god, it is wonderful that the modern world allows us all to hear as many dumbass bar conversations as we want. sure, it's probably horrible for society, but there's something beautiful about seeing dudes state with 100% confidence, surrounded by unopened bottles of jack, "yeah this dude was totally paid but I could totally do a better job"
i'm not sure what, exactly, but the fervor over this assassination tells me something interesting about the online stratification of "men" (i'm an expert on professional hitmen) and "women" (the hitman is hot). if everyone is so obsessed with how important "men online" were in the election, what you're writing about seems relevant in a zynternet-y, Hawk-Tuah-is-doing-crypto sort of way. though, i haven't seen anyone publicly musing about the professional status of the assassin on my own timelines: only that he is hot.
this pairs really well with this evaluation of the shooting (https://open.substack.com/pub/mealsmealsfood/p/starbucks?r=4nrhq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web), which is about how the potentially woke killer of corporate evil went to starbucks before doing the killing. there's something for everyone here, a very tidy event demonstrating the wonders of contemporary culture and miserable, american life
It's true that everyone's perception of what has happened and by whom has been warped by movies and television. As soon as I read that the assassin was spotted loitering in Starbucks before the shooting, I could (and, still can) only think about The Killer eating McDonald's in The Killer. This feeling intensified when people ID'd his backpack and upon googling, the first link I saw was for purchase on Amazon. Killers: they are just like us.
at some point Phil figured out that this hotel is just down the block from the one where they shot the final hotel confrontation scene in .. Michael Clayton
How we, and this includes people who actually do state sanctioned violence, conceptualize violence is schooled by the aptly named cool gun guy genre, which is just like how we, and this includes the people who make them, interact with and conceptualize “AI” is schooled by science fiction. The poster who brought up Baudrillard is spot on. The harder thing to do is find something that doesn’t fall into this category. Oddly, the only thing that comes to mind quickly is “psychotic” lone wolf shootings (which it is still quite possible this guy falls under, the second guy who wanted to shoot Trump had avowedly political reasons for it, but we just categorized him as nuts), which instead of us trying to place in the box of media representations of psycho killers, we basically just treat in the same way we treat severe weather.
your own personal F.B.I. agent who’s trying to fill his “entrapping dumb-asses” quota for the quarter. (This dynamic was dramatized in the recent Richard Linklater movie Hitman
Try The Day Shall Come, by the guy who made Four Lions.
it's always funny to me when movie characters have super fighting skills because they're "ex-special forces" or even just "ex-army". like, have you ever read any history? have you met soldiers??
The point is that the amateur/"folk hero" narrative will be used to justify ever-harder security measures between corporate executives and the public at large; which will give said executives increased confidence in their ability to act in hostile ways against the public, should their business desire such.
If however, he is (correctly, imv) IDed as a professional contractor, that points up another new reality: that we are living again in the time of "dog-eat-dog" predatory oligarchy.
Like Russia was in the early 1990s, just to name one instance.
And no one seems to want to confront that prospect head-on, or its implications.
Baudrillard argued that modern society has a series of stages of deepening simulation/similacra. You can think of it as stemming from the introduction of a simulated reflection of reality in mass media and culminating in the simulation preceding reality itself until they become indistinguishable. In this case the difference between “real” special ops and the media image of them can’t be separated or parsed at all because of the feedback loop Max describes. For Baudrillard this leads to a deeply confused and disorienting world where reality and the simulacra are entangled.
god, it is wonderful that the modern world allows us all to hear as many dumbass bar conversations as we want. sure, it's probably horrible for society, but there's something beautiful about seeing dudes state with 100% confidence, surrounded by unopened bottles of jack, "yeah this dude was totally paid but I could totally do a better job"
i'm not sure what, exactly, but the fervor over this assassination tells me something interesting about the online stratification of "men" (i'm an expert on professional hitmen) and "women" (the hitman is hot). if everyone is so obsessed with how important "men online" were in the election, what you're writing about seems relevant in a zynternet-y, Hawk-Tuah-is-doing-crypto sort of way. though, i haven't seen anyone publicly musing about the professional status of the assassin on my own timelines: only that he is hot.
this pairs really well with this evaluation of the shooting (https://open.substack.com/pub/mealsmealsfood/p/starbucks?r=4nrhq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web), which is about how the potentially woke killer of corporate evil went to starbucks before doing the killing. there's something for everyone here, a very tidy event demonstrating the wonders of contemporary culture and miserable, american life
It's true that everyone's perception of what has happened and by whom has been warped by movies and television. As soon as I read that the assassin was spotted loitering in Starbucks before the shooting, I could (and, still can) only think about The Killer eating McDonald's in The Killer. This feeling intensified when people ID'd his backpack and upon googling, the first link I saw was for purchase on Amazon. Killers: they are just like us.
