this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
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Danielle Johnson was worried about the eclipse. 

The astrology influencer and “divine healer” who went by the name Danielle Ayoka online called the upcoming astronomical event “the epitome of spiritual warfare” and told people they needed to “pick a side,” in posts on X on April 4.

Less than three days later, in the early morning before the partial solar eclipse, Johnson left a trail of tragedy in her wake: her partner stabbed to death in the kitchen of the family apartment in Woodland Hills, her 8-month-old baby dead after being pushed from Johnson’s moving Porsche Cayenne on the 405, and Johnson herself dead after crashing her car on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 141 points 2 years ago (6 children)

There are 2-5 solar eclipses every year and people still went nuts and committed murder this time.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 85 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Total solar eclipses happen every one to three years...

Also, people go nuts and kill people every damn day

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 42 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (11 children)

The sun exists every single day, too... Hmmm 🤔

The answer is clear. The sun causes violence.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

To be fair, THE sun is ^a^ 𝒹ℯ𝒶𝒹𝓁𝓎 ʟᴀᴢ0ʀ.

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[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 years ago

Sun is closest to a Lovecraftian Great Old One that we have out there

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[–] alvvayson@lemmy.world 32 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yep. The sad fact is that if there was no eclipse, she would have rationalized it differently and blamed something else.

Perhaps a storm, the full moon, the spoiled milk in her fridge, etc.

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

I'm going with meteor shower.

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[–] zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

And on top of that, they're predictable hundreds of years in advance. We've known exactly when and where this eclipse was going to happen since before her grandparents were born. But somehow it's a bad omen.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

We know the position of the planets know to the second. Still not a single astrologer predicted COVID except in the usual vague "There might be a challenge ahead" kind of predictions.

[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 14 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Esotericism is absolute cancer. A lot of those people don't even understand that eclipses are very localized events. They're moronically stupid. Even more so if they're people of color, because this whole subculture is full of Neonazis.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Bro there are tons of reasons to hate New Age without pretending it's a front for the Alt Right

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[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 78 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Patches@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Probably the most work an influencer ever performed in one day.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 64 points 2 years ago (34 children)

Under the Ayoka moniker, Johnson issued a torrent of antisemitic screeds, conspiracy theories and alarmist warnings on April 4 and 5. These included a repost of a debunked apocryphal speech attributed to Ben Franklin about how Jewish people “depreciated” societies wherever they settled, a video about Jews promoting pedophilia in the entertainment industry, and unproven theories about the origin of COVID-19.

Yeah I'm gonna say that mental illness played a part in this.

Also apparently the kid that pushed out of the car survived. I hope they're able to handle it.

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[–] Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 55 points 2 years ago (1 children)

with more than 100,000 followers on X who liked her increasingly worrying messages.

It's all happening on X!

[–] lorkano@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's happening on every platform, don't look for one to blame

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[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 53 points 2 years ago (2 children)

A great reminder that not every astrologist is after your money. Some are also just complete maniacs.

[–] Frozengyro@lemmy.world 30 points 2 years ago (1 children)

She was driving a Porsche, definitely was after people's money too.

[–] TurtleJoe@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

She also offered a $6.99 per month home purifying cleanse that stripped people’s residences of “stagnant energy,” citing better sleep and an increased “vibration” as some of the benefits. Activating the service was simple: purchase the cleanse, get a piece of paper and title it “home purifying cleanse” and write your address on it. Then tuck it away in a safe place, she wrote.

Definitely a grifter.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Reminds me of that flat-earther Behind The Curve documentary. Such conspiracy theorist and woowoo believers basically fall into the grifted, and the grifters. Those outcast and outsiders who lack critical-thinking skills and who find community in like-minded eccentrics, and the ones just exploiting the gullible for money.

Similar with maga cult, too.

[–] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 50 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Why does anyone need an "astrology influencer"

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 8 points 2 years ago

Desperate escapism?

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[–] BabyYodel@lemmy.ml 47 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Those poor babies. Who the fuck throws an 8 month old and 9 year old out of a moving vehicle on the freeway?! What a monster. I hope that 9 year old girl is able to heal from this… by some miracle. Such a senseless tragedy.

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 36 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They won't. People don't recover from things like this. Just hope they can find a loving relative to live with and come to terms with it later.

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[–] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 30 points 2 years ago

Some serious mental illness

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago

In her defense she was left unsupervised

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Anyone who unironically begins a statement with "WAKE UP" all in caps like that can safely be assumed to, shall we say, have a tenuous grasp on reality.

[–] dudinax@programming.dev 14 points 2 years ago (4 children)

WAKE UP the sea surface temperature anomaly is far exceeding last year's and last year's was record breaking.

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[–] geekworking@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago

Social media doesn't necessiarially cause mental health issues, but it definitely dumps a tanker truck of gasoline on any spark of mental illness.

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 9 points 2 years ago

Nightfall is a few levels above an eclipse on Earth. I finally got the idea that Asimov was going for when playing Elite Dangerous and visiting the core, seeing millions of stars vs. what we see in our solar system. It is a bit maddening.

[–] TurtleJoe@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Under the Ayoka moniker, Johnson issued a torrent of antisemitic screeds, conspiracy theories and alarmist warnings on Thursday and Friday. These included a repost of a debunked apocryphal speech attributed to Ben Franklin about how Jewish people “depreciated” societies wherever they settled, a video about Jews promoting pedophilia in the entertainment industry, and unproven theories about the origin of COVID-19.

This is qanon shit. Don't know why OP didn't include it in their excerpts of the article.

[–] Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

I didn’t include it because it wasn’t in the first three paragraphs. My excerpt is literally the beginning of the article.

[–] Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

…yeah, I don’t have words for this one past “wtf?!”

[–] unreasonabro@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I mean, that wasn't a conspiracy theory, her religion lead her to do that. Raving about the apocalypse and trying to get raptured and shit

The nutjobs are the real idealists, and yet they always hate the left wing and support the me-me-me guys. What gives?

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