General Discussion

I had read one of the versions of this story, did not note the order of who contacted whom, and you corrected that point. Yes, it is "still not what I posted" because I posted that yesterday before you pointed out that I had a misimpression about why this guy was talking to the ADL, because why this guy would be speaking to them at all struck me as odd.

Silly me for reading the ADL's own website when I saw the OP:

https://www.adl.org/blog/florida-white-supremacist-group-admits-ties-to-alleged-parkland-school-shooter-nikolas-cruz

A spokesperson for the white supremacist group Republic of Florida (ROF) claimed to the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, February 15, that Nikolas Cruz, the man charged with the previous day’s deadly shooting spree at a Parkland, Florida, high school, was associated with his group.

...

After self-described ROF members claimed on the discussion forum 4chan that Cruz had also been a member, the Anti-Defamation League spoke with an ROF member who identified himself as Jordan Jereb.

Now, apart from the newer "update" posted in that story, which is the one I read yesterday, it said, and still says, "After self-described ROF members claimed on the discussion forum 4chan that Cruz had also been a member, the Anti-Defamation League spoke with an ROF member who identified himself as Jordan Jereb." It really doesn't specify who called whom, and from the end of the sentence, it struck me as a person called them and "identified himself as Jordan Jereb" rather than something along the lines of "we sought out Jordan Jereb and spoke to him".

Today, the SPLC says that Jereb's been trying to get himself listed as a hate group proprietor on their website for some time. Since condemnation by the SPLC and ADL is a "badge of honor" with these people, it really didn't strike me as odd that I had read the ADL's ambiguous wording to mean that he called them. The way I had read what the ADL wrote is along the lines of Jereb having posted on 4chan and also having contacted the ADL because he wanted publicity.

By starting out with this guy "claimed to" the ADL... I took it as he contacted them to claim that. It also struck me as perhaps a twisted prank on someone's part to tell the ADL something and get the ADL to bring attention to them for whatever sick purpose the perpetrator had in mind.

But, you know what, it's still not going to be "what I posted". It's going to remain "what I posted" even after having realized that the ADL's "after this, then that" sentence didn't mean what I had first interpreted it to mean.

Oh well.