This Is What Weaponized Outrage Looks Like
How bots, algorithms, and tragedy collide
In the wake of what happened in Minneapolis, I tried to figure out how I could add something to the conversation that hasn’t already been said.
Everybody has a take. The left. The right. Social media. Substack. Newsletters. YouTube. TikTok. Everyone rushing out their two cents.
I’ll leave that to them.
The only thing I keep noticing, over and over again, every time there is tragedy, is the absolute dehumanizing language. From both sides.
That’s the part that I can’t ignore.
Charlie Kirk and the Collapse of Humanity Online
When Charlie Kirk was murdered/assassinated, many of us watched it unfold in real time. A shot through the neck. Live. Unfiltered.
And almost immediately, the internet went to work.
His politics were stripped from context and turned into justification. His speech was flattened into a caricature. His life was reduced to a lesson.
What was completely ignored was that he was a father. That he left behind two kids who now don’t have one.
Watching people on the left talk about how he “incited violence” and therefore somehow deserved what happened to him was absolutely fucking disgusting.
I remember stepping in and asking a very simple question:
Does anybody deserve to be assassinated for speech?
Political speech carries risk. Influence carries responsibility. None of that makes murder justifiable. None of it.
At the end of the day, two kids lost their father. That should matter.
Rob Reiner, His Wife, and the Cruelty of Reduction
Then there was Rob Reiner and his wife, murdered in their own home by their son.
A son who reportedly had a long history of mental health struggles.
Think about what that actually means. A lifetime of pain. Of parental love. Of trying. Of doubt. Of fear. Of devotion. Of things we will never see on a timeline.
And how did this tragedy get treated?
The President of the United States tweeted about it as “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
That’s it. That was the frame.
A family annihilated. A mental health crisis decades in the making. Reduced to a punchline.
That should horrify you, regardless of your politics.
Minneapolis and “FAFO”
Now we get to Minneapolis.
A woman. Thirty-seven years old. A mother of three. Shot and killed.
And what do I see flooding the internet?
“FAFO.”
“Fuck around and find out.”
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
Totally dehumanizing.
Regardless of her politics. Regardless of what people think they know about the situation.
Three kids lost their mother.
Sit with that for a second.
If your first instinct is to reach for a slogan instead of empathy, something is wrong.
Number One: We Have to Be Smarter
These are our peers saying crazy stuff. And the people on the other side of the aisle are still people.
It is on you to check the language of the people around you.
Don’t just play the game.
Don’t just repeat the phrase you heard your friend say.
Don’t turn off your brain and go with the crowd.
It is okay to say, “Hey, take a step back.”
It is okay to say, “She was a mother with three kids.”
It is okay to say, “That fucking sucks for those kids.”
That doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.
Number Two: We Are Being Played
Here’s the part people really don’t want to deal with.
We are being baited.
Earlier this year, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, got pulled into a debate with what turned out to be an online bot (Roastmaster 9000). It was notable because he is considered a very smart guy that is also a programer.
The bot said just the right unhinged things. It triggered him. It dragged him into engagement.
That’s not an accident. That’s how the system works.
There are engagement farms all over the world. The Philippines. Vietnam. India. Nigeria. Ethiopia. Rows and rows of phones whose only job is to engage online.
You can buy engagement.
You can buy outrage.
You can buy narrative shaping.
For business.
For personal brands.
For advertising.
And yes, for political influence.
What I see online is this: it starts with bots and ends with real people. People who submit their morality to the last thing they saw. People who let the bot mob do their thinking for them.
Don’t fall for it.
Number Three: This Is Propaganda
All of this is propaganda.
Our devices have been weaponized.
The screens in our living rooms.
The phones in our pockets.
The dashboards in our cars.
Advertisers do it. Political actors do it. Media companies do it. Anyone with an agenda does it.
They hand you the narrative of the moment. They tell you what to think and how to speak.
Here’s a simple exercise: after a tragedy, stay silent for one day.
Just listen.
Count how many times you hear the same words, the same phrases, the same framing repeated over and over again.
That’s not organic. That’s programming.
Fast food.
Fast fashion.
Fast information.
Fast thought.
And now, fast morality.
Just Stop for a Minute
Stop. Don’t post. Don’t engage.
See who actually says something original.
Because the moment you stop reacting on cue is the moment you become harder to manipulate.
Stay angry.
But don’t let that anger turn you into someone who forgets that the people in these stories were human beings first.