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Terror attack on New Zealand mosques — 27 Comments

  1. If I had to guess, the outlets probably know more than they are revealing at the moment- it did strike me, too, how carefully they treated this after the initial reporting. I think, perhaps, they have more detail on the shooter’s past than we have seen, and it doesn’t neatly line up as a “right-wing” terrorist act. What I have seen makes him look like the perfect caricature of one.

  2. This hesitation in pegging the shooters as right-wingers is surprising. Is it a Smollett/Hollywood-Hypocrite effect? Has the media begun to wonder if their credibility is close to a point of no return?

    From what I’ve read, there were two mosques shot up, one with 42 dead and a second one with 7 dead that had armed good guys shooting back. I believe one of the preps was seen being chased from the 2nd mosque with another guy firing a long gun at him.

  3. For what it’s worth, so far the intuitive vibe I get from this shooter is similar to the one generated by Las Vegas shooter Paddock…

    neo: Likewise. There’s something about the twistedness of the motives. “Guess why I’m really doing this…”
    _______________________________________________

    Pleased to meet you.
    Hope you guess my name.
    But what’s puzzling you
    Is the nature of the my game.

    –Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”

  4. TommyJay:

    If true, that would explain why the death toll was smaller at the second mosque. It might also explain the fact that he was taken alive. Was he wounded? I can’t seem to find much on how he was apprehended. Do you have a link?

  5. Despite what the MSM would have us believe, the likelihood of a Christian minority being murdered by Muslims in a Muslim nation is many, many times greater than that of a Muslim being murdered by a non-Muslim in a non-Muslim nation. The slaughter of Christians by Muslims in such disparate countries as Nigeria and Pakistan (to say nothing of the atrocities of ISIS) is commonplace, as is the slaughter of Sunni by Shia, and vice versa, but seldom do these horrors evoke much response from virtue-signaling leftists.

  6. In the Twitterverse, I have seen the phrase “white terrorism” being thrown about in connection with this incident. This fits with the general SJW war on white people. Watch for this phrase to show up in the MSM…

  7. I hadn’t thought about the possibility that the shooter’s “manifesto” might be trolling authorities and the public. He describes himself as an “eco-fascist,” admires Communist China, and thinks there are too many people in the world, calling for fewer of the “wrong kind” of people.

    https://medium.com/the-radical-center/the-demented-politics-of-the-new-zealand-terrorist-b513fe610b2f

    Whether we can take him at his word is a good question.

    I am sorry he survived. And I have also read numerous reports that he was chased away from the mosque with the smaller death toll by a man there who had a gun and shot back. That wrecks the gun control narrative.

  8. Here are two links. This one is the one I read. That article used an article from The New Zealand Herald. Excerpt below, (I almost got it correct.)

    A second shooting happened at a mosque in the Linwood area of the city.
    One Friday prayer goer returned fire with a rifle or shotgun.
    Witnesses said they heard multiple gunshots around 1.45pm.
    A well known Muslim local chased the shooters and fired two shots at them as they sped off.
    He was heard telling police officers he was firing in “self defence”.
    “They were in a silver Subaru,” he told police.

  9. Via Reuters:

    New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the suspect in the Christchurch shooting traveled around the world and was not a long-term resident in the country.

    Ardern told a news conference in the capital Wellington that the man was an Australian citizen “who traveled sporadically to New Zealand and stayed for varied amount of time.”

    “I would not describe him as a long-term resident,” she said.

    She said he was, however, not on the watch list in New Zealand or Australia.

  10. There’s also a Manson Helter-Skelter vibe. Manson’s plan was to incite an apocalyptic black-white race war, then afterward the Manson Family would come out of hiding and take over.

    The logic wasn’t much better than the “Gnome-Underpants” scheme:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO5sxLapAts

  11. A couple of comments that are from another blog but strike me as very wise.
    1.The Inga reaction is precisely what the manifesto-writer anticipated.
    The point is to begin or increase persecution, in order to speed up the social -cultural-political split, and to create incentives for avengers or copycats to amplify the effect.
    The victims in this case are in a strange way quite incidental. There had to be victims of such deeds, but the selection can be quite random and opportunistic.
    Anders Breivik had a much more specific target, that of removing the next generation of left-wing political figures when he fixed on the socialist youth camp. This was intended for a particular political effect. That was not like this, which is meant for a more traditional terrorist purpose, that of creating a reaction.

    Inga is a left wing commenter,

    2. This is precisely the sort of manifestation I was expecting in the US.
    The general hatred and anxiety is piling up very quickly, and its inevitable that it will break out. The big surprise is that this one broke in New Zealand. Well, at least among the English-speaking it is one media world now.
    The manifesto is explicit about the purpose, and historically this is a sound approach, if your purpose is to start revolutions and civil wars. Its the old anarchist “propaganda of the deed”, but of course it goes back before that. Its the same reasoning that Charles Manson used. Indeed, its the same reasoning the Russian Social Revolutionaries used in the 19th century, to force a reaction by the state, to enhance the contradictions. Lenins brother became a revolutionary martyr as a result of one such incident. This sort of thing succeeds, or doesn’t, depending on the perceived legitimacy and effectiveness of the state.
    Ultimately the US in Mansons day was still sound, and his conspiracy was simply evil futility. In Russia the same thing was eventually effective in driving large factions of the intelligentsia and the state apart, as it exploited inherent weaknesses. What now, in this culture? We will see.
    The manifesto is perceptive and clever. It anticipates a reaction, it perhaps deliberately invites suspicions of false flags, etc. And the fact that the lot of them let themselves be captured alive means that the whole thing will remain prominent for a long time. These people will remain available to speak for years.
    When things crack, the cracks start at weak points, with insane or eccentric or demon-driven people. That doesn’t mean they can’t be extremely clever.

