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.
@Diego Duarte
That part comes after we win the war.
Reading about this horrid thing, thinking about layers of irony and lulz and filth, brought to mind this bit from C. S. Lewis’ Perelandra:
Seeing a bunch of right-wing idiot takes all over Twitter, in effect “in publishing the manifesto/getting angry, you’re doing what the shooter wants!”
Wonder what the ratio is between the idiots saying that as A) just general idiots saying what they don’t mean out of cruelty, and B) people actually trying to hide the fact that the manifesto is all stuff they already agree with and spread.
@Ray of Rays
Considering I saw a bunch of people responding to the evidence people were providing of Owens pushing Islamophobia (including a statement that France should build up an army to fight off muslims because of “declining birth rates”) with, “that’s not radical, though?” it’s actually the third option, people who are racist and don’t see a problem with that so why are you acting like there’s a similarity between their racism and the murderers’?
I think it does and it doesn’t matter that the writer of the manifesto was trolling in parts.
It doesn’t matter in the sense of analyzing whether they’re fucked.
It doesn’t matter in the sense of needing to act.
It does matter in the sense of understanding exactly what things contribute to radicalization so that we interrupt the right things.
Deplatforming is only one of many strategies that needs to occur, but from the research I’ve seen we don’t have to, say, ban all video games that depict violence. The trolling matters in the sense that when the talking heads go on TV, some of them are going to naively make certain statements making idiots of themselves for taking some particular line in the manifesto seriously.
We lose if we overreact and ban games against cartoon dragons. We underreact if we continue to allow Candace Owens’ ilk to broadcast speech from platforms that we control. The fact that we can’t take the manifesto seriously makes it an unreliable guide to our next steps. Recognizing that is important, and so for that reason recognizing the trolling is important.
But what’s far more important is the bullshit access to the tools of mass murder that is facilitated in New Zealand, Canada, the USA and too many other places around the world.
I don’t control Youtube and have little impact in whether Pewdiepie or Candace Owens continue to post videos there. But I can send feedback and make some minor contribution to deplatforming harmful speakers. I can produce even more impact on gun control in the US by voting and in Canada (where I live but am not a citizen) by continuing to work on legal issues here and volunteering for groups attempting to draft proposed bills on the topic or educate non-lawyers on the state of legislation and what can reasonably be accomplished as a next step.
What can you all do?
I’ve been reading the manifesto [so you don’t have to] and so far I’ve got to say he is 100% serious about the shit he spews. If there’s any trolling, I’ve yet to reach it, although the document is 74 pages long and I’m still at work.
Regardless, I don’t see any intention to be “ironically Nazi”. He references birth rates over, and over, and over, and over as the number one reason why he committed the attack. He highlights his trip to France and noticing that it was full of invaders, with French people in the minorities, that spurred him into action.
So for all intents and purposes, when he points to fucking Candace Owens as one of the people who inspired or radicalized him, then you better fucking believe that he is serious. The entire tone of the manifesto is not shit-posting at all, it is far more nuanced. There is a level of sincerity to it that leaves little room for doubt.
So when do we start fighting back? Is this the line have they finally crossed it? When can we get angry & march on Washington & protest & get angry? Why does everyone sit around wringing their hands & still we don’t march? Where is the line? When do we actually do something that isn’t commenting online? I’m not suggesting violence, but where are the protests? Where are the sit ins? Where are the marchers & the strikes? We all bitch about Baby Boomers, but lord they knew how to march, how to protest how to get out there & be heard. My childhood was helping my mother make anti Vietnam protest signs, womens rights protest signs, aboriginal land rights protest signs. I’m fucking ready to go with my cardstock & markers. Give me a time & give me a date, this shit is in my blood, hell I’ll knit cute hats if that’s what it takes to get us all out marching again. But can we call this the line & actually do something.
I feel numb. I know I should have a response to this, but it’s like I can’t even feel anything right now. I’m so exhausted by the hate in the world.
?inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun?
I am so sorry.
Also, Pewdiepie has spoken out against the shooters and put up a link to the givealittle charity for the victims’ families.
@ Bookworm:
Peace be upon you, sister.
@ Wwaxwork:
We’ve BEEN fighting back since forever. If we use metal weapons to fight back, we’ll be doing it in the same way we did in the 1960s: “unorganized resistance”, attacking targets individually chosen for their perceived relation to the forces of oppression.
If the idiots who control the government(s) and corporations fuck up and we have a climate crisis, economic crisis, food/water crisis, war, or other crisis which they mis-manage into a social disintegration, then we’re involved in a civil war… a civil war in a nation with 275 million guns, 350 million gallons of potable alcohol, and a 3-day supply of food. We’re on our own at that point.
For a bit of VERY ironic humor… we thought it was bad when Reagan got elected….
This has made me cry so many times today. The hatred that spawned this is what I grew up with. My father was (is, but I have disowned myself) a virulent, Confederate flag waving racist. Called my bi-racial god brother a reverse Oreo. He had hunting weapons and guns. It has only gotten worse since he moved to middle of nowheresville Ohio and raised my half brother to be just like him. Trying to get him to realize how wrong everything my father said was gave me stress for two years. I gave up. Getting through to these radicalized twatwaffles is an exercise in futility. I know some change and such, but too few. We shouldn’t have to make them feel better to keep them from hurting others. It is disgusting.
