This argument, that Americans’ feelings create a culture of violence, was famously used by Paul Krugman and others immediately after the 2011 Tucson shooting. It turned out none of what Krugman and others claimed was true with regard to Jared Loughner, the deranged killer in Tucson, and we still don’t know if it’s true now. Both the Chapel Hill shooting (in which an atheist murdered three Muslims) and the killing in Texas last week (by unidentified suspects) are still under investigation.

Vox’s argument is completely at odds with their reaction to the shooting of two NYPD officers last December, where a minority man was the perpetrator. Officers Liu and Ramos were murdered by black Muslim Ismaaiyl Brinsley last December while sitting in their patrol car.

“I’m putting wings on pigs today,” Brinsley wrote on Istagram just before the shooting, adding “They take 1 of ours…Let’s take 2 of theirs #ShootThePolice #RIPErivGarner #RIPMikeBrown This may be my final post I’m putting pigs in a blanket.” While Brinsley declared he was going to gun down cops in revenge for the deaths of strong-arm robbery suspect Michael Brown and petty career criminal Eric Garner, Vox said Brinsley’s motive was a mystery.