm for manipulating the readers is to just sprinkle these modifiers onto a hot mess of rumor and wish casting, and call it headline news.

Maynard said...

Doesn't sound MAGA to me.

This horrible incident will give the lefties orgasms. This guy will be "Ultra Maga".

And of course, it will be asserted that he watches Fox News which is obviously racist.

Leland said...

Adherence to a style guide is not protection from libel. Seems the prospect of a narrative affirming story caused them to be sloppy in their journalism thus reducing credibility of the entire story.

Protip for NYT: don’t just believe everything you find on the internet. Verify it.

Earnest Prole said...

The Times lawyer told the Times editor, “You must stick the word alleged in somewhere — doesn’t really matter where.”

Earnest Prole said...

It’s amazing to watch amateur defense lawyers spring into action here based solely on the perp’s skin color.

MikeR said...

@tim "The Azov black sun symbol he wore". You aren't allow to mention Azov.

minnesota farm guy said...

This is the best info I have been able to find so far. The guy calls himself a eco- nationalist, eco -fascist, national socialist. Last time I looked socialism was on the left of the political spectrum. He doesn't like conservatism because it is "capitalism in disguise". It would seem the guy was a bit more than "unstable", but definitely not a right winger.

n.n said...

A handmade tale, perhaps.

The lesson that will be preached is that this is what lies just beneath the surface of every conservative

First, they came for the slavers, then the [rabid] diversitists (i.e. color judgment supremacists, class-based bigotry extraordinaires), and finally the [elective] abortionists for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes... long before there was a nation to represent.

effinayright said...

tim in vermont said...
Now there is a picture that purports to be of a US general who just surrendered in Mariupol after fighting with the Nazis. Big if true.

This is blowback from our foreign policy.
************

Is too much to ask that you point us to that photo?

US general?

In uniform?

Active duty, or retired and gone rogue (aka plausible deniability)?

You know, immaterial shit like that.

Where? When?

Tina Trent said...

The Waukesha Parade killer had a manifesto too. He ranted online about killing whites, but the media spent weeks dancing around the subject. There were no instant condolences from Biden. Nor are there condolences and hate crime charges when a man is found in a house full of white or black prostitutes he murdered, nor a gay man is charged with killing multiple gay youth or adult gay men.

No, we'll just keep looking away. All lives matter. Those poor decent people in Buffalo, Waukesha, Poughkeepsie, West Hollywood, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Cleveland, Houston, Starke, Chicago, and on and on and on.

They can't offer each other comfort. Because some are officially deemed less important, less human, than others.

Howard said...

Another nutbar no doubt fed himself on a strict diet of conspiracy nonsense via bias confirming social media bots and troll farms. Can't wait for Elon to shut that shit down on Twitter.

Mark said...

Here’s what the manifesto says about the shooter’s politics:
When I was 12 I was deep into communist ideology, talk to anyone from my old high school and ask about me and you will hear that. From age 15 to 18 however, I consistently moved farther to the right. On the political compass I fall in the mild-moderate authoritarian left category, and I would prefer to be called a populist....I would prefer to call myself a populist. But you can call me an ethno-nationalist eco-fascist national socialist if you want, I wouldn’t disagree with you.

and

“conservativism is corporatism in disguise, I want no part of it.”

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Alleged and allegedly will be used by news organizations until there is a trial verdict. Here’s how CNN reports it: “The manifesto, independently obtained by CNN shortly after the attack and before authorities released the suspect's name, is allegedly written by a person claiming to be Payton Gendron confessing to the attack.“

Saint Croix said...

Awful crime. My heart goes out to the families.

I hate the media and their racial blood thirst. They have their narratives and they look for crimes that will support their narratives.

It's really identical to the racist media of 100 years ago. A century ago, the media would find a crime where a black person raped a white person, and they would focus on the racial angle and try to upset people. To sell newspapers. And it was "true," they would tell you.

Now they just switch the races around and play the same fucking games.

I wish people in the media would rethink their racist assumptions. I know this is an impossible wish but some of them have to be intelligent and have some glimmer of self-awareness.

By hyping racial crimes you make racial crimes more likely. By being more and more racist you instigate more and more racism. You make life harder and uglier for people. Stop it.

realestateacct said...

Where are the postings of the Waukesha guy or the Brooklyn subway shooter to pick a couple form the last 6 months. Also how about the 67 black people murdered by other black people in Buffalo in the last 12 months - a rate of 1 out of 3,800 of the Buffalo population.

Carhopper said...

Does anyone actually believe this 18 year old wrote a 180 page manifesto? Or plan this shooting in a place he may never have been, a 3 hour drive from where he started??

After Garland was unable to cite a single “white supremacist terror attack,” the left desperately needed one. Perfect timing for a distraction and another loser issue for democrats to try to run in in November.

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see that this is an engineered event.
.

Bob Boyd said...

If you found out this guy's only friends were all FBI agents, would it surprise you?

Rusty said...

The usual suspects will be along soon. Sating," See. See. See. We KNEW he was a white supremist!. Doing everything but splooge all over the thread. The left just loves them some dead people that they can presume to speak for. And vote for.

Rabel said...

"You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see that this is an engineered event."

No, but it helps.

Richard Aubrey said...

Maybe it exists but it's only "allegedly" a manifesto.
Is a long, self-analytical essay a "manifesto"?

Sprezzatura said...

I’m trying to figure out the implications re if this murderer doesn’t have a racist screed.

Does he become another rightwing hero like the kid that smirked and blocked the old-man-Indian-loon, when all the other kids let him pass by? Or killer Kyle who was okay w/ hanging w/ racists, or the Florida guy that harassed and killed the black kid. Zimmerman and the rest were turned into anti-woke saviors. Likewise, the torch folks that love monuments in parks, when the monuments were originally installed to protest civil rights for blacks.

Now Althouse is on alert again, sussing out the MSM’s political correctness attacking conservative values.

Lurker21 said...

You don't have to be wise or educated or mature to turn out a 180 page manifesto. You just have to be sufficiently deranged.

There's a thin line between pure crazies like the Aurora, Tucson, and Sandy Hook killers and murderers who give their madness an ideological rationale, but the media will make them all White man runs amok.

Rusty said...

Sprezzatura said...
Turns out the guy is, wait for it. An environmental white supremist! He may have also described himself as a fascist. So a lefty.
But thanks for showing up

Sprezzatura said...

OK Rusty,

His replacement theory stuff was good, and should be/will be celebrated. It was his environmentalism that was the problem

Thanks for sorting that out.