Elon Musk

[Rev. Rye]

For the record, what FM is describing in his post is called "Stochastic Terrorism." Functionally, it involves a public figure demonizing another in such a way that it ends up resulting in a violent act; the violent act should be probable, but the specifics should be unknowable. For instance, saying that the director of the NIAID is guilty of crimes against humanity for trying to get people to follow measures designed to limit the spread of an extremely contagious disease, particularly among people who seem more interested in committing violence than trying to get justice by less lethal measures*. In a more textbook example that helped bring the term to the forefront:




(I could include dozens of other Trump examples, including his speech before they stormed the Capitol on January 6, but I will also say that stochastic terrorism is a major reason behind all the gag orders that Trump's been under during his recent trial.)

For a bit more information, this video (particularly starting at around 95 minutes in) explains what it is, and how it happens:





And in a slightly more humourous example, it appears in-universe in this recent episode of Smiling Friends, about 30 seconds into this clip, after the worm conspiracy's plans to manipulate the Presidential election were thwarted by a single vote:




*Note: Before you ask why the Left's demonization of Trump doesn't count, it's because we still have enough faith in the ability of the courts to actually do something about him.