    I had compared the shooter to Charles Manson.

    I have also read that the attackers attempted to attack another mosque but someone in the mosque was armed and they were driven off.

    Neo, thanks for noticing,.

  12. Graeme Wood (who wrote a piece on ISIS a few years ago not at all liked by leftists) just read the NZ shooter’s manifesto and says it’s got a “fascist core”:

    I am reminded of early phases of analysis of ISIS, when sympathizers flooded Twitter with jihadist memes and jokes, and in some cases even planted obviously fake claims that they had been radicalized by non-jihadist Muslim public figures in the West. The confusion sown in those early days contributed to a failure to realize that at its core, ISIS had a very non-ironic set of beliefs, accompanied by ironic memes and worldly mechanisms for dissemination. When the Christchurch killer departs from his jocular, message-board tones, he refers to historical figures and events, not always the ones that have engendered Pepe-like memes for the internet’s right wing. (He refers three times to the English Nazi-sympathizer Oswald Mosley, a figure known to every fascist but not to every keyboard warrior on 8chan for the laughs.) This fascist core is attended by a bodyguard of casual irony and disdainful, in-joke humor. The tone is just a style, and a phenomenon of our times. But the core is an enduring enemy of civilization. The killer sees it, rightly, as historically continuous with mid-20th-century fascism. The survival of this ideology in any form should unnerve us all.

  13. Mike K: Inga!

    Lawsy, that takes me back to my Althouse days. I stopped visiting regularly after Althouse went nutso for a couple months five or six years ago.

    I never figured Inga for deeper motives. She just seemed a typical, not-too-bright leftie splatting out her “talking-point” comments, incapable of real debate — rather like our local leftie hero, Manju.

  14. “Despite what the MSM would have us believe, the likelihood of a Christian minority being murdered by Muslims in a Muslim nation is many, many times greater than that of a Muslim being murdered by a non-Muslim in a non-Muslim nation. The slaughter of Christians by Muslims in such disparate countries as Nigeria and Pakistan (to say nothing of the atrocities of ISIS) is commonplace, as is the slaughter of Sunni by Shia, and vice versa, but seldom do these horrors evoke much response from virtue-signaling leftists.”

    Correct and it begs the question: why are whites expected to be better than that with some kind of moral superiority over angry Muslims? The implications of such a stance are staggering. I wish someone smarter than me would explore that.

  15. New Zealand’s gun control laws are more restrictive than ours. Yet they had a mass shooting. Conclusion: Restrictive gun control laws don’t necessarily prevent mass shootings.

    Gun control laws in New Zealand are very tight for non-citizens. Yet, the perp, an Aussie, had guns and ammo. Conclusion: Gun laws don’t reliably stop determined shooters.

    The attack on the second mosque was disrupted by an armed man. Conclusion: Defensive arms at a shooting scene can stop an attack.

    These are not the conclusions being reached by the left. And probably never will be.

    The perp’s manifesto seems to be trollish. Is that intentional or is he just deranged? Hope the Kiwis get some answers.

    Meantime, remember that it is really that arch villain, Trump’s, fault. 🙂

  16. Lawsy, that takes me back to my Althouse days

    She was “unknown” for a while. I had to stop responding and quit commenting for a while. I try to avoid engaging the trolls.

  17. “Survivor says ‘hero’ stopped New Zealand massacre by tackling shooter”:

    A man who survived a deadly mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand on Friday recalled the moment that a “hero” tackled the gunman and wrestled away his weapon after he began opening fire on worshippers.

    Syed Mazharuddin, who survived the shooting that took place in Christchurch’s Linwood mosque, told The New Zealand Herald that he witnessed a young man “who usually takes care of the mosque” tackle the shooter.

    “He saw an opportunity and pounced on [the gunman] and took his gun,” Mazharuddin said.

  18. I read the entire manifesto tonight- it is disturbingly lucid. I don’t think you dealing here with a psychopath, sociopath, or even someone who is mentally ill. He will incite retribution andimitators/followers. This fuse won’t be easily stamped out.

    I expect the online services to try ruthlessly to stamp out this manifesto, and they will only fan the flames by doing so.

  19. Another of the unforeseen consequences of the Palo Alto technologies:

    The mainstreaming of snuff movies.

  20. The shooter is Brenton Tarrant, 28 years old, an Australian, and rather short, judging by his court photo flanked by two police officers (where he also makes a mocking hand gesture).

