Shortly after federal agents killed Alex Pretti Saturday morning, the Department of Homeland Security began to run with the story that the dead man had been armed and dangerous. He had a gun, DHS said. (A Bellingcat analysis of the video concludes that Pretti was unarmed when he was shot.) He had approached the agents holding the gun, DHS said. (He was holding a phone, The New York Times reports.) Pretti died on his knees, surrounded by armed Border Patrol agents, with shot after shot unloaded in his direction.

America’s Second Amendment is beloved by conservatives. Minnesota allows open carry with a permit. Pretti lived in a city where people are regularly being assaulted and even killed by the masked and armed men he was busy observing. So why has so much ink been spilled over the minutiae of his behavior? Why is it so normal for law enforcement — those who are supposed to be keepers of law and order — to kill Americans? And why is the only question at the end of the day how much their victims deserved to die?

In July 2020, DHS sent in over a hundred federal officers from various agencies to my city of Portland, Oregon. They flooded downtown with a thick fog of brownish tear gas. This didn’t neutralize the crowds — it merely hurt and enraged them. The city understood it was being intentionally tormented by sadists and chose to walk into the tear gas out of spite.

Throughout the protests, politicians and media figures fixated on whether Portland and other cities were the site of “protests” or “riots.” The distinction was drawn solely based on the behavior of the protesters, whose actions were treated as if they occurred in a vacuum. But on the ground in Portland, that felt as if it was missing the point.

The protesters’ actions blurred the definition of nonviolence. They came wearing gas masks and carrying shields. People brought leaf blowers and intentionally blew the tear gas straight back at the agents who threw the canisters. They chucked plastic water bottles at the feds because they hated them and thought it might be funny to bonk them on their militarized helmets. No one was trying to murder the feds, but nevertheless, it was not the same as linking arms and walking down the streets of Selma while singing.

But if a riot was occurring in Portland, the feds had instigated it — preemptively escalating the situation with rubber bullets and pepper balls and gas canisters, weapons that don’t simply blur the definition of “nonlethal” but literally contradict it.

These unequal expectations were unfair to civilians. And they are being applied again, with greater weight and brutality, to the people of Minneapolis.

It is obvious that ICE’s presence in Minnesota is a source of conflict and anxiety. As feds leave disorder and fear in their wake, Minnesotans without training or state-issued protective gear are being asked to behave with greater restraint than the armed agents who are supposed to be upholding the law.

Early reporting would suggest that Pretti was violently killed while engaging nonviolently with federal law enforcement. Videos show that he was holding a phone and moving to help a protester when agents grabbed him by the legs and wrestled him to the ground. The agents shout that he has a gun only after they’ve pinned him to the ground.

But whatever happened, the physical coordinates of Pretti’s purported gun in the few seconds leading up to his killing are far less relevant than the ongoing siege of the Twin Cities. What, in the face of this aggression, is so relevant about his demeanor or his attitude or how he approached the agents right before his death? Why must the victims of state violence be entrusted with the task of not escalating a situation, when they’re not drawing a salary or health insurance or pension on the taxpayer’s dime?

The people are being charged with keeping the peace, asked to stand firm against the federal agents who are disrupting it. This is a sick form of double taxation — your paycheck gets docked so that a guy in a mask can beat you up while you try to calm him down. “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” Renee Good told ICE agents moments before they shot her through the side window of her car. Did she deserve to die because she did an inadequate job of tempering their feelings?

What is the point of pinning someone to the ground before pouring pepper spray in his face? What is the point of all of this, except to anger the public, and then to respond to that anger with even more force? ICE, CBP, and Border Patrol have proven themselves incapable of obeying the law, let alone enforcing it for others; unable to self-soothe, let alone keep the peace. ICE and its ilk are not an answer to a problem, but a problem with only one solution. They are malignant, they are worthless, and they should not exist.

It’s not surprising when the guy who’s been yelling about the horrors of late-stage capitalism on Instagram for the last five years turns his ire towards ICE. But something different has been happening over the week or so, following the most recent shootings of civilians by federal agents — even accounts that stay laser focused on golfing, chopping wood, and playing cats like bongos have started to speak out.

The tenor on social media and Reddit took an even sharper turn yesterday, following the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE. Even the moderator of normally politics-free r/catbongos (a subreddit “Where gentlemen, gentlewomen, and gentlethems of quality gather to watch cats being played like bongos”) spokeout in a post where they declared that “If you still support Trump/ICE even slightly, you’re not welcome in this sub.”

That quilters on Instagram or a Facebook account dedicated to New England gravestones have decided enough, is enough, is one thing. But, judging from the comments, it seems like the government has lost the support of r/military as well. The subreddit is filled with angry posters decrying that “this is exactly what tyranny looks like” and sharing memes mocking Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. One poster claiming to be an active member of the U.S. Army who has served for 21 years said, “these guys are against all we stand for as Americans. Modern day brownshirts.”

All across Reddit, subs are being inundated with anti-ICE posts. From r/Fauxmoi, to r/NFCNorthMemeWar, and r/DungeonCrawlerCarl. There’s even been some limited signs of revolt among the members of r/conservative, some of whom have taken issue with Kristi Noem’s description of Alexi Pretti as a “domestic terrorist,” and suggested that she should “just be quiet for a while.” And arguments have broken out among community members over perceived hypocrisy around the Second Amendment.

Some big names have also joined the chorus, including Joe Santagato of The Basement Yard podcast, who posted that what was occurring on the streets of Minneapolis was “legit horrifying.” And when someone told him to “Stay out of politics,” and “get back to spitting water out of your mouth and de-jumbling words with your idiot friends.” He shot back, “De-jumble this: ksuc ym slalb.”

Canadian wrestlers and social media influencers Chris and Patrick Vörös have spoken out previously about their anti-ICE views, but took the opportunity to remind people of the only two ICE agents they support. Educational YouTube channel Primer also took to X to say this is no longer about politics, but about the “fabric of society.”

Canadian musician bbno$ decided to break his silence, even if it risked his visa and his current U.S. tour, to throw his support behind the abolish ICE movement. Even Thoren Bradley, the Axe Man himself, whose whole schtick is being a ripped rural dude who chops wood, has decided to call out the hypocrisy of the Christian conservatives to his 10.7 million followers.

That creators like Hank Green are speaking out is no surprise. But when fitness influencers, duck-painting TikTokers, football subreddits, and even Second Amendment rights activists have finally broken their silence, it seems like the government has lost control of the narrative. No matter how hard they try to spin it.

Let us know in the comments what other creators and communities have begun to speakout in the comments.

Updated January 25th: Added additional information about Reddit communities.