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The same voices now expressing horror at the prospect of a public firing squad for the Fort Hood terrorist once flooded social media with praise for the man who gunned down a healthcare executive on a Manhattan sidewalk. They treated that killing as righteous payback rather than cold-blooded murder, sharing memes and defending the shooter as a folk hero.Those reactions did not stop there. When a conservative speaker was assassinated in front of an audience, large numbers of the same people posted celebrations, jokes, and anniversary tributes instead of condemnation. The difference in tone was immediate and unmistakable.A legal execution of a convicted mass murderer who shouted religious slogans while shooting unarmed soldiers draws outrage, yet political assassinations of private citizens and public figures draw cheers. The standard appears to depend entirely on the identity of the victim.