Thread by @DavidNeiwert

A new term for our age: the Shared Violent Fantasy.

One of the most disturbing aspects of the 'Boogaloo' chatter on far-right social media is the extent to which so much of their fantasies can easily bleed over into the real world.

dailykos.com/stories/2020/4…

A recent, and chilling, example of this is the case in Texarkana, where a 'Boojahideen' decided to stalk and kill a cop while he was livestreaming it. Unfortunately for him, cops were viewing the livestream.

buzzfeednews.com/article/emmanu…

Most of the incidents so far have revolved around the Boogaloo as a means of attacking law enforcement and governmental authority, as in the recent anti-lockdown protests. @letsgomathias has an excellent roundup on this aspect.

huffpost.com/entry/boogaloo…

The @TTP_updates released a searing report last week revealing the extent to which Facebook permits this kind of violent rhetoric to flourish on its website, and how slowly it removes some of the most vile and threatening material.

techtransparencyproject.org/articles/extre…

However, while these studies have focused on content directed at attacking authorities, I have also observed a similar kind of content that seems far more likely to me to bleed over into the real world: Namely, the recurring theme of "let's do home invasions of our neighbors."

It's a disturbingly popular topic of discussion. All of it "joking," of course.

As I explain in my Kos piece, this is not a new trend among the more dirtbag-ish elements of the "prepper" community. A "Patriot" guy named Tyler Smith was arrested back in 2014 on weapons charges that arose because he announced these plans.

splcenter.org/hatewatch/2014…

Tyler was open about his intentions: “We’re in it to take what you have, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us. We are your worst nightmare, and we are coming.”

It's actually astonishing that NatGeo aired this "Doomsday Preppers" episode. Probably the most insane part was when Smith prepped the back shed for performing an emergency caesarean on his pregnant wife. As you can see, she's not really sold on all this.

Smith also wanted to make himself invulnerable, so he cooked up some special body armor and then had his buddy test it on him. Normal stuff, you know.

You'll also note that Tyler used lots of guns in this episode. Unfortunately for him, at the time, he was a felon, having been convicted of sexual behavior with a minor. So the sheriff arrested him, used the show as evidence, and Tyler spent 17 more months in prison.

The last time I saw Tyler Smith, he was marching with Joey Gibson's Patriot Prayer goons in August 2017. Of course, those same folks are the fellows you now seen donning the Hawaiian shirts in the opening post. This is America.

dailykos.com/stories/2020/4…