By John Q. Hosedrinker 
The initial reports of the suspect’s leftist ideology were quickly retracted by news outlets as new information surfaced. Family members, surprised by the suspect’s actions, asserted his conservative background. This revelation shifted the narrative, with far-right factions beginning to recognize him as potentially aligned with their views.
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No Avoiding It: Post-Kirk, We Have to Learn About the Groyper Wars
Alright, so here we are, faced with a situation where the term “Groyper Wars” is suddenly thrust upon us, and it seems like we can’t just ignore it. The recent events have made it clear that we need to understand what this is all about, whether we like it or not. It’s a can of worms, to be sure, but it’s also a reality that needs our attention.
These “Groypers,” it seems, emerged from the online world, starting in the early days of the Trump era. We’re talking about young people, many in their teens and twenties, who were heavily influenced by social media platforms like Twitter, 4chan, and eventually Gab and Truth Social. They embraced edgy memes, often using the Pepe the Frog and Red Pill tropes. Many of them were male, lived at home, struggled with social skills, and held some really outdated and frankly, sexist attitudes. Some identified as incels. They were often gamers, perhaps influenced by GamerGate, and they seemed to have a lot of time on their hands, often spending it online, sh*tposting, playing around without restraint, and slowly radicalizing, often through foreign-influenced or amplified disinformation and crap boosted by bots and key influencers. They were early adopters of the alt-right, and they saw it as a form of anonymous male bonding. They’d started with anti-Hillary memes and quickly spiraled into a full-blown alt-right worldview. They’re not just MAGA, not just Trump supporters, not just your garden-variety Republicans. They’re something else, something more extreme.
The situation then exploded around the January 6th Capitol attack. After Republicans lost, all the simmering rage exploded, and we could see who was ready to take things to the next level. They became organizers and viciously started attacking their own, calling out those they deemed not extreme enough. They had a taste of meme mob influence and, with the rise of meme stocks and crypto investments, thought they were smart and invincible. They still think their online fantasy world is the real world and seem unwilling to step into the world, grow into adults, take on responsibilities, and do the hard work required to move forward.
The real question is, how do we de-radicalize them now? They’ve never known what “normal” is, and they crave crazy entertainment. They have no respect for a functioning government run by adults. They’re not interested in accountability, in not abusing authority, or in not enriching themselves. They are seemingly happy to start domestic wars. The truth is this is not something that has only just emerged. It’s been brewing for a while, and it’s only getting worse. The right is unable to acknowledge their actions. It seems as if the people that are currently in charge have normalized the violent rhetoric and even pardoned people that murdered police while trying to overturn an election. It’s just sad to see.
Then there’s this whole “Groyper” thing, which seems to be central to the current discussion. It’s a word that many of us may not know the meaning of, or really want to know. It’s hard to say exactly what it means, but if we are being honest with ourselves, it seems it has something to do with an internal conflict on the right, a power struggle between different factions, with Groypers positioning themselves in opposition to others. They are now fighting each other.
There is a real risk that this whole thing could disintegrate, meaning, the political landscape will completely fall apart.
There are so many questions at this point. What did they do? What do they want? And, most importantly, what can we do about it?
It’s difficult to discern the true motivations of these groups. It seems the focus should be on the way isolated boys and young men are getting radicalized online.
We have a situation where the “Groyper Wars” are here. The dominant media outlets are avoiding this topic like a plague. We’ll never have a real discussion until someone with authority actually says it. We can’t just pretend it’s not happening. It’s important to try and understand the context.
In the end, it is really sad. It is a shame that so many are lost in the depths of the internet and its fringes. These groups are dangerous and are contributing to a world that’s falling apart. We need to deal with these people and remove them from the equation.