Someone somewhere is already making affiliate links for his whole getup.
This is the realest comment on this entire situation
Omg I just laughed so hard.
I rewatched Collateral a couple weeks ago. Still whips.
Exactly.
We can only assume the UHC assassin was hiding a beautiful head of stark white hair under their hood.
yo homie, is that my copay?
at some point Phil figured out that this hotel is just down the block from the one where they shot the final hotel confrontation scene in .. Michael Clayton
I read it was the same exact hotel, which is too on the nose.
For what it’s worth, where it actually happened is a great public restroom to use if trapped on that side of Midtown.
oh yes that's right it is it exactly... that's yay. it's also next door to the Universal screening room
Right… an area where you can defy gravity.
The male urge to boyguess. (That’s what we call it: boy guessing. The less harmful younger brother of mansplaining).
I kinda love that mansplain has a younger brother ❤️
This is like the platonic ideal of a Read Max post and my only comment is I need it to be 12,000 words.
Agree. I enjoyed that so much and laughed out loud and then... it was over?!
How we, and this includes people who actually do state sanctioned violence, conceptualize violence is schooled by the aptly named cool gun guy genre, which is just like how we, and this includes the people who make them, interact with and conceptualize “AI” is schooled by science fiction. The poster who brought up Baudrillard is spot on. The harder thing to do is find something that doesn’t fall into this category. Oddly, the only thing that comes to mind quickly is “psychotic” lone wolf shootings (which it is still quite possible this guy falls under, the second guy who wanted to shoot Trump had avowedly political reasons for it, but we just categorized him as nuts), which instead of us trying to place in the box of media representations of psycho killers, we basically just treat in the same way we treat severe weather.
What do the mini submarine experts have to say about this?
your own personal F.B.I. agent who’s trying to fill his “entrapping dumb-asses” quota for the quarter. (This dynamic was dramatized in the recent Richard Linklater movie Hitman
Try The Day Shall Come, by the guy who made Four Lions.
Check out my piece about this, I think you'll enjoy it: https://ellismarte.substack.com/p/the-aesthetic-of-brian-thompsons
Has anyone speculated on whether the killer may belong to the "Gray Man" movement?
it's always funny to me when movie characters have super fighting skills because they're "ex-special forces" or even just "ex-army". like, have you ever read any history? have you met soldiers??
A pro …I doubt it. Maybe had some training and practice. Most Americans with firearms shoot as well as Storm Troopers!
Was he a pro? Yeah, but that's not the point.
The point is that the amateur/"folk hero" narrative will be used to justify ever-harder security measures between corporate executives and the public at large; which will give said executives increased confidence in their ability to act in hostile ways against the public, should their business desire such.
If however, he is (correctly, imv) IDed as a professional contractor, that points up another new reality: that we are living again in the time of "dog-eat-dog" predatory oligarchy.
Like Russia was in the early 1990s, just to name one instance.
And no one seems to want to confront that prospect head-on, or its implications.
Thank you for this article about an unmet socio-economic need. I found it very informative.
Baudrillard in action
Please elaborate!
Baudrillard argued that modern society has a series of stages of deepening simulation/similacra. You can think of it as stemming from the introduction of a simulated reflection of reality in mass media and culminating in the simulation preceding reality itself until they become indistinguishable. In this case the difference between “real” special ops and the media image of them can’t be separated or parsed at all because of the feedback loop Max describes. For Baudrillard this leads to a deeply confused and disorienting world where reality and the simulacra are entangled.
so "Life imitates Art"
not entirely fictional. https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/hit-man-2/