By David Futrelle
At least two shooters– apparently working with others — have gunned down multiple victims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, leaving 49 dead.
One of the shooters livestreamed his attack on Facebook and left behind a white supremacist manifesto railing against foreign “invaders” and declaring himself — using language popular on 4chan and alt-right sites — a “kebab removalist.” The attackers apparently also had explosives. Four people are in custody.; it’s not known if there are still others out there.
Please post any reliable information you have at this situation develops.
Find ongoing coverage at Stuff.co.nz here CNN here, and the Guardian here.
More coverage from Stuff, Vox.
Copy of the “manifesto” on Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zxppu10nt4l6j2w/The%20Great%20Replacement.docx?dl=0
Looks like he made some money from Bitcoin. Hopefully he’ll have plenty of time to explain blockchain to fellow prisoners.
Australian pol being reliably vile about this on twitter:
https://twitter.com/fraser_anning
https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/media-nz-shooting-manifesto/
The media is ill-equipped to properly report on shitposting culture.
Moggie, yep. And the asshole who wrote the manifesto was counting on that.
It’s garbage that reads like a call to arms for similarly inclined losers. That’s all anyone needs to know. And yeah the media aren’t capable of restraint over here, even just out of respect for the victims.
Oh Jesus fuck.
OK I know this is just my English-major self, but nevertheless:
WHAT THE FUCK do you mean, prefacing your /manifesto/ with Dylan Thomas? Just… NO. Don’t DO that.
Christ. Dylan Thomas would have drunk you under the table, you fuckwits. No to mention that instead of ranting about “white genocide,” he actually just delved into his ancestral culture and used it to create some fucking great poetry.
Seriously, asswipes, THAT’S a contribution to “white” culture. The FUCK have you done? KILLING PEOPLE DOESN’T COUNT.
Grrrrr….
I mean, Christ, mates, that poem was about -mourning his father’s death-. You really think THIS is what he meant?
Oh, wait, of course it is…
And so shortly after this, too. A Drumpf-supporting Coast Guard lieutenant was caught plotting to kill prominent Democrats and journalists, but will NOT be charged with terrorism. Gee, I wonder why?
I’m heartsick.
Condolences to the families.
Dead after dead, massacre after massacre, they seem to want to build a civil war all around the world. A war they believe so hard they would win. Damn fuckers.
Hugs to all the NZ readers.
I’ve been fearing a big shooting here in Minneapolis given the intense focus the right has had on our congressperson Ilhan Omar lately. I’d like to attend an event where’s she’s speaking at some point, but honestly would be scared to.
There’s a pair of fundraisers going out for victims and their families.
One is by the Socialist Rifle Association, who are explicitly anti-fascist, pro-gun control and accountability, on gofundme
https://www.gofundme.com/sra-fund-for-victims-of-christchuch-shooting
and one is a direct NZ backed on
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurch-shooting-victims-fund
Honestly, I’m not shocked by the rightwing reaction. The dude’s manifesto is so memey and stereotypical that it sounds like a pure parody. “Left-wing false flag” honestly feels like a legit take.
I mean, 49 people are DEAD ANYWAY, but sure. We’re using it as political fuel from hour 0 and doing exactly what the shooters want.
I haven’t been able to read all the comments on here yet, but thanks for doing an open thread,David. I’ll try to read it later on. Just found out when I got to work this morning.
What an horror.
The comment from Tripoli annoy and frighten me a lot.
It’s time to lock up Owens and Pewdiepie. It’s the only way to be sure.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible terrorist attack.
Here is a change.org page calling for Fraser Anning’s removal from the senate. It probably won’t do much, but it’s better than nothing at the moment.
This is awful. I’m so sorry for all the folks who lost people, and for everyone who feels unsafe because of these evil, awful, and scummy humans.
It’s awful.
New Zealanders in the thread, thanks for letting us know you’re okay (for a certain definition of okay).
All the internet hugs.
Fuck off, Tripoli.
We did politicize this. It already is political. There’s no way to sepetate politics from the rising tide of authatarianism and right wing violence around the world.
And no, false claims are not legit.
@Rabbit I would postulate that Trump is not looking for opportunities to signal to the world that he is not an islamophobe, but is rather looking for plausibly deniable opportunities to signal to his base he is an islamophobe.
@Moggie:
https://twitter.com/fraser_anning/status/1106432499704451072
“Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?”
Seriously? That’s almost Swiftian, except I’m afraid the senator is in earnest. Is this guy for real?
I am thinking of New Zealand with love and sorrow this morning. Friends, you’re in my heart.
He may have thought it was some laughworthy shitposting stuff to bring up Owens and pewdiepie but legit if this leads to both of those wretches being deplatformed that’d be a big blow against the alt-right, they’re both on the pipeline from dumb youtube videos to radicalization.
I don’t really know what to say but I just wanted to say something to add one more voice of support for the victims, their families, the people of New Zealand, and people worldwide who are at risk from white supremacist violence.
There was also an anti-Muslim pogrom in the Netherlands.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/03/267848/teens-attack-moroccan-family-netherlands/
Anyone who isn’t terrified has not been paying attention.
This Canadian sends his thoughts to New Zealand. We were here just a couple years ago when it happened in Quebec City. Shit, I was in the exact spot the Toronto van attack happened just the day before in went down.
I’m… just tired. A lot of it is the time change to Daylight Savings time (which has been affecting me more and more as the years go by), but I just… don’t have the emotional energy to invest into the same cycle anymore, where all our warnings about dehumanization and fearmongering gets ignored, the stochastic terrorists all line up their plausible deniability excuses and the headlines eventually recede until this happens again in a year or two.
I’ll say it was rather remarkable for all the HuffPost trolls always going on about Syrian refugees in Canada suddenly act all gobsmacked and “How could this happen?!”
I’ll also agree with the posters above that we really need a reckoning with the 4chan shitposting community. If there was any justice in this world, any dabbling in that cesspool would be seen as the nihilistic extremism that we all know it is and we’d react to it as if a loved one had just joined a doomsday cult.
*sigh* Think I’ll grab some seeds and head down to Grenadier Pond this weekend. Feed some ducks.