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robotmango:
robotmango:
plenty of people wiser & kinder & with more perspective than I have already weighed in on the new zealand terror attack, but I want to say something about the narratives I’m already seeing emerge online. I have seen multiple twitter threads, and even fairly major blogs, actually give airtime to “wondering” if the killer was a “troll” whose goal was “chaos.” I have seen the killer described in multiple places as “intelligent” but “deranged.” I have seen multiple people wondering if this was a “false flag” operation to generate “division” or if there is something hidden at work “behind” the attack.
these are white nationalist talking points. this is talk designed to create doubt about the fundamental connectedness of this attack to the attacks in pittsburgh, in quebec city. this isn’t a fucking movie, this isn’t “the dark knight,” there is no hidden puzzle here. the “reasoning” behind these attacks is not a fucking mystery, it is not a secret, it is clear and obvious: it is white nationalist hatred of immigrants, white nationalist hatred of jews and muslims, white nationalist hatred of any Other. it is a white nationalist terrorist’s desires to sow fear into the hearts of the groups they hate, and to encourage copycat violence. those are the goals, those are the reasons. anyone who says otherwise is HELPING THE KILLERS. anyone who says otherwise is undermining our ability to see this hateful violence clearly, and to organize against it.
we should understand too that the “audience” for these kinds of attacks is other white nationalists. THEY won’t mistake the killer’s motives. THEY won’t misunderstand this as some kind of “troll” operation. THEY know exactly why it was done, because they are linked by the same evil ideology. it is not new or unfamiliar or difficult to define. it is the same old, hideous ideology that the internet has given horrifying new recruitment tools.
if you encounter people repeating these ideas, “wondering” about them, be VERY suspicious. if you encounter people you care about repeating these ideas, try to set them straight. the internet is a place where people can go down many rabbit holes and become convinced of many illogical narratives (p*zzagate anyone??), but this one is deeply dangerous and needs to be clipped at the roots.
to be clear, i’m not saying that anyone who asks questions like these about the killer’s motives is a white supremacist. I am only saying that certain talking points are originating from there and being intentionally spread, and then they are being picked up and further spread by others who don’t necessarily have ties to white nationalism but are engaged in conspiracy theory forums, etc, and then outwards from there to folks who are no longer understanding the associations when they repeat them. until you have national news outlets referring to the killer primarily as a “troll” and “madman” instead of as a white supremacist who is firmly embedded into a white supremacist movement.
of course, it’s crucial to understand how the internet and troll/meme/forum culture is driving white supremacist recruitment and terrorism. but what white nationalists would prefer is that we keep treating their terrorism as isolated, “chaos” driven incidents, while in the meantime they continue to organize and work to drive their viewpoints to the mainstream. these attacks are not isolated and their ultimate goal is not chaos, it is genocide.
never forget that.
robotmango:
robotmango:
plenty of people wiser & kinder & with more perspective than I have already weighed in on the new zealand terror attack, but I want to say something about the narratives I’m already seeing emerge online. I have seen multiple twitter threads, and even fairly major blogs, actually give airtime to “wondering” if the killer was a “troll” whose goal was “chaos.” I have seen the killer described in multiple places as “intelligent” but “deranged.” I have seen multiple people wondering if this was a “false flag” operation to generate “division” or if there is something hidden at work “behind” the attack.
these are white nationalist talking points. this is talk designed to create doubt about the fundamental connectedness of this attack to the attacks in pittsburgh, in quebec city. this isn’t a fucking movie, this isn’t “the dark knight,” there is no hidden puzzle here. the “reasoning” behind these attacks is not a fucking mystery, it is not a secret, it is clear and obvious: it is white nationalist hatred of immigrants, white nationalist hatred of jews and muslims, white nationalist hatred of any Other. it is a white nationalist terrorist’s desires to sow fear into the hearts of the groups they hate, and to encourage copycat violence. those are the goals, those are the reasons. anyone who says otherwise is HELPING THE KILLERS. anyone who says otherwise is undermining our ability to see this hateful violence clearly, and to organize against it.
we should understand too that the “audience” for these kinds of attacks is other white nationalists. THEY won’t mistake the killer’s motives. THEY won’t misunderstand this as some kind of “troll” operation. THEY know exactly why it was done, because they are linked by the same evil ideology. it is not new or unfamiliar or difficult to define. it is the same old, hideous ideology that the internet has given horrifying new recruitment tools.
if you encounter people repeating these ideas, “wondering” about them, be VERY suspicious. if you encounter people you care about repeating these ideas, try to set them straight. the internet is a place where people can go down many rabbit holes and become convinced of many illogical narratives (p*zzagate anyone??), but this one is deeply dangerous and needs to be clipped at the roots.
to be clear, i’m not saying that anyone who asks questions like these about the killer’s motives is a white supremacist. I am only saying that certain talking points are originating from there and being intentionally spread, and then they are being picked up and further spread by others who don’t necessarily have ties to white nationalism but are engaged in conspiracy theory forums, etc, and then outwards from there to folks who are no longer understanding the associations when they repeat them. until you have national news outlets referring to the killer primarily as a “troll” and “madman” instead of as a white supremacist who is firmly embedded into a white supremacist movement.
of course, it’s crucial to understand how the internet and troll/meme/forum culture is driving white supremacist recruitment and terrorism. but what white nationalists would prefer is that we keep treating their terrorism as isolated, “chaos” driven incidents, while in the meantime they continue to organize and work to drive their viewpoints to the mainstream. these attacks are not isolated and their ultimate goal is not chaos, it is genocide.
never forget that.