By David Futrelle
From Twitter, some thoughts about the horrific tragedy yesterday in Christchurch — and just who is responsible for creating the toxic environment in which this sort of murderous right-wing Islamophobic extremism thrives.
At some point I hope to have regular posts up on this horrendous subject but right now I just can’t.
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Very serious Internet person namechecked by the shooter: “LOL!”
Yes, this is definitely a suitable time for laughter and the “tears of joy” emoji. Good call, Candace, you evil fuck.
The “it’s just a joke” defense is nothing but a cover and has been used deliberately by neo-nazis to muddle the discussion.
You can never assume those shitheels are saying anything in good faith.
It’s been a day of a lot of texts, emails, instagrams flying back and forth between me and my friends, especially the Muslim ones. We’re all far from NZ, but all still reeling, as well as coping with the challenge of keeping it together in front of coworkers and, in many cases, our kids who are too young to hear about this. Like I posted on the other thread, I am completely exhausted — not just by the effort of getting through the day without dissolving, but also (mostly) by the mental strain of constant watchfulness, fear, worry; all of which have just been once again ratcheted up several notches.
But do you know, the main emotion coming out of all the conversations I’ve been having all day — always what we come back to, after we’ve cried and prayed — is one of utter fucking defiance.
These hate-filled evil people want us to not exist. Literally, if they can manage it; but at the very least they want us to be too scared to be in any way public about our faith. They cannot fucking stand it that the overwhelming majority of us get along perfectly well with our non-Muslim neighbours; they hate that actually we are full participants in our majority-non-Muslim societies while still being members of our faith. (I think that’s a big part of why they hate Ilhan Omar so much; she refuses to either repudiate her faith or her participation in US life and politics). They want to kill us, and if it can’t be a literal killing it will be an erasure through making us too scared to participate in our societies while being known as Muslim.
Well, fuck that. I am terrified. I am scared to go anywhere crowded right now; I am scared to be out in hijab or to go to the mosque. But you know what? I’m also even more committed to being a loud, proud, open-minded, diversity-loving, overtly-religious Muslimah. I’m even more committed to praying in public, to hanging out with my LGBTQ friends and non-Muslim friends, and to fighting for all our rights. Fuck this evil divisive racist misogynist us-vs-them culture-war oppressive CRAP.
@Bookworm in hijab, you should see this:
https://twitter.com/nemomcr/status/1106596603496943616
@Moggie,
Thank you for posting that, and thank him for doing that! This makes me cry, which I think I needed…
Hi, I’m from NZ (not Christchurch) and have been enjoying (?), well reading, WeHuntedTheMammoth for some time. Thanks for all you do, David. I think the mood here is devastated beyond words. Not that I think we were smug and naive necessarily, I think the majority of Kiwis know we’re by no means perfect, and we watched with horror things that happen overseas and been sad and felt for everyone affected when things like this happen. We also know that we have some horrendously hateful people here, just like everywhere else in the world. I think perhaps we had more faith, maybe, in our gun laws and hoped they were as good as we could get, acknowledging that people can get things illegally most of us would be shocked to discover even existed. More about what happened in that respect will no doubt come out in time. What has impressed me so far is how responsible most of our media has been, refusing to show any of the livestream video or report on most of the manifesto. Our PM has even asked Kiwis not to watch it or give the offenders and their views any ‘oxygen’. I visited here today specifically to see if David had posted anything. I knew that there would be horrific responses floating about from the usual suspects, but all this stuff so soon, supporting wholeheartedly the offenders’ thesis? Just makes me want to cry. Thanks for shining a light, David.
I hate the city I live in.
Trump supporter drives ‘build the wall’ float past New Zealand mourners at Cleveland City Hall
@ K.,
Hugs (if you would like them)! That’s a truly vile stunt they pulled.
I never know how to do these things right. I want to forge a connection so I say something about my experience, but too often that comes across as making a thread or conversation about me. If I don’t say anything to – at least attempt to – create a real connection, my words of sympathy always feel insubstantial, even fake.
I care about what you’re experiencing, Bookworm, Visiting Kiwi & all you others who are terrified and in mourning. I don’t know how to express that, exactly, but I’ll keep reading, keep listening, and if there’s something I can do from my little corner of the world, I will try to do it.
@Bookworm
You have a right to exist.
You have a right to be here.
You have a right to not be afraid.
They forfeited their rights to those same things once they advocated murder of anybody not like them.
@vaiyt:
I think the best way to explain the “it’s just a joke” defence to people with little exposure to the cesspools that are Gamergate, 4chan (or, worse, 8chan), and similar is that the “joke” is that they like it when people are angry at them, not that they don’t believe in what they say or do.
And, yes, it isn’t really much of a joke. They’re awful, hateful people, not competent comedians.
Can we just agree that everyone who posts on 8chan needs to be on a terrorism watchlist at this point?
