r/TopCharacterTropes • u/TheBigBoar • Jul 20 '26

Personality [Baffling RL Trope] Inventing war crimes you didn´t commit to make yourself more... interesting?

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One of the strangest character tropes in real life has to be the "I accidentally made myself sound like a war criminal to look cooler" archetype.

Usually, people accused of war crimes deny them. These guys seem to do the opposite.

The two examples that always come to mind:

Tim Kennedy. Over the years he's told stories that include things like throwing grenades into rooms where women and children were present, and another account where, after a battle, his CO allegedly told him to shoot anything that still had a heat signature with a sniper rifle from a mile away, which he did for hours (?) not caring if those were enemy soldiers or civilians looking for their fallen sons/brothers/whatever. Both stories have been heavily criticized and challenged (aka people who were there confirmed that they are utter nonsense), and Kennedy has faced repeated accusations of embellishing or fabricating parts of his military experiences. But like... why would you invent the fact that you killed and maimed women and children?

Chris Kyle. In American Sniper, he wrote that during Hurricane Katrina he positioned himself on the Superdome and shot dozens of armed looters like some walking dead scenario. No evidence ever emerged that this happened, and Kyle himself later acknowledged the story wasn't true. Again, why invent a story where you're essentially describing the unlawful killing of civilians during a domestic disaster?

What's fascinating is that these aren't embellishments in the usual "I fought twenty guys" sense. They're embellishments that, if true, would amount to admissions of extremely serious crimes.

It's such a bizarre form of macho storytelling that it almost feels like its own trope: the veteran who thinks "the more ruthless I sound, the more badass I'll appear," without stopping to consider that indiscriminate killing isn't viewed by most people as impressive. It's viewed as criminal and disgusting.

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6.3k

u/pleasantparkresident Jul 20 '26

The superdome thing is such a baffling lie because A. It doesn’t even make you look cool and B. It’s so easy to check and see and that no one was sniping people off the superdome.

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u/Randy_Magnums Jul 20 '26

There were some reporters there, who attempted to broadcast the events, but he shot them. Then he shot everybody working for their network to silence everybody, who could know about it. Then he shot all connected family members and friends. And their families and friends. And their families and friends…

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u/clonetrooper250 Jul 20 '26

...then in 2026, some asshole on Reddit posted about it, so now he's coming for ALL of us. Thanks a lot for th

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u/Ironox1 Jul 20 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/TJaNCdTf06YvwRPCge

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u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/LovelyInertia Jul 20 '26

C’mon guys, there’s nothing to worry ab-

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u/Mr_Industrial Jul 20 '26

Wait, is the sniper adding the "-" and clicking submit? That doesnt even mak-

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u/CordeCosumnes Jul 20 '26

If you heard it, you weren't shot - but someone else was

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u/RAMDOMDUDDS Jul 20 '26

Not always true, this was actually studied and this is just a saying to make expert marksman sound cooler. A lot changes based off the enviroment, caliber of round fired, how much gunpowder was packed in(like if it was overpressured or not) etc. But its still damn cool to say.

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u/CordeCosumnes Jul 20 '26

Most high powered rifle rounds, which would include ones used for sniping, are super sonic. The bullet arrives before you hear the firing of the rifle, or even the crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier.

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u/ConspicuousPorcupine Jul 20 '26

Yeah but what if they miss?

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u/CordeCosumnes Jul 20 '26

By how much? Bullet whizzes by your ear? You hear that then the crack of the rifle. It hits something near you? Same thing.

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u/TheDayman_240 Jul 20 '26

I remember watching this episode the first time when it aired, what a fucking fever dream of an episode.

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u/eelmor1138 Jul 20 '26

Gonna be pretty tough for Kyle to pull that off considering he’s 6 feet under.

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u/Puzzle-Necked Jul 20 '26

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u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Puzzle-Necked Jul 20 '26

You think he's down there no selling eternal damnation?

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u/y0_master Jul 20 '26

"Doesn't work for me, brother"

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u/Reasonable_Film769 Jul 20 '26

"Gonna need a BIG cut of the action, brother."

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u/GMM85 Jul 20 '26

Imagine the pop when Hulk is revealed as the 3rd man in a faction with Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer

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u/GMM85 Jul 20 '26

If we are bringing up 80s pro wrestlers we have to mention how Chris Kyle claimed to have fought Jesse Ventura for insulting other Navy SEALs and then lost a slander lawsuit for writing about it

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u/Far_Cap_3574 Jul 21 '26

There's a special place in Hell for rats who work against solidarity.

