Brutus Oden

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@jonas_shaffer Ravens vs Steelers is prime time football… why do they continue to schedule both games at the end of the season?

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

10/
I subscribe because I expect the Times to do the harder thing — name the asymmetry, explain the perception gap, trust readers with the truth. Today you didn’t. I’m not canceling. I’m telling you. That’s what a faithful subscriber owes the institution he believes in.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

1/
@nytimes — paying subscriber here. Today’s framing on political violence is beneath you. The “both sides” formulation isn’t journalism. It’s a category error dressed up as balance, and your readers deserve better. A thread on what the data actually says.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

9/
The stakes aren’t abstract. As an Military officer of 13yrs, I can tell you what happens when your enemy template doesn’t match the actual enemy: you cover the wrong avenues of approach. Symmetric framing of an asymmetric threat misallocates public attention and resources. People die from that error.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

8/
This is also not a one-off. It’s a pattern. The reflex to flatten asymmetric phenomena into symmetric narratives — in the name of “fairness” — has become a house style. Readers notice. Subscribers notice.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

7/
And then “both sides” framing deepens the very misperception it claims to describe. Closed loop. The newsroom becomes a mechanism in the problem it’s reporting on. That’s not balance.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

6/
Here’s the analytical sleight-of-hand worth naming: ~4% of Americans support partisan violence, but partisans believe 42–45% of the other side does. That’s a finding about misperception. Citing it as evidence the problem is symmetric is HOW the gap gets built.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

5/
The 2025 uptick in left-wing incidents is real. Five plots over seven months. Worth covering. But it does not retcon thirty years of asymmetric body count, and any framing that uses it that way isn’t reporting a trend — it’s manufacturing a narrative.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

4/
And this isn’t a media talking point. It’s the peer-reviewed finding of LaFree’s team at UMD’s START — the DHS Center of Excellence on terrorism — across 72,000 attacks. Right-wing actors are statistically more violent. Published in PNAS. Full stop.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

3/
The structural pattern, not a snapshot: from 2011–2024, an annual average of 20 right-wing incidents vs. 3 left-wing. This is not close. This is not symmetric. This is not a “both sides” phenomenon.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

2/
The empirical record is not ambiguous. Right-wing extremist violence has produced ~75–80% of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001. Past decade: 112 right-wing fatalities. 13 left-wing.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@ZeekArkham Stop cooning for attention. Minstrel shows are outdated coon.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@HoodieRamey @jacksettleman How are you even 50/50? His entire ego was on display this year. While clearly wrong, he leaned in even more despite one Player clearly outperforming his chosen player. Untenable. He shouldn’t be head of anything except an offense. Needs training wheels.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@AdamSchefter @DenverDean13 kekeke

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@Filmwatchers1 @DenverDean13 @bgee44 yikes

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@AnnieAgar Jordan Love watching Malik #GoPackGo

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@CutonDime25 Said it all night

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@HoodieRamey I need one. @DeAndreHopkins

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@jeffzrebiec @ThirstRoundPick @Alex_Glaze Jeff, I feel like I don’t like your opinions anymore. What a terrible Christmas list. Dios mio.

[Brutus Oden @TonsOf_Fun]

@RetroRude @ArthurIzzi @RyanDePaul Collegiate athlete. Still compete at high levels.. I’m gonna guess yall didn’t make it past pop warner or the freshman team. Find someone else to troll big dog 🤣