We have to deplatform and have to do something about these rural country boys who learn racism from the womb. See above.
Also, my coworker was sent a link to the video. He couldn’t fathom the hate (and this was a man technically convicted on war crimes) and wanted to show me in case I could shed some light. It killed me to see people huddled in fear on his camera. It disgusted me that the racist behind it was happy for the fear and happy for the pain he caused. That small bit of video has had me crying so much. It isn’t fair. I know that is childish but it isn’t. These people didn’t deserve this. They did nothing wrong. It sucks that such a twisted person could buy such a weapon and kill so many so quickly. He is alive and happy and he has killed an led terrorized an entire community. He gets to be happy when he stole lives and the happiness of others.
Sorry for the novel but this has had me so upset and had no way to talk about it to process and deal with in a way I could stop the tears.
@Bookworm
Hugs. I’m sorry you’re so numb. And I’m sorry that it will probably hurt when the numbness wears off.
@bookworm
matah sha’allah walays qablah
He ain’t said it is willed, yet. Not for us.
Chin up.
(Apologies for any misspellings, I speak arabic way better than write it)
I never have seen a single case of a “troll” spitting neonazi nonsense who wasn’t a diehard nazi.
But even if it was possible. The only rational solution is to take him seriously, and treat thoses terrorists like, you know, terrorists. It’s not like what he did is in any measure less comtemptible if he wasn’t sincere, and the link between that political movement and that kind of shit happening is pretty clear.
Wwaxwork,
There have been a ton of protests in the US against hatred and against guns violence. They happen all over the country in response to all sorts of things. The problem is, they don’t anywhere near the type of news coverage that profiles of Trump supporters pontificating in rural diners do. When they are covered, it’s not with a serious tone.
I can’t speak to how protests are covered outside of the US. But where I am, there’s plenty of activism.
I have read the manifesto – titled “The Great Replacement” – pretty carefully and it is a pure distillation of the white genocide/ethno-nationalist fever dream. There is so much to unpack. The radical right is going to love it. We should all be familiar with it, because this will not be the last time we see it. I do not know if the shooter’s call to action will be heeded, but it is really going to resonate.
A hot take from the incels on reddit (link to Incel Tears which is dedicated to exposing and mocking Incels and is the IT referred to in the post)
https://www.reddit.com/r/IncelTears/comments/b1fej7/rbraincels_respond_to_the_nz_shooter_having_a/
Just one of the many nuggets that is of interest to those of us who follow masculinity and misogyny closely:
“Who is truly to blame?
The people who are to blame most are ourselves, european men. Strong
men do not get ethnically replaced, strong men do not allow their culture
to degrade, strong men do not allow their people to die. Weak men have
created this situation and strong men are needed to fix it.
UNTIL THE HAGIA SOPHIA IS FREE OF THE MINARETS,THE
MEN OF EUROPE ARE MEN IN NAME ONLY”
And here are more openly celebrating.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IncelTears/comments/b1h775/just_incels_celebrating_the_terrorist_in_new/
In a bit of good news, James Gunn has been reinstated to the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. I don’t particularly care about Gunn one way or the other, but this is going to cause some upset on the alt-Reich, and that’s always great. They’ve been so proud to have ruined him.
@wwth
Wasn’t he tweeting pro-pedophilia jokes and shit though? Not even legitimately funny from what I read, but just edgelord and offensive type of stuff.
Anyhow, I want to see them whine too.
@Diego
And he acknowledged it was a shitty thing to do and it was a long time ago and he hasn’t done it since.
Horrified. Hugs to anyone who needs/wants them
Christchurch is where I got married, my daughter was born, I had my first home, first dogs, was a member of several community organizations (and still am), and even got bar mitzvahed.
We lived two blocks from that mosque. I walked past it every evening when I would take our very large dogs (110 lbs. and 90 lbs.) for walks in Hagley Park.
New Zealand in general and Christchurch in particular is a nation where people are warm, kind, friendly, and relaxed. They have incredible resilience and strength (demonstrated in the battlefields of North Africa and Italy in World War II and in coping with major earthquakes in 2010 and 2012), amazing tourist attractions, and a great sense of humor (as evidenced in towers of stones at Kaikoura, the Lilliputian Libraries campaign, and some of the best pizza in the world, HellsPizza.com, whose menu is themed on the “Seven Deadly Sins.”)
My family planned to stay in New Zealand and open a business…instead, the best we could do was send our daughter there for her spring term of her junior year of university. When not studying computer science and killing zombies on her computer, she climbed rocks and came back understanding why we loved the place so much (she had only been there as an infant).
She, too, walked through Hagley Park on a regular basis, going to and from her internship at Court Theatre, New Zealand’s most important.
I cannot begin to describe how devastating this is for us.
This hor
Re the utterly foul “Senator” Fraser Anning (who rode into his lofty position on just 19 votes) – are people aware he got egged by a 17-year-old kid after his repugnant comments? Said kid is now a national hero, and is being immortalised in public murals here in Sydney’s Inner West…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvOA4wJBsqL/
Background and follow-up to the incident here. All hail Egg Boy!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/21/fraser-anning-admits-he-knew-he-was-striking-a-child-over-egging
PS: Some of Scott Marsh’s previous work featuring Fraser Anning here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvC1of_Bai6/