    His manifesto and the video of the attack can still be found on-line, although it’s not an easy process. The major Internet companies have tried to remove both, but so many individuals now have copies that they can just post in other places.

    I skimmed through the manifesto last night. Based on what little I read, Brenton Tarrant appears to be someone that hasn’t had steady work or a career path; an average student at best in high school; and a person who has spent a lot of time on the Internet. His travels to other countries (Europe and Pakistan) may have been financed by gains in cryptocurrency. He is not the type to have many close friends or to have adult relationships beyond high school. Brenton Tarrant seems to have delusions of grander similar to those of Anders Breivik (the 2011 Norway mass shooter).

    The video of the mosque attack is just under 17 minutes long, showing him in his Subaru hatchback driving up to the mosque, then about 6.5 minutes in commencing the attack on those people inside, and then exiting the mosque at 9 minutes in. He returns to his car, then re-enters the mosque around 10.5 minutes in to shoot the wounded, who are in piles near the doorways. By minute 12.5 he is back in his car, having executed the woman by the sidewalk. In the remaining few minutes, he drives away in his car, and shoots several more times from the car, presumably at recognizably Muslim persons on the street.

    There is another short 45-second video, made by a passing New Zealand motorist, showing two police officers dragging him out of his car and arresting him, after the police have rammed the side of his car with their own to drive him off the road.

    This is grim viewing, and we will all learn more in the weeks to come. As for now, in that situation, the only chance anyone had to escape unscathed was to react FAST and RUN, getting in as much cover, concealment, and distance as possible. That is not always easy, when caught by surprise and when under great stress.

  21. “Gun control laws in New Zealand are very tight for non-citizens. Yet, the perp, an Aussie, had guns and ammo. Conclusion: Gun laws don’t reliably stop determined shooters.” — J.J.

    Reading more at New Zealand Herald, they claim that it is relatively easy to buy firearms in NZ as a foreign visitor, if you already have a firearms license from another country. I believe I read the Aussie perp was a gun club member back in Australia, meaning he had a license.

    With the basic permit you can buy a semi-auto with a 7 round mag. max. You need a top level NZ permit to buy the high capacity mags. So I’d say that both the Australian and NZ guns laws didn’t work. Shocker. I guess they need more.

    One of the survivors (not sure which location) said that in spite of being the middle of the city, it took 20 minutes for police to arrive. It’s not an official number.
    ____

    Ann caught the new news. The Linwood mosque guy with a gun actually took it from one of the preps. A witness said he thought this guy couldn’t find the trigger. Maybe, or he didn’t know about the pump action, or it was empty.

  22. In the shooter’s video, he takes a shotgun and an assault rifle with him when he approaches the mosque. He fires the shotgun at those people in the entrance multiple times, until the shotgun is completely out of rounds. He then drops the shotgun on the floor and switches to the assault rifle. Then he uses the assault rifle to kill the people inside the mosque on his first attack. He has multiple magazines with him, some of which were clipped together for faster reloads. He returns to the car and goes to the trunk, where there is another assault rifle. He drops the first assault rifle on the ground by the car, picks up the second assault rifle, and briefly handles some red plastic fuel cans, ultimately leaving them in the car. He returns to the mosque, shooting more people inside with the second assault rifle, then returns to his car, firing other rounds down both sides of the street, including a heartless execution of the wounded woman by the sidewalk. As he drives off, he still has that second assault rifle with him, and three other long-arms in the passenger seat. With one of those, another shotgun, he fires several times out of the car window as he drives along.

    With all of those casualties, and the multiple locations, weapons, and other suspects, there will be a long investigation until the full story of what happened is known.

  23. Read what Rod Dreher says about Brenton Tarrant’s Manifesto: “RADICALIZATION IS THE RATIONAL RESPONSE TO DEGENERATION”
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/radicalization-degeneration-brenton-tarrant-white-supremacist/

    Here’s the chilling part: Everything Tarrant identifies as qualities of a disintegrating Western civilization is true. You may think that declining numbers of ethnic Europeans is a good thing, or something that has no particular moral meaning. But it really is happening. So are all the rest.

    Marx gave excellent critiques about capitalism. His Marxist solution is terrible, but his critiques were very good, at the time, and even now remain relevant (too relevant, with silly elites espousing them.)

    This Deranged guy Tarrant’s critiques are good critiques. His solution is terrible, but his critiques are very good. So they remain relevant — and will be relevant for the rest of our lives. We will see increasing radicalization.

    Rod’s answer is in his excellent book: The Benedict Option — Christians need to form more Christian communities and protect their children more, and increase the dedication of the Christians. Lots of good analysis of the problems of Western Civ; and a reasonable answer. I don’t think it’s the only one, but I’m living in Slovakia where the constitution does say marriage is between one man and one woman.

    Our next Slovak President, run-off is in 2 weeks, will probably be the less corrupt, more PC pro-abortion divorced woman, rather than the more corrupt man from the current ruling party.

    Perhaps too many people are “getting spoiled” by too much easy, comfortable, materialism. I call that progress, but can see where many take other side effects of these changes and call it degeneration.

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