Three people were shot yesterday in an attack on YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California.
All the victims are still clinging to life this morning in local hospitals, but the attempted killer is dead. After firing at people at random, she yelled, “Come at me, or come get me.” Not long after, she turned her weapon on herself, and with that, it was all over.
Before I get into the specifics, I want to first point out the tribal side-taking and mud-slinging that happened in the hours immediately after this attack went down. If you were on Twitter and any other social media platform yesterday when this was happening, you could feel the tension building --- not for the victims of this attack, but between the numerous tribes awaiting someone to blame.
You could practically see thousands upon thousands frantically hitting refresh on their devices or computers, waiting for anything at all that would give them an opportunity to assign blame.
At 1:52 pm, one Twitter user tweeted, “If this shooter at YouTube isn’t a white male with far-right leanings, I will eat my effing hat. Get rid of the effing guns.”
Literally minutes later, local news outlets began reporting that the attacker was a quote “white female.”
The anti-white male and anti far-right tribe quieted down, but the anti-feminists blew their Viking horn and charged into the fight! Here’s one example from a Twitter user in the UK:
The shooter at YouTube headquarters was a woman, I would like @Lauren_Southern to condemn this act as a female and do more to stop her fellow hate filled females to stop this! #tasteyourownmedicine love from uk
— Ali dawah (@AliDawow) April 3, 2018
Keep in mind that at this point in time there was ABSOLUTELY NO concrete information about what was really happening. Some rumors began to claim that this was a domestic situation, while others said this was a terror attack, but no one really knew a thing.
That sure didn’t stop a California Republican Congressman from going on Fox Business and saying this:
You were going to discuss with me about sanctuary cities and the sanctuary state movement, and it fits right into what you’re talking about right now. Would anyone be surprised?
There wasn’t a single report that might have led anyone to believe this was caused by an illegal immigrant, but the tribal warfare continued.
The blame-assigning and mud-slinging got more and more ridiculous.
I could go on and on. The blame-assigning and mud-slinging got more and more ridiculous as the rumors began to pile up. But here are the facts. The shooter was an Iranian woman who was irate at YouTube’s new content policies. After disappearing for two days, her father called the police to warn them that she might be on her way to YouTube. The police found her sleeping in her car but let her go.
How do I describe this woman? She’s a militant vegan, animal rights activist, bodybuilder and the creator of some of the most bizarre videos you’ve ever seen. In between wild rants in Farsi, she can be seen working out, dancing, cuddling with rabbits and chickens and then back to random militant vegan tirades.
This is the only fact regarding this attack: This woman was a complete nut job. She was crazy. Any attempt to assign a political affiliation, gender, religion or any other label is just playing into modern-day tribal warfare. This attack, like the vast majority of all the others, was all about mental illness.
Social media can be amazing, but in times like this, it’s also contributing to the fracturing and polarization of our country.
We have to be better than this.