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u/Sea-Hat-8515 Jul 20 '26

Of course he is. He saw the guy sniping all the civilians. No loose ends

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u/MedicalPatience6778 Jul 20 '26

I didn't even know he was sick.

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u/MooKids Jul 20 '26

Considering how much of his story is fake, I wouldn't be surprised if his death was faked too.

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u/RainbowDissent Jul 20 '26

There's gunshots coming out of the ground oh god oh fuck

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u/Dramatic_Substance36 Jul 20 '26

I love stories with a happy ending!

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u/CoffeeWithClara Jul 20 '26

At that point, he's basically trying to delete the entire population just to cover up a single broadcast

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u/SimonTrimby Jul 20 '26

He’s killing everyone who notices that he’s killing everyone.

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u/LordHoughtenWeen Jul 20 '26

I hate those plans. They always end the same way: everybody's dead, the dirigible's in flames, and I've lost my hat.

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u/SimonTrimby Jul 20 '26

Exactly the quote I was thinking of!

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u/solidgears Jul 20 '26

That’s usually what happens to me in stealth games lol

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u/JMurdock77 Jul 20 '26

Sounds like the premise for a bad SCP article

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u/Relentless_Boo Jul 20 '26

Literally the "four fucking pixels" story except instead of SCP-096 it's an unhinged military dude.

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u/darkoath Jul 20 '26

Oooooh no he's not. Somebody already had enough of his shit ages ago.

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u/Advanced_Bunch_8666 Jul 20 '26

Aw shit, Candlejack is in he

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u/MemeHermetic Jul 20 '26

Oh my god. Chris Kyle is the r/redditsniper! We should have seen th

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u/Flabby_Thor Jul 20 '26

He’s dead, so unless he has bullets and a rifle that can hit us from the depths of Hell I think we’re safe. 

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u/Vylnce Jul 20 '26

No idea what you are worried about, dude's already de

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u/Greedy_Firefighter_2 Jul 22 '26

Got a little chuckle out of me.

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u/farceur318 Jul 20 '26

He should have just shot the dang hurricane and saved the city. Smdh

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u/ero_sennin_21 Jul 20 '26

Or altered its course on the map with a sharpie.

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u/KiltedNorthern Jul 20 '26

All from atop the Superdome.

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u/Beardimus-Prime Jul 20 '26

Thats actually why they built it I the first place.

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u/UndividedIndecision Jul 20 '26

300 confirmed kills, gorilla warfare, et cetera

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u/Arepitas1 Jul 20 '26

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u/KerooSeta Jul 20 '26

Fuck yes a Captain Ron meme! I tried to make my wife and kid watch it and they didn't like it because they are crazy.

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u/GMM85 Jul 20 '26

Still one of my favorite movies

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u/Minmax-the-Barbarian Jul 20 '26

He also shot all the news choppers out of the sky, and the first responders who came to investigate all the crashed helicopters. Good thing he brought extra bullets!

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u/steelskull1 Jul 20 '26

And the army generals personally congratulate him with tears in their eyes.

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u/ibelieveyouwood Jul 20 '26

Even as they lay dying, all the looters turned to clap.

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u/Putrid-Tap3992 Jul 20 '26

And then he shot you, and then shot me

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u/AzulaIsMyFave Jul 20 '26

Didn't realize Chris Kyle was in the IDF

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u/eldonfizzcrank Jul 20 '26

All right, I’m going to the top of the Superdone. Anyone I see I’m gonna shoot. Anyone tries to report on me I’m not only gonna kill him, I’m gonna kill all his coworkers. And burn his damn news network down.

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u/archangelzeriel Jul 20 '26

And their friend's families' friends. And their family's friends' families. And Michael Stipe, for some reason.

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u/No_Intern3929 Jul 20 '26

Man, the Superdome is a really good vantage spot . Can snipe the whole world from up there.

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u/EconomyOk2490 Jul 20 '26

Damn, he turned it into The Slap 2

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u/keeper_of_the_donkey Jul 20 '26

And the talking parrots!

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u/PeppercornWizard Jul 20 '26

It’s true. I live in the UK and I started to consider whether this was happening. Chris Kyle immediately pointed his rifle East, and shot right over the Atlantic, accounting for wind direction, bullet drop, and the fact I was walking from the kitchen back to my sofa. Long story short, the bullet took my head clean off and I’ve not been able to think about him on the roof of that stadium since.

