Nashville

Anyone got a good theory on why someone would roll an RV full of explosives up to an AT&T hub on Christmas day and take it out?

Comments

  • The conspiracy theorist part of my brain thinks that its an attempt to test response to an attack on infrastructure based on relatively small regional communications hub, and could be a sample of things to come.

    But the "has read parlor lately" part of me thinks the perpetrator is a 5G conspiracy theorist and just went for the biggest wireless company office they could find in hopes of disrupting the mind control cancer rays.

  • edited December 2020

    Since it happened, I've been waiting for them to identify some right-wing nut-job with conspiracy theories. That may still happen, but it sure looks like a (dramatic) suicide right now.

  • edited December 2020

    I have now been hearing that the FBI has been asking dozens of people about if the perpetrator had ever mentioned 5G to them. But... well all the people that the newspapers have found have said "no" so far. Though a neighbor apparently was bothered about how often the guy was up on his room adjusting antennas? Meh. But then, if he was paranoid would he be telling very soul he knew that he suspected a 5G conspiracy? Or would he just be on the usual internet places (like whichever sites are trying to be 8chan now) soaking in the info? I have no clue.

    But now we start hitting the point where the paranoid part of my own mind begins to wonder if we can trust the FBI if they say something that independent media couldn't verify.

    As an aside... Apparently some woman in California (used to live in TN) got two properties from him over the last two years via quit-claim deeds. She had given away one property (worth over 200k) soon after getting it, and claimed she didn't know about the property he deeded over recently (worth over 150k). Tennessee does not require the receiving party sign a deed, so that is plausible I guess. She refused to tell British media what her relationship to the man was, and I haven't seen any reasonable speculation from our own media yet.

    Why do a suicide at the location he chose though? Not doing it at home seems to imply that he either had a mission/purpose or at least he wanted infamy. Plus they keep calling him a "tech guru" rather than a terrorist.

    Am I the only one bothered that they don't call this guy a terrorist? Is that just because he played a warning message, or hell, perhaps because he owned two houses and a business? Or maybe the usual reason: He was middle aged, white, and not a Muslim?

  • Terrorism is a tactic for furthering a political or ideological goal. If the man had no such goal, he's not a terrorist.

    "Get out of the Holy Land or I'm going to blow up your buildings" vs "I'm going to blow up your buildings no matter what you do." One is terrorism; the other is just aimless mayhem.

  • edited December 2020

    That seems to a narrower definition of what we have typically considered a domestic terrorist. For example, we never learned the motive of the vegas shooter. And suicides of an awful lot of non-white people have been declared terrorism due to property damage and service interruption.

    Also, regardless of the evential motive, he carefully picked a location. Emergency communication services were down for at least a day in the area. I don't feel we can make the assumption he chose the location for no discernable reason.

  • Samples of what theories I saw the yesterday.


  • edited December 2020

    But that doesn't hold a candle to what I saw today.

    The latest wacko theories are that ballots and proof of ballot tampering was being stored in the AT&T building. The Dems were shipping them there to be destroyed... And so, uh... This guy is either being falsely accused of helping destroy them, or tried to stop them from destroying them, or well.... Hillary? Obama? Anarcho-Bidenism?

    I only grabbed one screenshot that didn't get too deep but there were literally dozens of variations on this theme.

  • edited December 2020

  • @Clme said:
    That seems to a narrower definition of what we have typically considered a domestic terrorist. For example, we never learned the motive of the vegas shooter.

    I agree with Bill's definition... The Vegas shooter was a mass-murderer... not a terrorist.

    Though, I agree... if he was brown and/or Muslim he would have been labeled as a terrorist, regardless of his motives. Applying the label does not make it so, however.

    @Clme said:
    Also, regardless of the evential motive, he carefully picked a location. Emergency communication services were down for at least a day in the area. I don't feel we can make the assumption he chose the location for no discernable reason.

    Absent any evidence, I don't think you can assume logical reasoning from someone who blows himself up in an RV on Christmas Day.

  • @Rufus said:

    I agree with Bill's definition... The Vegas shooter was a mass-murderer... not a terrorist.

    Though, I agree... if he was brown and/or Muslim he would have been labeled as a terrorist, regardless of his motives. Applying the label does not make it so, however.

    As an aside (and nothing against your point), I get really tired of hearing phrases like "lone wolf" and "solitary gunman". The phrases have turned into dog-whistles for "White guy that shot a lot of people".

    We could get into the legal definition of terrorist, but those vary by state and even at the fed level can be open to interpretation. For what its worth, in Nevada you just have to be willing to do harm or cause death to the general population to get the label. ...But they don't necessarily apply it equally, even then.

    Then, what is the difference between a 'terrorist' and a 'domestic terrorist' since they also aren't applied equally? It should just be "domestic terrorists have the same nationality as their targets" but...

    Absent any evidence, I don't think you can assume logical reasoning from someone who blows himself up in an RV on Christmas Day.

    I didn't think I was implying logical reasoning.

    He didn't blow himself up in his house or yard. He picked a spot next to the AT&T building. He could have thought that the lizard people were in there making sure that the Jews got the best parking spots in Pigeon Forge and it would still be more than aimless mayhem.

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