I agree with your point that the shooter’s motives are uncertain, that there isn’t a lot of evidence that it was motivated by racial bias, and that our first impressions tend to be wrong. But it seems plausible to believe that Long was motivated by racial bias. Otherwise, why target Asian dayspas and not, say, strip clubs? ” ‘”Long told investigators that he blames the massage parlors for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex’ ” (ABC). It seems plausible to me that the fact that Long’s sex drive was linked to these spas could have been motivated by the fetishization of Asian people. One of the places Long frequented was named Young’s Asian Massage. Also, my impression is that most instances where a white man kills majority non-white people turn out to be racially motivated.
Certainly this is by no means a silver bullets, and I agree that many people speak as if it’s certain that Long was racially motivated.
I disagree with your comment about the media. This is anecdotal, but I’ve seen many people on social media blast the NYtimes’ initial report (“8 people Killed in Atlanta-Area Massage Parlor Shootings”) for not asserting racial motivations. Regardless of whether the media emphasized the racial component, I’m quite confident that many people would have seen “white man kills 8 people, 6 of whom are asian women” and associated that with racism.
I agree with your point that the shooter’s motives are uncertain, that there isn’t a lot of evidence that it was motivated by racial bias, and that our first impressions tend to be wrong. But it seems plausible to believe that Long was motivated by racial bias. Otherwise, why target Asian dayspas and not, say, strip clubs? ” ‘”Long told investigators that he blames the massage parlors for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex’ ” (ABC). It seems plausible to me that the fact that Long’s sex drive was linked to these spas could have been motivated by the fetishization of Asian people. One of the places Long frequented was named Young’s Asian Massage. Also, my impression is that most instances where a white man kills majority non-white people turn out to be racially motivated.
Certainly this is by no means a silver bullets, and I agree that many people speak as if it’s certain that Long was racially motivated.
I disagree with your comment about the media. This is anecdotal, but I’ve seen many people on social media blast the NYtimes’ initial report (“8 people Killed in Atlanta-Area Massage Parlor Shootings”) for not asserting racial motivations. Regardless of whether the media emphasized the racial component, I’m quite confident that many people would have seen “white man kills 8 people, 6 of whom are asian women” and associated that with racism.
I agree with jsteinhardt’s comment.