An entirely Speculative impression
I understand, better than most, how stray images differ from reality, how culture shapes perception, etc..
I do not offer this as correct, but merely as a thought process watching some images that don't fit into any comfortable pre-made cultural frame.
I get a Leopold and Loeb vibe.
These kids (they really do look young) seem very, very college student to me. And somehow no worse than middle class.
On facial appearance alone they could be Islamic extremist or even right wing/supremacist extremist—those two things are not excluded, but neither of them exactly jumps out at you.
Comfortable college kids playing at something... proving something.
Yeah, maybe homegrown stochastic Islamic Leopold and Loeb. Or just some F'd up kids who got good grades in chemistry and shop and can't tell TV from real life.
But either way... my impression is a Leopold and Loeb type terror for the sake of self.
"We are the guys who blew up the Marathon. We are wolves among the sheep."
(I was thinking that before Tweety on TV said, "Lab nerds who do this because they can..." Tweety doesn't have much of a filter.)
= new reply since forum marked as read
looked thick. I was asking the same question but decided they did look big enough...
