memes

This is probably a hot take but I still think the guy in the left image (who was 17 at the time of initial controversy) had a chuni moment fueled by the propaganda he'd been fed that had consequences that (while obvious to most other people) he did not foresee.

Obviously what he did wasn't ok, being a dumb teen doesn't justify anything.

But he was denied the chance to learn from his mistakes.

After being put through the wringer by the general public, he was turned into a speaking puppet for the right by opportunistic fascists who saw his mental vulnerability and (metaphorically) burned him at the stake the minute he started defending leftist positions years later.

As I understand, the right turned on him eventually for supporting "woke" ideals.

I think this is a gross case of fascism-flavored child stardom. You can disagree, I don't intend to argue. I don't know him personally. I only know I was that level of dumb at his age, too.

I just feel weird about lumping in a kid who was exploited by the same right-wing opportunists we're opposing with said right-wing opportunists.

While it may be obvious to us that shooting a protestor is bad, he likely saw the guy as a bad guy he needed to save people from. Delusional, yes, but ultimately rooted in his upbringing and developing neurology.

He was exploited a different way than we're being exploited, but he was still exploited by the same people exploiting us.

For all we know, his past actions haunt him, and no amount of therapy could ever help him recover fully from the weight of his own mistakes.

I am neither telling nor asking anyone to sympathize with him. I just wanted to get my perspective out there.

It is entirely possible that I'm just a big softy who doesn't want to believe that kids can be evil.

Or maybe I'm right on this one specific thing. I'm not sure any of us will definitively know at any point. I sure as hell don't know with any significant confidence.