• kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    5 hours ago

    Mac Miller said he wouldn’t join the 27 club and then died of a fentanyl OD at 26. Charlie Kirk said Texas wouldn’t turn blue in his lifetime and then died of a fentanyl OD two years before that happened. Eerily similar.

    • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      13 hours ago

      It’s still such an astonishing video. He opens his mouth to say some hateful Charlie Kirk thing, like someone put fresh batteries into a particularly nasty toy, and pop pop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is. I didn’t know much about him because I’m not American and try to ignore this kind of thing, but it was almost elegant in its simplicity.

          • shalafi@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            11
            ·
            11 hours ago

            The differentiation is interesting. To me, gang violence doesn’t so much count in death statistics because it’s almost never random, and random gun violence is what people fear and talk about when they point to statistics. (I didn’t state that very well.)

            Don’t join a gang and don’t kill yourself and your odds of getting shot drop through the floor. NOT that those deaths should be dismissed! But when people talk about, “I might get shot walking down the street.”, that’s bull.

            What the distinction really means is, “Brown people killing each other doesn’t count.” The dog whistle is audible to me. I’ve never heard anyone online or IRL point this out, but the racism is clear as a bell.

            • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              10 hours ago

              The prevalence of gangs is a direct result of racist law enforcement. Saying “oh simply don’t join a gang” is minimizing a difficult decision involving their own safety.

              • OwOarchist@pawb.social
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                edit-2
                6 hours ago

                The prevalence of gangs is a direct result of racist law enforcement.

                Eh, moreso drug prohibition.

                Alcohol prohibition way back in the day gave us The Mob. Drug prohibition today gives us gangs.

                Legalize and regulate drugs, and 95% of these gangs’ funding vanishes. Without their funding, they wither and shrink away to almost nothing.

                (Though, to be fair, a lot of motivation for drug prohibition in the first place circles back to racism.)

              • kboy101222@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                7
                ·
                10 hours ago

                I don’t think they were saying “don’t join a gang, it’s so simple!” They’re saying “if you don’t join a gang, your chances of dying to gun violence goes down” which I can absolutely believe to be true

              • shalafi@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                10 hours ago

                Joining a gang can also be a self-preservation tactic against other. I get all that, just trying to unpack why that stat exists.

                When gun nuts trot it out, the message is clear. Even GunTubers who don’t talk politics will sometimes let it slip into conversation.

      • Triumph@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        13 hours ago

        It’s definitely something to see all the blood drain out of a fascist’s head in about 1.5 seconds.