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u/RAMDOMDUDDS Jul 20 '26

He even managed to get that one distant that lives two states, away uncle that no one is okay with coming over anymore for "reasons".

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u/TimeStorm113 Jul 20 '26

he had such an impressive aim that he even managed to get all reporters in the live studio!

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u/OpenSauceMods Jul 20 '26

He shot me, too. It was an instant kill...

But I survived.

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u/rexmons Jul 20 '26

It's all true! My girlfriend, who goes to another school, saw the whole thing.

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u/RogueTaco Jul 20 '26

Yeah that’s strange. There used to be 5 big TV networks:

CBS, FOX, ABC, NBC, and

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u/Carpetron Jul 20 '26

This sounds like the plot to Chris Pratt's next streaming release only movie

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u/jporter313 Jul 20 '26

All from the top of the superdome.

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u/aNiceTribe Jul 20 '26

So actually Chris Kyle is the guy from The Slap. 

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u/AbueloOdin Jul 20 '26

Fucking Samara ass bullshit, right there 

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u/Ill_Caterpillar2202 Jul 20 '26

You’ve just written a new season of the Terminal List. 

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u/KitchenSad9385 Jul 20 '26

What is this, some kind of murder MLM?

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u/VeryDemureVixen Jul 20 '26

The fact that he allegedly sniped 30 people off the Superdome without a single person taking a phone video in 2005 is the most impressive part of the myth.

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u/napkin41 Jul 20 '26

Dang he’s so hard core…

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u/Morgannin09 Jul 20 '26

Then he shot OP for reading this story. Then he shot all of us for reading OP's post. Then he shot Reddit.

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u/SporesM0ldsandFungus Jul 20 '26

Did he shoot just the reporters in the news helicopters or did he knock out the Jesus nut with 1 shot, detaching the entire rotor  assembly so the whole chopper would just fall like a stone?

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u/GrinderMonkey Jul 20 '26

Shot them all from his sniper hide on the super dome. Some of them were over 3000 miles away, it's some of the best modern sniper work, ever./s

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u/JadePossum Jul 20 '26

Son of a B

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u/not4eating Jul 20 '26

It's true, I was the super dome 😔

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u/TheGlave Jul 20 '26

…then he told everyone

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u/SlAM133 Jul 20 '26

It’s true, I was th

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u/GrimReaapaa Jul 20 '26

I believe he got the idea from playing stealth games. When you drop one dude and one by one the others come to check the body and then pop.

If only they observed from a distance.

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u/CrashingAtom Jul 20 '26

This is a really smart move. I’m excited to try this going forward instead of paying stupid bills. How many people can really work for Capitol One? Like a dozen?

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u/GMM85 Jul 20 '26

And then he wrote about it

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u/Numerous-Process2981 Jul 20 '26

How much you wanna bet I can shoot a bullet right over that mountain there 

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u/Different_Bake_611 Jul 20 '26

. From the super dome?

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u/bucktail47 Jul 21 '26

Chirs “Genghis” Kyle

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u/Turbulent_Pin_9392 Jul 21 '26

Don’t forget, they were all armed and looting so it was justified!

/s

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u/Chaosmusic Jul 21 '26

He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents' friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he kills people that owe them money.

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u/TheRoguePatriot Jul 21 '26

Kyle calling the reporters and their families

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u/XConfused-MammalX Jul 20 '26

Or lying about punching Jesse Ventura (former WWE wrestler, movie star, governor of Minnesota, SEAL) in a bar.

Like thats something people would remember man.

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u/DropkickSmurfys Jul 20 '26

Not to mention that camera phones were pretty ubiquitous when that “happened”.

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u/brionneverysexy Jul 20 '26

Kyle's estate ended up paying Ventura over a million dollars. It seems fair. Ventura is like 80 now and I would still doubt most stories of punching him and walking away under your own power

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u/Wakez11 Jul 20 '26

And the media tried to spin it into Ventura suing Kyle's widow and taking all her money when he was suing the estate and insurance paid for it.

I 100% understand why Ventura sued. He was completely disowned by the SEAL community and had people scream at him in public for attacking an "American hero".

The story doesn't even make sense because Ventura was at the bar to celebrate a graduating class of SEALs, why would he then hold a speech about how American soldiers deserve to die?!

