When Some Horrible Thing Happens - Wait...

[MineralMan]

Often, people are too quick, by far, to speculate about horrible things. Very, very often, it turns out that what happened wasn't related to anything at all.

Waukesha is a perfect example. It wasn't terrorists. It wasn't right-wingers. It wasn't racists. It wasn't fascists. If you waited, you found out that it was some young black guy in an SUV fleeing from something. Not a very bright person, since continuing down that road and plowing into people in a parade was not smart at all.

Wait. Soon enough, you'll find out what happened when something horrible happens. Speculation does not help in any way. It just confuses the issue and is self-perpetuating.

[MiHale]

1. KnR

[Walleye]

2. People like to have inside information. Seems like they don't care if it's true or not anymore

[Firestorm49]

14. Hold on now. Maybe Russia and it's friends can start pumping a false narrative through FB.

After all, that’s what FB promotes for the entertainment of its podbillion of influenced followers. It’s BLM! It’s BLM! Oh wait, it’s communist Democrats! I’m sure, given a good five minutes or so, Tucker Carlson will have the whole thing figured out so his insipid clan can come to the aid of the idiot who drive through the crowd at the Waukesha, WI Christmas parade.

Quite frankly, I’m surprised that nobody on the streets didn’t pull out a Glock and open fire on the fool in the SUV. After all, that’s life in “the greatest country on Earth”.

[Walleye]

22. Russia has been glorifying our divisions ever since I can remember

Soviet propaganda loved the civil rights and antiwar unrest, and pushed it as hard as they could. Russia’s whole life is about proving that democracy is not all that. Just never thought I’d see so many Americans take the side of Russia against us. It used to be political suicide now it’s a common tactic the Republicans use

[underpants]

3. A knife fight

A ******* knife fight he was running from. Ugh. It’s just so useless. I can’t tell you how bewildering this story is.

[Solomon]

4. It's been reported that police were shooting at the vehicle.

As you say. We will wait and see what he was fleeing from. Not that it matters.

[exboyfil]

9. There were no cops chasing him when he got to the parade

He could have stopped his vehicle at anytime in front of 100s and laid on the ground if he feared for his safety from the police.

[Solomon]

24. George Floyd was laying on the ground too.

Look, I'm not arguing for the guy. Merely responding to the statement that he was fleeing from "something". As the op said, we will know in due time.

[exboyfil]

5. A bit more than lack of intelligence

More like depraved indifference and no different than shooting your way through a crowd to escape from a robbery scene or an assault (which it sounds like it might be in this case).

You also have to ask yourself would his response have been so indifferent to the crowd if the crowd looked like him?

[Devil Child]

8. +1 exboyfil

I also wonder about your last question. Even more so after reading the hateful lyrical content of the attacker’s soundcloud and YouTube hip hop offerings.

[MineralMan]

10. Not necessarily. Panic is a mind-altering thing.

People do incredibly stupid things when they are in a panic. All too often, what they do hurts people who had nothing to do with any of it, as in this case.

Afterwards, we all want to know what happened and why. Eventually, we find out the answers to those questions. Guessing is not a good way to approach discovery of the facts.

[Devil Child]

25. The videos show the SUV carefully drive around a Shriner parade vehicle

Line up on a group of elderly women and dancing children. Then accurate into them before rushing off in escape. The attacker’s “panic” behavior seems oddly calculated to me.

Then when you read some Mathboi Fly lyrics and his social media commentary, becomes even less panicked to me. Wait and see of course but your panic theory is as much speculation as my observations are.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

6. But where's the fun in that?

All kidding aside, you are spot on.

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. Speculation is a favorite activity for some.

[Wounded Bear]

7. I've already heard one comment that it was "left wing retribution for the verdict"...

Happened on another board, not here, of course.

[MineralMan]

11. Not surprising. We all need explanations for horrible things that happen.

Sadly, that often leads to multiple logical errors until we find out the actual facts. Like everyone, I was shocked and alarmed at the incomprehensible results of the Waukesha incident. I didn't post about it at all, though, because I had no idea why it happened. I read some of the posts, though, and wondered how people would feel when whatever they though happened was shown to be incorrect.

I just waited and got more information this morning. The horror still occurred. Now I have some idea of what happened, which does nothing to change my dismay about it. It does, however, now make a little more sense to me.

[Wounded Bear]

13. Inevitably, the initial comments tend to follow an agenda, it seems...nt

[MineralMan]

16. Sure. Of course.

Since Waukesha is in Wisconsin, people made an incorrect association between it and the Kenosha thing. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. The most common logical fallacy of all. Association is not necessarily causation.

[malaise]

26. Happened here too

Check out the
I have a bad feeling about Waukesha. This is an affluent, predominantly Republican

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216076372

[ShazamIam]

15. The media has the entire population trained like Pavlov's dogs to jump in with a partisan backed

statement as soon as anything happens, it is what they do it is what conservative media does (now all media) and now all so called liberal and progressive believers do the same thing.

What got me recently was the claim that all those lefty talkers showing up everywhere now are into lies, misquotes and gross exaggerations, at a level approaching the right. I was skeptical, but don't really follow any of them so had to listen in to a few and, yep, lots of partisan misinformation and exaggerations.

The media doesn't have to ignore the libs now, they have converted us into just another raging mob of defensive opinion.

[MineralMan]

18. Sad to say, you are right.

[GusBob]

17. What I find curious about this tragedy

It seems as if in every thread on this tragedy, someone makes some sort of pretzel logic comparison to the Rittenhouse case

One degree of separation: they both occurred in Wisconsin

Otherwise they are in no way comparable at all

[MineralMan]

19. Logic is hard.

[GusBob]

20. Knee-jerk reactions are easier

which is to your point in the OP

[Silent3]

21. It wouldn't be so bad if people weren't so adamant about their speculations

It's people acting so damn certain about mere guesses that bothers me.

[MineralMan]

23. And then, when the speculations are shown to be incorrect,

we hear nothing but crickets from the speculators. There will always be another horror to come, and they'll be back with more speculation.