It’s possible, maybe likely, that’s what he meant by the 88. It doesn’t mean he had any contact with neo-nazis or neo-nazi groups. Antisocial people take on antisocial trappings — nazi or satanist or vodun or radical Muslim. I wouldn’t read too much into it.
“88” is indeed a shibboleth among neo-nazis — often in the form “88/14.” The “14” is a reference to “the fourteen words,” coined by white supremacist David Lane: “We must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children.” The “fourteen words” are a kind of John 3:16 for bigots.
You said — “It’s possible, maybe likely, that’s what he meant by the 88. It doesn’t mean he had any contact with neo-nazis or neo-nazi groups. Antisocial people take on antisocial trappings — nazi or satanist or vodun or radical Muslim. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”
No, I don’t think he was a member of any of these groups. I just think he took and borrowed from wherever he could find something, to construct for himself, in his imaginary world, a “case” for redressing the wrongs that he perceived had been done to him and to justify the action that he knew he was going to do — which was to kill all those students...