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.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    93
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

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

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      59
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Total solar eclipses happen every one to three years…

      Also, people go nuts and kill people every damn day

      • alvvayson@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

    • zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      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
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year 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.

    • Rookwood@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      There won’t be another total eclipse in the contiguous US until 2044. Still no reason to kill someone.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    43
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

      • MJKee9@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Jewish communities are often insular, which leads to an impression of otherness. Orthodox Jews may not frequent non-jewish run restaurants or other businesses due to religious restrictions/ pressure (i.e dietary restrictions). Often, those communities congregate in the same neighborhoods, within walking distance of synagogues and schools (prohibitions against driving on the Sabbath). There is pressure to frequent businesses and professional services of those neighbors. Also, the closer you live to someone, the more likely you are to have a relationship with those people (propinquity), which strengthens community integration. They are a minority religion, with obstacles to new participants joining. They may dress in identifiable ways. Wrap all of that together and you have a group of people that are often easily identified and perhaps perceived as “too good for” my restaurant, or my store or my school…etc… they become easy targets for hate.

        Ironically, almost everyone else does the same thing, it’s just less noticable especially in larger cities or towns. But go to any small town, and it’ll be easier to see the similarities. Again people’s relationships are strongly informed by religion and propinquity… But because they are a blue eyed 'merican, who never misses the baptist sermon on sunday, and wouldn’t be caught dead in Pam’s hair salon because word on the street is she might be gay, they are seen as “normal.”

  • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

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

    It’s all happening on X!

      • Sludgehammer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Yeah, I was mainly just mocking Linda Yaccarino’s attempt to force “It’s all happening on X” as a catchphrase while the site spirals down the drain. That being said, while the amount of crazy and hatred seems to be going up on every platform, X seems to be outperforming most other sites at becoming a toxic cesspit.

      • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year 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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year 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.

  • geekworking@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    1 year 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.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    I looked at a Twitter post she made, and that girl is fucking gonzo.

    To quote Ray Finkle’s father: “The engines running, there’s just no one behind the wheel.”

  • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

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

  • unreasonabro@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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?