Recent attacks are less like 1970s cadre terrorism and more like decentralized, meme‑soaked eruptions by individuals from ordinary families. The 'ideology' appears as a brittle shell—slogans and online tropes—masking psychological crises incubated in niche digital subcultures. This reframes modern terror as copyable, personal theater rather than organized political war.
— It redirects policy and media focus from dismantling formal groups to understanding and disrupting online subculture dynamics and identity‑driven pathologies behind lone‑actor attacks.
DeBoer’s claim that many 21st‑century attacks try to 'will ideology into being' through symbolic violence mirrors the idea that today’s lone actors are energized by meme‑soaked nihilism and thin ideological shells rather than coherent doctrines.
The Minneapolis church shooter’s diary and weapon slogans and the Kirk gunman’s shell‑casing inscriptions, furry dating sim use, and timing of the shot during a transgender question.