Above: CCTV footage of the gunman entering the secure area at the White House Correspondents Association dinner
In most cases, the news should avoid giving much attention to individual attackers by name and sharing their so-called “manifestos.” This is especially true for school shootings and other mass shootings. Hear the father of a victim make this case in Episode 72.
But there are important lessons to learn about how people become so violent and dangerous. That’s the case with the gunman from the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
So in the new episode, I tell you about the parts of his writing that we all need to know about. His message shows the psychology of left-wing radicalization. Listen now:
In the note to his family, apparently sent just before the attack, Cole Tomas Allen presents himself in moral terms. He says he’s going after Trump officials aside from FBI Director Kash Patel (it’s unclear why).
He’ll only shoot at Secret Service officers “if necessary,” and other security officers if they shoot at him. Other people there, he writes, are not targets. But, “I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary,” he says, adding that “most people chose” to attend.
Crucially, Allen claims to be acting on behalf of “oppressed” people. As CBS put it, “He then went on to list several anonymous hypothetical victims who have experienced hardship.”
Victim narratives are a centerpiece of radicalization — and the media keeps overwhelming people with them. On the far right, anything is allowed if you are a victim — even an insurrection. On the far left, anything is allowed on behalf of victims.
The most dangerous of all involves infantilization — portraying certain people as helpless infants whose “oppressors” must be killed.
That’s what the line “any means necessary” refers to at left-wing protests. In this mindset, Islamist terrorists are eternal victims, rather than genocidal jihadists backed by the actually oppressive Iranian state.
When asked, these protesters never mean the word “necessary.” They mean literally anything is okay, even praiseworthy. That’s why people celebrated the October 7th massacres. It’s why so many young people love Luigi Mangione, the man who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
All these folks believe in killing people while claiming righteousness.
Allen is 31 years old. He’s part of a generation that has been radicalized by memetic warfare since they were kids. Their minds have been shaped by it.
His actions aren’t shocking. They’re predictable. The same goes for the latest attack on Jewish people in the UK.
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