Minneapolis school shooter

[SouthernNorthernLass]

I had my suspicions when CNN kept referring to the shooter as ‘they’ and said as much to DH.

Lo and behold, a crossdressing man called ‘Robin’ (formerly Robert) Westman.

Why do you say you need to state that you're mixed race?
I can assure you that violent, religious people existed in the UK too. Violence imposed by white people on white people. Sometimes from Ireland but carried out here.
Many women have stories of how viscous Catholic Nuns were and just read their history of mother and baby homes.

This is the first I've heard about the shooter/killer being trans. I'm sure the BBC news yesterday talked about a gunman.

That's because there was no confirmation as to who the gunman was.

But once they got the name (and of course the special word), you could almost hear the pitter patter of frantic scurrying about in BBC News HQ to ensure any "he" was swiftly replaced. At absolute pains to avoid calling him a man.

according to news reports today, he didn’t want to be trans anymore, felt he’d brainwashed himself and wanted to cut his hair but felt unable to. This is the danger of affirming it.

Have you got a link?

Some guy has translated the diary. The person posting it says it's written English, but with Cyrillic letters. (I have not verified this):
https://nitter.poast.org/FrancisAaronUK/status/1960951718012731632#m

The same guy has most pages of the manifesto, I saw them in various media but I can't dig too much right now as very time-intensive.
If anyone's interested:
https://nitter.poast.org/FrancisAaronUK

Calling a sick and twisted murderer a man, and commenting on news outlets refusing to call said murderer a man is not transphobia.

He IS a man. Telling outright lies about the sex of the bastard who shot those poor children, making it out to be a woman's crime - that's despicable. What HE did is unforgivable, and the fact the various news sources reporting on it either went straight to "she" or noticeably shifted their language to accommodate TRA speak instead of reporting clearly and accurately is horrid.

Using dead children to pile up on trans people indeed! Nope, we're just not allowing the waters to be muddied by having any insinuation that such an unspeakable crime against innocent children was done by a woman. At all.

Thanks @ForestAtTheSea

@Nichebitch we will not be gaslighted that this is a woman’s crime.

It's getting a bit confusing have two threads on this topic on the same forum. Especially on my mobile. I posted similar comments on both and got this below. Emphasis added. You'll appreciate hopefully why my upset being called "performative" and "extreme." That's why I mentioned my race.

Yes I agree the actions of the Catholic Church at many points in history are barbaric and shocking. I am not Catholic any long, but I continue to find hate against Catholics especially children to be particularly upsetting. Note when I say my family has left a country because of religious / ethnic based hate it wasn't Ireland.

"I have strong criticisms of trans-identifying men, and I often find myself at odds with their presence in certain spaces. Yet, I also find the extreme reactions from some gender critical feminists of which I consider myself one to be overly performative and, at times, misdirected.

What stands out to me in the recent case of this shooter is not only his gender but also his race. It’s noteworthy how often discussions about male violence, especially in mass shootings, overlook the recurring factor of whiteness. Mainstream feminist discourse often fails to account for this. There’s a recurring pattern where the struggles of Black women are co-opted by white feminists to advance a broader agenda that doesn’t always benefit Black women themselve"

Hope that clarified and I wish we didn't have multiple threads on the same topic !

That is interesting if it has been correctly transcribed and is truly his diary, because, as another poster said, it would be a classic example of how wrong it is to ‘affirm’ teens who believe they are ‘trans’.

it’s the daily mail, which I know some posters don’t click on; but here it is:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15043271/minneapolis-shooter-robin-westman-transgender-manifesto-school.html

Thank you!

From the BBC site:

Weston said he and his classmates were well-drilled in what to do in a shooting situation - but not in the environment in which they found themselves. "We practise it every month, but not in church, only in the school," he said.

Weston is a ten-year-old boy. What a life, to be a schoolkid in the US.

@chrith · Today 17:48
Thank you for the Daily Mail link.

I can't believe the BBC Six O'Clock News, their flagship programme, called him 'she' in their news report.
I actually feel quite tearful they've fallen so far.
Worked in their newsroom for 30 odd years, Warrington bombing, Shipman, Bulger. I just can't defend it in any way, shape or form. I was so proud to work there too.
And it will be a decision made right at the top of management. Absolutely devastated by it.
https://x.com/JournalismSEEN/status/1961123050784424060

Fucking hell

I mean, the BBC news website obscuring the language on the whole with "they" and "the attacker" and the odd "she" was one thing, but I never thought they'd actually say "her" about that murdering scumbag, out loud, on the telly, for a primetime audience.

Arseholes.

The Times has an interesting update, if true:

“I only keep [the long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself. I can’t cut my hair now as it would be an embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported. It just always gets in my way. I will probably chop it on the day of the attack.”

I’m abroad at the moment and the only news channel we can find in English is CNN, who refer to him constantly as ‘the shooter’. Interestingly, in the press conference, the sheriff in charge of the investigation regularly referred to him using the correct (male) pronouns, but the chief prosecutor was shifting uncomfortably as he did so - and used ‘the shooter’ constantly and pointedly.

Heartbreaking. It’s why we, as a family, never affirmed our trans child’s identity. We recognised that autistic/neurodivergent minds can be very rigid and fixed for extensive periods of time but need to be allowed space to U-turn, mature, re-evaluate without stigma. My DD was adamant SHE was a trans male for 6-7 years. Space to grow, without judgement, meant she was able to recant the idea of being trans without loss of face. Whether you are dealing with people who are politically brainwashed, trans identified, cult-captured on a religious level, we need to create a culture where people know they can change their minds, change direction, disavow religion/beliefs safely… THAT is the hallmark of an inclusive, accepting culture. One that allows people to change and grow, to explore and experiment without judgment. This sad young man was cornered because he felt he wasn’t allowed to admit that maybe the trans thing had been a phase.

People come out fighting when they're cornered. In the US ‘fighting’ often means armed with semi-automatic weapons.

Well done to you about your daughter. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been.

Especially as he himself said he felt it was ‘a charade’.

Thank you. Sadly she has more stripes than a zebra on her forearms, the red scar type, but we had a meeting with the student disability folk today as she has managed to work her way into uni next month. Proud doesn’t touch the surface of what I feel about the way she has crawled her way back through access courses and UCAS applications. She is beyond excited about all the equipment (laptops, printers, extra screens) they are willing to provide to accommodate her ASD/ADHD and is bouncing around the house this evening on a high. The trans trauma is very much part of her, but she is over the moon to be able to put that in her past and move forward with a fresh start. She is still uncomfortable with her body and how she is perceived by others, but baby steps…