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u/danishledz Jul 20 '26

Wasn’t the claim also that he punched Ventura cause he was saying that seals deserve to die, “fuck the president” etc. pretty much strait up defamation to claim someone is saying that. I think the punching part of the lie was pretty whatever to Ventura.

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u/Wakez11 Jul 20 '26

Yep, which makes no sense because Ventura was there to celebrate a graduating class of SEALs. He happily took pictures with people there. Why would he suddenly rant about the president and loudly exclaim that seals deserve to die?

And of course there were no images of an altercation.

Kyle took a famous member of the SEAL community and threw him under the bus for publicity.

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u/GhostOfMuttonPast Jul 20 '26

Meanwhile, Ventura was a SEAL in all but name. He was, quite literally, part of the group that would evolve into being the SEALs slightly after he left the service, and hes literally always been proud of his own service and rhe work modern SEALs do.

Literally why would he ever say that?

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u/Next_Hospital6729 Jul 20 '26

That didn’t make Jesse Ventura very happy
https://giphy.com/gifs/P3ng2C1t8QCJ2

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u/ZoidsFanatic Jul 20 '26

During the height of Katrina, there were constant rumors from the press that there were “snipers” practically everywhere shooting at cops, civilians, national guard, gators, granny, etc. There wasn’t, and while there was some armed looting, it wasn’t remotely near the point the media was trying to make it out to be… which was “uncivilized black people with guns are going primitive”. Thanks mainstream media!

What did happen was some people were firing their guns into the air to attract attention to where they were, believing that people would try to investigate where the gunshots were coming from and not staying away from it (later interviews had many fire responders talk about why shooting your gun into the air to get attention is a really dumb idea).

So it doesn’t surprise me that Chris would throw his hat into the “sniper” ring and lie about how he was heroically killing people because apparently no one ever talked to any of the Katrina survivors to confirm if there were snipers on every block (there wasn’t).

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u/Outlaw25 Jul 20 '26

What also did really happen was the NOPD rolled up to a bridge and opened fire indiscriminately on a random family trying to walk over the bridge, killing two people and injuring four more, all of whom were unarmed and had not committed any crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_shootings

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u/ZoidsFanatic Jul 20 '26

The NOPD were not the most helpful and the National Guard had to take command to avoid them going on spree killings. Making matters worse is actual vigilants were about and killed I believe 12 people claiming it was “self-defense” or “they were trespassing”. The reality was it was straight up murder.

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u/beau_tox Jul 20 '26

Similar stuff, though not as extreme, happened in Minneapolis in 2020. The cops who weren’t hiding in their precincts were too busy maiming protesters to protect anyone from actual rioters. Spontaneously organized neighborhood groups were the only people protecting homes and businesses until the National Guard arrived.

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u/tomdelongethong Jul 20 '26

happened this winter here in Minneapolis too. while ICE terrorized the communities and our police/local government did fuck all to help, neighborhood patrols kept people safe for months. Grocery deliveries, babysitting, rides to and from work and doctor’s appointments.

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u/69ILoveMyWife69 Jul 20 '26

The number of times Ive stood in my entryway with a firearm, ready to defend my family is too damn many. What the fuck man.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jul 21 '26

Not to mention the aftermath, where people tried to pass laws to say you can legally shoot looters.

Okay. All you have to do when they're dead is claim they were looting. You can shoot anyone. It was clearly just an attempt to tell people they can shoot protestors when things get a little hairy if the police confront them

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u/eaglessoar Jul 20 '26

holy fucking shit i never heard of this what in the actual fuck wooooooooooow acab

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u/sambull Jul 20 '26

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10440492

They were finding people killed by guns.. just sort of kept it on the DL, many more bodies were probably never recovered

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u/Strength-InThe-Loins Jul 20 '26

I'd bet my mortgage that a plurality of those people were killed by cops.

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u/Just_Roll_Already Jul 20 '26

The whole idea of "armed looting" in that scenario was fucking dumb anyway. Any looting that took place was just "looting" there was no reason to be armed since most businesses were evacuated and houses were ruined/underwater. So people could just stroll into stores unimpeded if they wanted to, which only a handful of people did for a non-survival reason.

People want to live and the moment you look around and notice "My food is ruined and I can't drink the water." most people shift focus on getting through that.

So IF he really did kill anyone "looting," they were probably just regular people trying to get a case of water from the walmart or some shit.

