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Columbine, Incel Culture, and the Online Pipeline Radicalizing Young Teens Today
Description
Twenty-seven years ago, millennials watched Columbine unfold on live television and absorbed a story that was almost entirely wrong. In this episode, Manny takes us down the rabbit hole that started with a single TikTok and ends somewhere much darker.
We unpack what FBI documents and Dave Cullen's definitive book Columbine actually reveal about the shooters' motives, why the myths we were handed in 1999 created the perfect conditions for online radicalization, and what that pipeline looks like today: incel culture, groypers, trans-maxing, the true crime community glamorizing school shooters, and the nihilistic No Lives Matter subculture linked to multiple school shooting plots.
We also read from Sue Klebold, Dylan's mother, reflecting on the morning she lost her son.
School shootings. Radicalization. Andrew Tate. Nick Fuentes. The internet the Columbine myth helped build. More than 400 school shootings since 1999 is proof we have been solving the wrong problem. This episode is about what the right one actually is.
Content note: School violence, online radicalization, nihilism, and incel culture discussed in depth.
Sources: Dave Cullen's Columbine | The Guardian | ISD Global | Politico | CNN | Barrett Paul via Threads | Riedman Report| Barret Pall Explanation on Threads
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As always - a big thank you to Steve Olszewski for the art and images, Calid B and SJ Fadeaway for the musical mixings, and huge credit to Malvina Reynolds (writer) and Schroder Music Co. (ASCAP) (publisher) of the song “Little Boxes