'𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘝𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘴?' Crewmeck Sweater

     Beige cotton crewneck sweater inspired by the Las Vegas shooting on Oct 1, 2017. I should specify though that it's not the actual shooting I was interested in, but the pervasive throughline of conspiratorial paranoia that now comfortably settles in along side every mass tragedy. A phenomenon that doesn't appear to be dissipating, but is instead fast becoming the norm as societal trust in institutional 'good faith' continues to plummet & the availability of unbiased information on not just violent events, but any event that impacts a sizable crowd (elections, laws, the establishing of norms, etc.) becomes increasingly difficult to find and near impossible to agree on when it is discovered, especilly regarding events with a narrative that could be used as ammunition by one side of the political spectrum to use against the other, potentially helping to determine the winner in whatever 'culture war' is currently trending or worse, acting as a foundation on which new policy is formed & enforced.

    The Las Vegas shooting, along with its apparent sole perpetrator, Stephen Paddock, were both catapulted into global headlines following the shooting but so was something else: the conspiracy. What I'm specifically referring to is the sense of mistrust, paranoia and that a greater truth is being muddled, hidden or covered up. Unanswered questions abound, discrepancies and inconsistencies in the official reports remain to this day, one the most notable surrounds Paddock's motives which have yet to ever be advanced beyond the wholly unsatisfying "because he was a bad guy" and should one attempt to push back on or look further into it, you'll soon encounter the impassable wall of "mental illness is complex." For the record I'm well away that a) bad guys exist and b) mental illness is complex, but the point I'm making is that such a vague conclusion being the definitive response on such a horrifically shocking event is a breeding ground for mistrust and conspiracy to grow, fester and ultimately spread to a point where they become just as much a part of the story as the actual event does. The conspiracy is normalized. The first time I, and likely many of you, ever experienced this occurring among a mainstream audience was 9/11 — "Bush did 9/11" & "Jet fuel can't melt steel beams" — and more recently was the ubiquitous & politically unifying (which itself is a record setting achievement) meme of "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself." 

    The lack of any widespread meme connected to the Las Vegas shooting might help explain another aspect of the shooting I touched on earlier: the rate at which it dissipated from news cycles. After the tragedy unfolded and following the immediate barrage of coverage it received, there was a noticeable drop in updates on the case and the entire event has almost entirely been forgotten by our culture's collective conscience. I'm not to implying the lack of memes is the sole contributor for the waning public interest in obtaining answers, but I'm certain it played an outsized role in the matter, especially in conjunction with the many aspects of the case without coherent answers, such as Paddock's still merky and undefined motives and an ambiguous 'official report' that fails to offer definitive answers to a barrage of usually straightforward questions.

    With such a glaring ommitences in the official records, it seems obvious as to why conspiratorial thinking now reigns supreme, because its an alternative to having access to truthful information and a transparent understanding as to how that truth was arrived at. Without a generally accepted truth, it becomes clear why this event, or any event, completely fails to clench its talons deep into the twitching husk of our culture's corpse. So, with our hypothesis now firmly established, the next question is obvious: did Jeffrey Epstein kill himself? I'm joking, obviously he did(n't). This sweater was inspired by these questions and I hope you're as interested in the answers as I am. Or, at the very least, that you think the sweater deserves a minimum of three fire emojis. Either is fine, both would be cool. Thanks for your time. Stay safe.

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    1 of 1. Unisex. Oversized, comfortably loose fit. 100% heavyweight cotton.

Size: Large