repost of topic; somehow I accidentally deleted the previous version.
quote:
The gunman behind at least one of the mosque shootings in New Zealand that left 49 people dead on Friday tried to make a few things clear in the manifesto he left behind: He is a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hates immigrants. He was set off by attacks in Europe that were perpetrated by Muslims. He wanted revenge, and he wanted to create fear.
He also, quite clearly, wanted attention.
Though he claimed not to covet fame, the gunman — whose name was not immediately released by police — left behind a 74-page document posted on social media under the name Brenton Tarrant in which he said he hoped to survive the attack to better spread his ideas in the media.
He also livestreamed to the world in graphic detail his assault on the worshippers at Christchurch's Al Noor Mosque.
This is so heartbreaking. I have several friends living in various places in New Zealand, including one Muslim couple who I've known since grad school (they don't live in the same city as the shootings). As you can imagine, my FB page has exploded with 1) people checking in on our friends who are Muslim, because most of my American friends didn't know the name of the city they lived in. And 2) my friends who are New Zealand citizens posting various iterations of "this is not who we are."
It's heartbreaking and infuriating to see, but it's also sort of like, no, actually, this is who we are. This is who we humans have become.
There can be no denying that words matter, and that they influence other people's actions.
quote:
He says his parents are of Scottish, Irish and English descent and writes about what he calls "white genocide" driven by a "crisis of mass immigration."
He says he carried out the attack "to show invaders that our lands will never be their lands...as long as the white man still lives." He says "we must ensure the existence of our people, and future for white children."
The purported shooter says he is a supporter of Donald Trump's in one sense, but not completely: "As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no."
An Australian senator had a raw egg cracked over his head and faces censure from his fellow lawmakers after sparking outrage by blaming Muslim immigration for the New Zealand mosque shootings.
Sen. Fraser Anning came under blistering criticism over tweets Friday, including one that said, "Does anyone still dispute the link between Muslim immigration and violence?"
"The real cause of the bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place," he said in a statement.
Television cameras caught a 17-year-old boy breaking an egg on Anning's head and briefly scuffling with the independent senator while he was holding a news conference Saturday in Melbourne.
Police said the boy was arrested but was released without charge pending a further investigation. No motive was offered for the egging.
The government and opposition party agreed to pass a censure motion against Anning over his stance on the Christchurch shootings when Parliament resumes in April.
Originally posted by Nina: Let's start a go fund me if that kid is jailed.
He hasn't been jailed. In truth, if someone did that to me, I would likely pop them in the face too. Yes, you can say that no one would ever do that to me, but I'm just not comfortable with these showy "look at me act anti-socially for the FB crowd" behaviors.
Posts: 12760 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
I'm just not comfortable with these showy "look at me act anti-socially for the FB crowd" behaviors.
+1
On the one hand, cracking an egg over someone is ultimately pretty harmless. On the other hand, it is of absolutely no help, and it is a physical act one step away from violence. I don't condone the "punch a nazi" stuff, and so I don't condone this either. The antidote to violence is not more violence, regardless of degree. There are many other, better, ways to speak out against the senator.
When the gunman advanced toward the mosque, killing those in his path, Abdul Aziz didn't hide. Instead, he picked up the first thing he could find, a credit card machine, and ran outside screaming "Come here!"
Aziz, 48, is being hailed as a hero for preventing more deaths during Friday prayers at the Linwood mosque in Christchurch after leading the gunman in a cat-and-mouse chase before scaring him into speeding away in his car.
But Aziz, whose four sons and dozens of others remained in the mosque while he faced off with the gunman, said he thinks it's what anyone would have done.
