Wait. A Pinkerton agent killed a right-wing protester in an event that was, initially, blamed on anarchists.

It really is the 20s now, huh?

More seriously, I think it is worth paying attention (as members of the media) to the fact that this killing was part of a cycle of rising threats/intimidation of media and media response to that. The Pinkerton was hired by the local TV station. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/10/us/Denver-shooting-protest.html

I'm not sure what the correct way to deal with this cycle is. I know a LOT of journalists who are legitimately concerned for their own safety right now. They get verbal and mail and telephone threats. You can buy t-shirts that celebrate murdering us.

But I also worry about the ways we can end up escalating situations in an attempt to protect ourselves. This murder feels like a tragedy that didn't have to happen. How do you thread that needle?

I spent last weekend learning how to punch, just to have at least one basic self-defense move for myself. And I was worried going in about, like, "How do you know when to punch and when to just keep de-escalating." Turns out, the mechanics of punching kind of solve that ...

It sounds silly to say I didn't realize how close you have to be to somebody to punch them, but I didn't really realize how close you have to be to somebody to punch them. If someone gets up threatening you close enough to punch, it's probably time to punch.

This is a very rambly thread, because I don't have fully formed thoughts on this. Except to say that I understand why reporters want some kind of security. But how do we do that and also make sure we aren't the ones aggressing?