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To fight terrorism normalize love, not hatred
On a supposedly peaceful Friday afternoon in Christchurch, the city’s very own mosque, al Noor, was attacked by a guy with not only a gun, but also a recording device
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span>On a supposedly peaceful Friday afternoon in Christchurch, the city’s very own mosque, al Noor, was attacked by a guy with not only a gun, but also a recording device. Livestreamed to thousands of people, both knowing and unknowing, the terrorist on March 15 casually shot everyone he could find inside the mosque with neither hesitation nor qualms, using a first-person shooter game-like format.
By the end of the video, the terrorist told the viewers to “subscribe to Pewdiepie”, a well-known YouTube gamer who is also infamous for supporting alt-right ideologies in his past videos, as if the violent hateful attacks he committed was simply a game.
Sane people could never imagine the reason behind recording such an inhumane atrocity, but the fact is there was a community online filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of people cheering and commenting throughout the livestream as if it was a harmless vlog streamed on Instagram.
Equally appalling is the 74-page manifesto that the terrorist posted anonymously in the online forum 8chan, which was then also sent to the New Zealand prime minister’s email two minutes prior to the first attack.
The manifesto expressed anti-Muslim and white supremacist sentiments as the supposed reasons behind the attack, as well as cited military battles glorified by white nationalists.
To no surprise, the manifesto also included mention of the infamous United States President Donald Trump, describing him as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose”.
After the attacks, Trump released his condolences for the victims as his spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, stated that the US strongly condemns the attack in acknowledgment of Trump’s mention in the terrorist’s manifesto.
First and foremost I felt grief washing over my body upon hearing the news of the attacks and, later on, disgust: disgust upon the realization of how present racism continues to this day and the ever-growing support for white supremacy as of late, hidden under the guise of free speech and edgy humor.
Trump’s personality is no different. Both him and his spokeswoman can go on tangents stating that they do not condemn violent right-wing terrorist attacks and imply that they have zero involvement to support such hideous attacks, but the fact remains that someone with such an extreme violent ideology views him as an inspiration for his attack on Friday.
It does not matter whether it was Trump’s purpose to inspire terrorists; the hard cold fact is he did.
Furthermore, the manifesto elaborated that the terrorists want to attract a young audience to their violent extremist ideology through what they explicitly stated was “edgy humor and memes”. As an early member of Gen Z, I stumble upon this type of hateful racist content, disguised as “edgy humor”, on at least a weekly basis among my peers.
What ultimately strikes fear in me is that the 28-year-old white terrorist who authored the manifesto included the said statement, thereby confirming that it is, in fact, one of their methods to gain access to infiltrate the minds of young people with their harmful ideologies.
I am aware that the “edgy hateful humor” directed at minorities and racist YouTubers are not “harmful enough” to suddenly create a terrorist.
But they still enable them, helping to create an environment in which these people feel safe enough to express their hatred through violent means.
The casual racism they spout and share with their viewers online is what inspires terrorism. That ignorance among the younger generation is the first step taken toward normalizing violent extremist ideologies.
To express my condolences, I would like to honor those who have fallen in the attacks by reminding everyone to starve the terrorist of his desired attention by not sharing his name, but instead remember the names of our Muslim brothers and sisters killed in this hateful tragedy: Naeem Rashid, Muca Ibrahim, Abdullahi Dirie, Talha Rashid, Mohammad Atta Alayan, Khaled Mustafa, Farhaj Ahsan, Atta Elayyan, Syed Jahandad Ali, Husna Ara Parvin, Haroon Mahmood, Amjad Hamid, Daoud Nabi, the Indonesian Lilik Abdul Hamid and those who have yet to be identified.
Last, never underestimate the urgency to defuse extremist ideological threats. Violent extremist ideology is not tied to one specific identity, but rather to the ever-present power imbalance that exists between the majority and minority.
In regards to this, the Indonesian population should not dismiss these attacks as something that is exclusive to countries that are constantly haunted by the looming threat of white supremacy, because it is only one of the many by-products of hatred and ethnocentrism that could occur within any kind of identity.
In many contexts, notably this one, ignorance is among the most deadly simply because it is not seen with flashing red lights around it, but because it is spread using many facades and guises that use the term “political correctness” and berate it. Normalize love, never hatred.
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The writer is studying international relations and peace studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Japan.
