Paranoia, revenge, & murder as fantasies in the mind being acted out wherever all the world’s a batshit crazy stage
“Where are all the weapons here?” Squirrelly Clown Dude asked me in a British accent. Like he came to America for the damn weapons. His CO2 gun with a big, plasticky pistol grip still shoots even tho it is not a “real” firearm but a sophisticated “toy.” The barrel looked primarily red and blue with an accent of white.
This crap all started when a murderous, clown-brained incel dressed himself as the Joker, a fictional comic book character, and shot up a Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado back in July of 2012. The guy was a mass murderer idolized and revered by the incel movement. “Incel” is codeturd for “Involuntarily Celibate.” These are mostly men who view themselves as physically unattractive, even ugly, are often broke, and many of whom seem addicted to porn. Incels feel they have some degree of divine right to get laid and laid by beautiful women.
Incels rage against the world, obsess over weapons, blame all their problems on everyone else, posture online, and act with narcissistic vengeance. They display a hatred of female humans, men they deem attractive, and anyone with wealth. They are not anti-capitalist but resent they themselves are not as rich as all the good looking guys who in turn “get the girls.” This resentment is based less on fact and more on entrenched socio-cultural belief systems, belief systems these loners bereft of love make up in their own minds as what must be “true.” To be clear, I refer to the incel movement as a group, for I’m sure there is a range of behavior among individuals. There probably are some nice, empathic ones who struggle with their self-image and lack of physical connection. As a group, however, they are nasty.
Incels congregate online where they behave as Nazi trolls and hide out behind the digital stench of their vicious and foul language. Their put-downs of women are vile, abhorrent, and alarming. As a son, grandson, nephew, a father, and former husband, their tactics disturb and disgust me. I’d not even heard of such a ridiculously nonsensical yet sad and scary internet cult until about a year or so ago.
One could almost empathize with them as many of them grew up being bullied and discriminated against for their lack of good looks. Almost, that is. For, nevertheless, these men chose to lose themselves in their own, social-media-reinforced self-victimization to act worse than crocodiles. Such behavior is a mass hysteria of social derangement as if some mutant candiru ate barbed, bloody paths up their urethras all the way into the bottom of their brains.
Ironically it was a Canadian man rather than an American gun nut who announced the so-called “Incel Rebellion.” He drove a rental van into pedestrians in Toronto, Ontario in April 2018, declared his war on the world, and urged others of his kind to rise up and kill. The man is killer. He’s another mass murderer. Perhaps this particular incel was inspired by the violence and terror of the American Alt-Right in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017.
Humans still surprise me in sad ways. No reason to freak out, tho. Simply be alert and look up from yer fones. Be alert and be prepared to defend yourself without having to resort to an Apocalyptic arsenal. I supposed one could call me celibate as I haven’t had sex with anyone in a long time since I stopped dating. Except I never took any vow of celibacy or plan to ever do so. I choose not to date at this time. I may wish I had a partner from time to time. Sure, may sometimes even wish for a lover. Not interested in dating and mating games, tho. More focused on other priorities. Thus there is no way I am any kind of celibate. Hell, truly celibate people refrain from masturbation. Yep, celibate folks don’t masturbate or aren’t supposed to. Oh goodness, y’all know that, right? Thus the label of “incel” is rooted in lies.
Instead of sex and money and good looks, I value depth of soul. A possible partner must be grounded in her sense of ethics with integrity of character. I’m not interested in chasing after gobs of money or in seduction charades and tactics of manipulation. I despise misogyny and sexism along with racism, classism, and other forms of bigotry.
So, no, I am not celibate and am not “involuntary” at anything. Hell, no. To Hell with Incels and their hatred. May we as a society, however, find ways to help them heal. The true victims are not the Incels but those human beings targeted for their sex, gender, physical appearances, and socioeconomic status by those humans who identify as Incels.
The Joker, the stand alone supervillain movie staring Joaquin Phoenix, was about to come out in late September 2019. The film was controversial for its violence. Many people voiced concerns regarding the film’s sympathetic portrayal of a person so bullied and put down he rises up as a murderous clown to extract an unhinged and exacting vengeance. The main character in the movie inspires gangs of similar, Incel-typecast people to come together for their collective revenge in their own twisted, crownlike pursuit of justice.
The news coverage included claims the Incel Rebellion was fixated on The Joker and many would come out in public dressed as clowns. So much so movie theaters across the nation and around the world began to ban customers from arriving wearing any kind of mask including face paint and clown wigs. Baggy clown outfits distressed the anxious ones as they must be easy to hide weapons in. Things reached a point where clowns with bloody faces were imagined lurking behind nearly every bush, flower pot, and shuttered window. The hoopla around the It horror movies about a prehistoric clown monster from beyond Outer Space made things worse. I’ve yet to see The Joker or the It movies.