They’re all either pedophiles or wannabe terrorists.
8chan are the people 4chan didn’t want, just let that sink in.
I wonder how bad things will get, until it gets better again. I certainly hope we don’t need another world war.
Something distantly related:
in an article discussing the modus operandi of the mass murderer someone compared extreme rightwingers and islamist terorists in an opposing way. This is kinda ironic, since radical islamists ARE right-wingers. Their philosophy isn’t much different from the fascist one, or that of evangelical christians.
It’s possible that 9/11 and subsequent mass murders against western targets (in Spain and Great Britain, if you remember) might have robbed Al-Qiada and DAESH of valuable western allies. Certainly “white” and “aryan” are such worthless concepts, they are very malleable for fulfilling political needs and have always been, and one of the the biggest boogeymen for jihadists is still Israel.
At this point I’m just seeing baleful and macabre irony in all the shittyness of the world.
I don’t know if we, as a species, have any chance to survive the next century. I begin to doubt it. These mindsets will consume us all.
@Bookworm in hijab
Thank you for your post above. It’s powerful and inspirational.
Love to everyone here, love to my Muslim brothers & sisters around the world, love to my LGBTQ+ siblings and everyone else these miserable excuses for human beings think should hide under a stone, love to our cis het white male allies who join us in disgust of the hate-filled philosophy they espouse. We have learned that hiding ourselves away robs us of our most powerful tool, our voices. We won’t do it any more. We will listen to our friends, support them in their calls, and add our voices to the simple truth “we are human beings, this is our world to share, if you won’t share, you have no place with us”.
Gosh. I went to see Captain Marvel last night. It seems to have reignited my inner stroppy virago. She hadn’t gone far, but she’s back and ready to jump up & down.
In related news, Milo shot his mouth off about Christchurch and had his Australian visa cancelled as a result. That’s something.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/15/what-does-christchurch-attack-tell-us-about-rightwing-extremism
At least some coverage is reaching for the point that there are no “lone wolves”; that terrorists like this are connected and share the same poison even if they don’t have organisational cells in the pre-internet sense (while far too much of the media coverage is aaall about painting the murderer as having this that or the other in his childhood, playing down his shared white supremacist ideology).
@Bookworm in hijab, thank you for that post. I don’t have the words, I just want to send love and respect.
Also sending my love and respect to Bookworm in hijab and to everybody who feels afraid yet defiant in the aftermath of attacks like this.
@Bookworm in hijab: You should never be afraid of these idiots. Terrorists are cowards.
At least some news outlets are (rightly) calling this a terrorist attack in the headlines.
Does New Zealand have the death penalty? Normally I don’t support the use of the death penalty, but I have no qualms about mass murderers getting the needle.
I mourn with others around the world for these innocent people and their families. I will do what I can to fight this.
Love and hugs
Signatures on petitions
Letters to lawmakers
Feet at marches*
Funds to fighters*
*When I can. Husbeast’s mother moved in with us a couple of weeks ago and we’re strapped for time and money for the time being until she can get out of her apt. lease. MILbeast is also completely blind and can’t be left alone for long periods until she learns to navigate our house better.
I don’t have the words to express my grief and horror at this. All I can think about are the poor people who were killed in New Zealand, and the people who were killed in such a similar manner in Quebec City barely two years ago. About the broken families caused by this hate, and about all the people who are now afraid to live their lives and practice their faith. I want so desperately to protect the Muslim community, but I don’t know how. I do know I’ll have to do all that I can. We all will, to try to make our world less full of hate. 🙁
Apologies over the posts I made yesterday. I’d try to explain what I meant, but it’s bad form to derail an apology into excuses. The end result of what I said was the same.
@K:
I’m inclined to agree with the Cleveland demonstraters that a wall is in order; how about something like this?
http://i2.wp.com/www.lifeinthecircus.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/angel-wings.jpg?resize%3D610%252C396
(Angel Action is an activist movement devoted to screening mourners of marginalized people from bigots’ displays of schadenfreude; they’ve frequently countered the Westboro Baptist Church.)
@Bookworm in hijab:
Would the above gesture be theologically okay? I do know angels are part of Islamic cosmogony.
@ Full Metal Ox,
I think so, though I must admit I hadn’t heard of this group and if I saw them outside my mosque my first reaction would be to think they were extremist Christians!
@ Crip Dyke, I’ve been wanting to write back to you for a while and trying to find the right words. I’m just gonna say, I didn’t see ANY problems with ANY of your responses. I thought you were showing empathy, anger, sadness, solidarity…everything that we all need to see right now. Sometimes the perfect words are whatever words we say, as long as we’re saying something with love and support. *hugs*
Everyone on here, I have been coming back to reread this thread a lot. Your words make me feel stronger.
Thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this. Not just the people shit, but the people afraid, the people mourning, the people outraged. Hopefully we can finally start making the unaware become aware of the dangers of right wing extremitism.