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THREAD: Some of my followers object to my sharing the manifesto of the white supremacist terrorist who just shot up El Paso, a town I recently visited and where I have friends. To those who believe I did this to support the terrorist, fuck you. To those interested in my reasons:
1. Short version: I encourage you to read this manifesto so there is no doubt in your mind or anyone you speak to that this is the act of a white supremacist terrorist. No talk of "mental health problems." This is anti-immigrant, white supremacist terrorism.
2. More nuanced version: I am a scholar and educator specializing in political violence. I primarily use Twitter to share and receive information. As an informed American citizen I generally try to look at primary sources when I can find them and encourage others to do same
3. I find viewing this kind of source material innoculates Americans I speak to against the belief and narrative that this individual was 'crazy' or anything other than a political terrorist. It enables us to call him out for what he and his kind are.
4. Making this primary source material available to others also innoculates them against the narrative, common in our society, that claims of white supremacism in white male shooters are simple anti-white or anti-male media spin. This is not media spin. These r terrorist's words.
5. Thus I can say to my friends who claim this is media spin and maybe he was just a crazy guy with problems that I have seen the facts: what this white supremacist terrorist said about why he did what he did. I do not agree with those who think we are safer in the dark.
6. This is important because I discuss politics with many Americans who believe that all news is spin and refuse to consider facts that don't suit their perspectives because they think there are no facts. So, I read and share primary sources so I and they can review the facts.
7. The facts in that manifesto show that this shooter presents himself as a white supremacist terrorist. Not crazy. A terrorist.
8. There are those who worry sharing the manifesto will glorify its ideas. As an educator I have found that taking facts seriously is not the same as glorifying those facts. It is the first step in informed debate about how causes, effects, and avenues to change.
9. As an educator, I teach my students what the Nazis believed about Jews, what jihadists believe about the West, and what white supremacists believe about immigrants. This does not make me a terrorist messenger. It makes me an educator.
10. As an informed citizen in a democracy, I read credible news and primary sources and encourage those I speak to to do the same, so we can discussed shared understandings of facts at hand. This does not make me a terrorist messenger. It makes me an informed citizen.
11. I will not share the videos or glorify the shooter. But I will discuss the scourge of white supremacist terrorism afflicting our country. I will not be afraid to read his words and share with others to call them out for what they are.
12. Though this shooter and his ilk is trying to terrorize me and my El Paso friends and my southern neighbors and all those who believe in a diverse country, I will not let him terrorize me into looking away from his words and calling them what they are. Terrorism.
13. This does not make me a terrorist messenger. It makes me an American who refuses to be terrorized into keeping myself in the dark about the scource of white supremacist terrorism afflicting this country. upworthy.com/most-domestic-…
14. Who insists on arming myself with facts and knowledge in order to discuss and oppose white supremacist terrorism. Join me. nytimes.com/2019/03/18/opi…