So on Sunday the 29th of September a young White man with a mop of tight, curly hair came into the iconic outdoor adventure business where I worked retail in Downtown Seattle. He was dressed like The Joker sans mask. Quickly noted the large pistol grip sticking out one of his baggy pants pocket. For a moment I felt puzzled as his outfit was vaguely familiar. The red vest over a billowy, buccaneer shirt, the baggy trousers with giant pockets, the weird, funny shoes…oh shit, I realized, he’s dressed as The Joker! Good lord, was that a frickin’ flower, too? Went over immediately to him. Without hesitation. He laughs, pulls out a big, plastic gun and babbles forth a chaotic stream of consciousness in a thick British accent.
“Hi! May I help you?” I asked.
“Where are all the weapons here?” he asked me.
“We don’t carry weapons here if you mean guns or firearms,” I said. “We do have a selection of knives, machetes, and hatchets over there. Guess you could use one of those Gerber folding shovels as a weapon. Shove the point of the shovel blade up under your jaw, y’know. Mallets and hammers, too, if you wanna use them for weapons. What about that gun sticking out of your pants?”
He laughs again and said, “This is not a real gun-gun. It uses CO2 cartridges to propel pellets, but it doesn’t shoot bullets. When I was on the train coming up from the airport, people freaked out, some guy yelled I had a gun, and they jumped me. Held me down until the cops arrived at the next station. The police asked me what I was doing with this? And I said, look, officers, I don’t want no trouble now. This is just a toy gun. I’m in town to see The Joker movie. Don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“OK. Where are you from, if you don’t mind asking?” I asked. “I’m from Virginia and the Carolinas myself. Love languages, dialects and different accents. Can’t place yours. Not Australian, I don’t think.”
“I’m from London,” Clown Guy said. He laughed and giggled all barmy nutters and a little more than half-mad, too, I’m afraid. Found out later his accent was probably MLE or Multicultural London English, but had kind of a Cockney edge to it. Doesn’t matter, tho, what his language and dialects were or are.
My tactic worked. He felt disarmed by my presence, respect, an d curiosity. I had quietly backed him up into a somewhat-fenced in eddy of a room while he took out and showed me his pellet-shooting clown gun. He was so disappointed we didn’t sell firearms, martial arts weapons, and carbon dioxide cartridges for his pellets.
Security gently cruised over, questioned him again about his weird clown pistol, then hustled his ass out the building. Weird. Then it dawned on me, oh yeah, the U.S. Army just warned of domestic terrorism by Incels who idolize the Joker despite Joaquin Phoenix award winning performance as the new Joker. Apparently I was the only one out on the floor in my part of the store who this Joker stuff knew per my background in world history and current affairs analysis.
Aye, watch out for women-hating incels as October arrives. So I texted my exes and kids. Shared a bit about my experience and reminded them the Incel Rebellion threat with misogynistic, gunloving Incels dressed in Joker and crazy It clown costumes is serious. Also went to the head of security and informed them about the Joker threat, the Aurora movie theater massacre, the Incel Rebellion, and the warning by the Army.
What surprised me was just how little the security folks knew, especially is my experience is they all know a lot more than most folks. Cops had already targeted this guy on the SeaTac to Seattle link light-rail then let him go because the gas pistol wasn’t a real gun. Doesn’t matter in some ways, but it did.
Don’t like clowns. Oh, I so dislike clowns. Can’t stand them, tho I know most clowns are probably good people. Clowns freak me out, tho. More importantly, however, no one got hurt or worse after the movie industry of corporatized art unleashed The Joker movie upon the world, thank goodness. At least what I’m aware of as I type.
As 2019 rolled into 2020 with Middle Eastern wars, Trump’s impeachment, and talk of another American civil war further inflaming U.S. public discourse, The Joker and its primary actor, Joaquin Phoenix won a number of nominations and awards. Phoenix paid tribute to the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, 2008’s Batman movie when he accepted his 2020 SAG Award and said, “I’m standing here on the shoulders of my favorite actor, Heath Ledger.”
Thank goodness none of those in the so-called “Incel Movement” ventured offline to murder here in Seattle or anywhere else. Who knows, however, what other kinds of batshit crazy stuff other people inspired by comic book characters and whipped up by the Usurper in the White House may yet commit? Stay vigilant!
William Dudley Bass
Sunday 29 September 2019
Wednesday 22 January 2020
Seattle, Washington, USA
Earth
Copyright © 2019, 2020 by William Dudley Bass. All Rights Reserved by the Author & his Descendants until we Humans establish Wise Stewardship over and for our Earth and Solarian Commons. Thank you.