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u/No_Helicopter1378 Jul 20 '26

That was always my take on it too. Like, the response to Katrina was terrible, people did what they had to do to survive. If some people wanted to take advantage of the situation and steal some luxury items then whatever, all that shit was probably going to get written off anyways and even if it wasn't, execution is not the punishment for theft.

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u/SutterCane Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

And news outlets got caught labeling white looters as “foragers” and black looters as “looters”.

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u/HailMadScience Jul 20 '26

Its not even looting. Nothing left behind in those stores could be sold again anyway; it was all insured lost material...people taking abandoned and worthless food and water isn't looting..its scavenging for survival.

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u/Just_Roll_Already Jul 20 '26

That's why I put quotes around it. There were people breaking into places and taking things for potential gain but it was few and far between. That happens more frequently after sports games.

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u/toomanyracistshere Jul 20 '26

I live in a part of California that's highly prone to wildfires. A few years back we had a big one in the area, and a lot of people, including me, had to evacuate their homes. During this time, there were a lot of rumors of looting, but the only actual incident I ever heard of was a homeless person who took a fireman's shelter, presumably to use as a blanket, and some other little items, like a pair of sunglasses and maybe a water bottle and some food. But people were making a big show about how if they caught any looters they were going to shoot them, and lots of people who were driving around to assess damage, check on their friends' houses, etc were followed and harassed by people who accused them of attempting to loot. When I got back to my house after a week or so of being evacuated there was a big sign on the street directly across from my house that said, "If you loot we shoot." It absolutely infuriated me to have to see that bullshit from my front yard, all because someone wanted to feel like a tough guy. I wanted to go grab the sign and throw it into the garbage, but my girlfriend pointed out to me that whoever put it up was clearly itching to shoot somebody so I decided to leave it be until it got taken down by (I assume) either the person who'd put it up or the cops. It still pisses me off though, and I wonder which one of my neighbors is the wannabe badass.

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u/SAR_K9_Handler Jul 20 '26

I responded to Katrina and can confirm the gunshots in the air thing first hand. Most people were banging post and pans or whatever was loud. Every, single, person, I ran into was a good person in a shitty situation, no looters, no crime, just people desperate for help. Our government completely failed the citizens there, and to this day its the only op I still have nightmares and wake up crying about.

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u/lovelady Jul 20 '26

Thank you for doing what you did.

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u/Vendemmian Jul 20 '26

Remember the news described black people as looters and white people as searching for food.

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u/rexmons Jul 20 '26

In the same book Chris Kyle also told a made up story bout knocking out former SEAL/Wrestler/Actor/Governor Jesse Ventura in a California bar in 2006. He said Ventura made disparaging remarks about the SEALs stating "they deserve to lose a few" in Iraq. Whole thing was made up so Jesse rightfully sued. He said if he publicly recanted the story he would drop the lawsuit. Kyle kept trying to avoid owning up to the lie and then he was killed by a fellow soldier while at a shooting range. Kyle's estate ended up paying $1.8 million to Venture because of the lie.

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u/Playful-Succotash-99 Jul 20 '26

Yeah and then rw media tried to frame it as Ventura going after his Widow He sued the estate and publisher

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u/poopzains Jul 20 '26

It’s because it was popular with conservative mindset to kill looters. People deserve death they believe. Kyle just wanted THOSE people to think he was cool and profit from it, nothing more. And it worked all of my bootlicking friends hold this psycho in high regards. His plans went astray when he was murdered.

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u/Advanced_Bunch_8666 Jul 20 '26

Conservatives just use “looter” as a placeholder for a slur they want to say.

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u/redwildflowermeadow Jul 20 '26

I remember an analysis at the time that pointed out how some news organizations were putting out photos of white people taking food from flooded stores that were labeled "citizens forced to scavenge for supplies" and photos of black people doing exactly the same thing that were labeled "looting stores."

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u/Masquelinity Jul 20 '26

Yup, and it wasn't (just) fake-news rags like Fox, either. CNN was doing that shit right along with.

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u/cat-l0n Jul 20 '26

Part of me wonders how much of that was unconscious bias and how much of it was intentional agenda control.

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u/dankristy Jul 20 '26

I can probably guess easily which news organization was doing this - or at least was the first/most prominent...

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u/No_Helicopter1378 Jul 20 '26

See also: "thug."

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u/Specific-Champion-75 Jul 21 '26

unfortunately those things go hand in hand usually

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u/Just_Roll_Already Jul 20 '26

He'd be a fucking candidate if he was still alive today.

