“Before he allegedly began mailing pipe bombs to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others, Cesar Sayoc found encouragement online — maybe not in the form of explosives instructions, but in the sense that he could scream his resentments in a theater that did the opposite of repudiating them. It echoed them back. It validated and cultivated them. It took something dark and colored it darker still.”
More from Frank Bruni
“The internet will be the death of us. It casts rogue grievances as legitimate obsessions…”
“They weren’t wedded to their initial opinions. They weren’t allowed to be. And they moved…”
“And when you make the direst predictions, you needlessly put your credibility on the line.…”
“Applause. Greater brand exposure. A new layer of perks atop an existence already lavish…”