Alleged politically motivated attacks by individuals with apparent left-leaning views are on the rise, according to Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. Goldberg argues, however, that suspects such as Luigi Mangione, Tyler Robinson, and Joshua Jahn are “less men of the left than men of the internet.”
Goldberg, a liberal columnist, admits this may sound like a rationalization, but contends that the internet is creating a troubling new wave of violence—isolated individuals acting out personal grudges and homicidal impulses while disguising them as political causes. Such violence, she warns, is “particularly hard to counter,” and she believes President Trump’s rhetoric will intensify the problem rather than help.
“It should go without saying that Trump’s plan to wage war on his enemies will do precisely nothing to address this building crisis,” Goldberg writes. “But as long as America is a country awash in guns and choking on hatred, full of people retreating into the disembodied half-life of the internet, it’s hard to see what will.”
In her column, she further argues for a “baseline social compact about the speech private platforms should allow and promote.” Until then, Goldberg says, society remains “stuck in a ratchet, where violent losers copy one another, and their deeds become an excuse to oppress the rest of us.”