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minded audiences as hidden confession, coded language, or proof that darker forces were operating behind the scenes.
And that is perhaps the deeper story lingering beneath the violence itself: the collapse of shared reality.
There was a time when shocking public events, despite political disagreement, still produced broad consensus about what physically happened. People argued about causes, responsibility, or consequences, but the event itself remained relatively stable in public understanding. Today, however, almost every major tragedy instantly fractures into competing versions of truth. One group searches for evidence. Another searches for manipulation. A third distrusts everyone involved entirely.
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