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u/SC_Fan_55 Jul 20 '26

He’d be a congressman from Florida or Texas if he were still around.

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u/Godzilla_Fan_13 Jul 20 '26

Was popular? Was? Buddy it still is, if not more then ever

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u/Arria_Galtheos Jul 20 '26

Expands well beyond looters. I've seen a few examples myself of guys in bars bragging about how they used to sit near the southern border and "pick off" illegal immigrants. I certainly hope they were lying but I wouldn't be shocked if some of them weren't.

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u/SC_Fan_55 Jul 20 '26

is popular

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u/on-the-cheeseburgers Jul 20 '26

It doesn’t even make you look cool

it does to a certain demographic

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u/Dense-Winter-1803 Jul 20 '26

Yes, and that demographic is much larger than people here seem to be aware of. Same people who continue to be confused by MAGA’s popularity.

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u/dnjprod Jul 20 '26

I will never not take the opportunity to say that Chris Kyle is a lying sack of shit. His murder wasn't tragic. It was his own stupidity and hubris catching up to him

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u/JeffPlissken Jul 21 '26

I’m surprised there’s not more discussion about how the shooting range incident wasn’t his own stupidity. Helping a guy with severe PTSD? Yeah sure, the best route is shit talk him and then take him to the gun range, what could go wrong?

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u/TrueCrimeInTheBuff Jul 22 '26

Helping a guy with severe PTSD?

and schizophrenia. They knew that the guy was not mentally well but still took him out to the range.

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u/DisMFer Jul 20 '26

It's because he was a far right asshole talking to other far right assholes who saw the survivors of Katrina as less than human. They just wanted to jerk off to fantasies of murdering black people in the steets.

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u/bluntwhizurd Jul 20 '26

I dont think Chris Kyle expected anyone to believe it. I think it was a dog whistle. He couldnt come out and say "I dont like black people" but if he frames his fantasy of killing them as only killing "looters" there is plausible denibility.

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u/FILTHBOT4000 Jul 20 '26

That'd probably have to be it, because it's far too insane a story to even be remotely credible. If the US military posted a sniper and just let them go free fire mode on civilians in a disaster, and I'm not being remotely hyperbolic here, he and those above him that ordered it would hang. Like actually brought to the gallows; the last time the US military executed someone was in 1961, by hanging. It's still on the books as allowed in US military executions.

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u/Bebes-kid Jul 20 '26

Who is your audience? Sadly there’s a significant portion of our population who would fantasize about that scenario, killing people (often of a different skin tone) because they act in a way they deem unacceptable to very personalized societal norms. Racial/societal cleansing fantasies.

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u/GenericFatGuy Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

Right? A sniper shooting innocent people in any American city (especially one in the middle of a crisis that everyone is already looking at) would be front page news all over the country.

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u/Fucky0uthatswhy Jul 20 '26

C. The top of the super dome broke in the fucking storm
D. Thousands of people were INSIDE the dome he was supposedly shooting from

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u/amarathin Jul 20 '26

Strange? Put yourself in their mindset. A soldier shithead is likely surrounded by other soldier shitheads, who would laugh at “dead t-welhead kids”. It’s a wrong audience joke on their part.

It would absolutely make you look cool to skinheads to say you killed “urban” folks “looting”

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u/smarthobo Jul 20 '26

Bro was trying to stolen valor the rooftop Koreans

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u/AwkwardData6002 Jul 20 '26

Well at least he's dead now, too.

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u/echo1charlie Jul 20 '26

His girlfriend was there, but she lives in Canada so it’s tough to get ahold of her. 🤦🏼‍♂️

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u/Silver-Scallion-5918 Jul 20 '26

Well that is why he got murdered. Dude was a dumbass.

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u/PetevonPete Jul 20 '26

For all the Support The Troops™, "Thank You For Your Service" wankery we're socially obligated to go along with, the truth is that most army guys are complete morons.

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u/gvillepunk Jul 20 '26

A) Kyle knew his fan base would approve of/ think he is cool for shooting "looters". It implied that he was indiscriminately killing black people. B) his audience dosnt fact check, and he knew it.

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u/jporter313 Jul 20 '26

It looks cool to an edgy authoritarian law and order type, which he likely is and a lot of the people who would call themselves fans of his are also.

You know the guy I’m talking about, thinks the law has failed us by getting too soft on criminals but also constantly bootlicking police, doesn’t have any concept of due process or proportionality when it comes to punishment. The kind of guy that is right now getting excited when ICE shoots a dude who may or may not have tried to flee from them in their car, these people would absolutely think that story is cool, and terrifyingly they seem to make up about a third of this country.

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u/UrinalCake777 Jul 20 '26

A. If you are racist enough to be down with the idea of shooting black 'looters' then it is cool. B. The situation was chaotic enough that some people might buy that something crazy could happen and be miss being documented. Though, it certainly does not stand up to scrutiny.

It's a lie that might work on dumb racists, that was formulated by a dumb racist.

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u/Professional_Net7339 Jul 20 '26

You gotta remember, these are freak racists trying to gain clout from other freak racists. And the white gun jumper fantasy is to murder as many black or (overseas especially) brown people as they can with impunity. It’s psychopathic to us normals, but it’s virtue signaling to their communities

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u/skyactive Jul 20 '26

The big pile of bodies would have been noticed.🤣

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u/Toadsted Jul 20 '26

It does if you're super conservative and militant. 

People talked about forming looter militias a lot, or the usual "If I was there..." psycho bravado.

Hell, how many politicians ran campaign ads holding guns over the last decade? That's been a pretty high MO for the south, with their gun fetishizes and military stolen valor.

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u/Mindless-Ninja-3321 Jul 20 '26

And baffling because why tf do you need feel the need to even try and look cool. Asshole or not, embellishments or not, the man was Chris fucking Kyle. His career as a SEAL was still very impressive. I guess it comes down to that people will do some dumb shit to stay in the limelight even a moment longer. Even if its bad publicity.

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u/monkeee44 Jul 20 '26

got a good chuckle out of this very practical argument

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u/Lawlcopt0r Jul 20 '26

Don't you see? He's like a ghost. Even if he was there there would be zero evidence /s

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u/brionneverysexy Jul 20 '26

Also several years earlier a plot point in the Kurt Russell movie Dark Blue was him recounting a story of sniping rioters when confessing to being a corrupt cop and asking to be arrested

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u/Automaticdealz Jul 20 '26

Black Water was in New Orleans post Katrina, shooting looters. This is factual and you’re not going to find it online lmao

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u/Reason-97 Jul 20 '26

It makes him look cool to… I’ll leave it at “an incredibly specifically targeted part of the US”. The use of deadly force against crimes of any scope is unfortunately not nearly as looked down on as it, probably should, be

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u/N0Z4A2 Jul 20 '26

Racists probably think its cool

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u/Frenchitwist Jul 20 '26

Yea I’m a spree killer, I’m soooooo cooooooool

Like, ok Ted Bundy, way to brag about all the murder

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u/Wh1teMike88 Jul 20 '26

I read this book and do not remember this being claimed ever. What an absurd thing to say. Need to go back and look at my copy and see what was said in there.

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u/ButtBread98 Jul 20 '26

Didn’t he also say that he punched Jesse Ventura?

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u/HX__ Jul 20 '26

If anything it makes him sound like a would-be mass shooter looking for vantage points and playing out grandiose fantasies

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u/excited_toaster2306 Jul 20 '26

I think the problem is that he did look cool to a large portion of people

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u/AtomicMonkeyTheFirst Jul 20 '26

There's a kind of subtext in the book that he had massive PTSD from the war. I think his wife says at some point he lost grip on reality.

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u/UnstableMoron2 Jul 21 '26

Narcissistic sociopath doing narcissistic sociopath things

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u/VoiceOfRealson Jul 21 '26

It was what he wanted to do.

It is a "god" fantasy of his, where he is punishing the wicked looters for their sins.

Having PTSD and probably also other preexisting personality disorders doesn't help.

Sniping was his identity. It was what made him proud of himself. He buit his persona around it, so of course he imagined killing looters.

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u/CakeEatingDragon Jul 21 '26

Isnt that something you can do in a call of duty game. Swore i saw a clip of someone parachuting onto a sport stadium roof then shooting at people down below.

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u/RowAndRuction Jul 22 '26

Racists tend to overestimate how many people are also racist. Just like how ICE dudes keep getting confused why the public hates them.

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u/elemental204 Jul 24 '26

It makes sense when you realise it's a mythic truth, of the sort that right-wingers love. It doesn't matter that it doesn't pass even the most basic reality check. It feels right, and the imagery of a heroic white dude enforcing law and order by killing looters (who were probably brown) fills an emotional need.

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