Putinbot1
https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2019/03/christchurch-new-zealand-shooter-pewdiepie-youtube-facebook-video-shows-we-need-take-online-radicalisation
But, ultimately, there’s one simple takeaway that doesn’t require unpacking at all. And that is that white supremacist radicalisation is happening – flying under the radar, in many cases, thanks to internet-specific irony and memes. And if it’s not addressed now, more people will probably die.
Arguably, this realisation should have happened in 2014 after the Isla Vista Shooting by Elliot Rodger. You could be generous and say it should have happened last year after the Toronto van attack by Alek Minassian. Both of these men claimed to be incels – involuntary celibates, an online predominantly male community who blame and demonise women for not having sex with them – who recorded and posted violent language about their hatred of women online (in-line with incel ideology). Rodger, specifically, also recorded himself speaking to camera preceding and during the attack, as the Christchurch shooter did, and too wrote a personal, self-aggrandising document that was emailed to friends and family in the wake of his attack. Rodger, despite murdering six people, has gone on to become an “incel hero”.
But the difference between these two killers and the Christchurch shooter is that veil of irony. While Rodger and Minassian both spoke about themselves in a very straight manner (Rodger referred to himself as “the closest thing there is to a living God”) the shooter today made jokey references that only people who spend a lot of time on Reddit and 4chan will get.
But, ultimately, there’s one simple takeaway that doesn’t require unpacking at all. And that is that white supremacist radicalisation is happening – flying under the radar, in many cases, thanks to internet-specific irony and memes. And if it’s not addressed now, more people will probably die.
Arguably, this realisation should have happened in 2014 after the Isla Vista Shooting by Elliot Rodger. You could be generous and say it should have happened last year after the Toronto van attack by Alek Minassian. Both of these men claimed to be incels – involuntary celibates, an online predominantly male community who blame and demonise women for not having sex with them – who recorded and posted violent language about their hatred of women online (in-line with incel ideology). Rodger, specifically, also recorded himself speaking to camera preceding and during the attack, as the Christchurch shooter did, and too wrote a personal, self-aggrandising document that was emailed to friends and family in the wake of his attack. Rodger, despite murdering six people, has gone on to become an “incel hero”.
But the difference between these two killers and the Christchurch shooter is that veil of irony. While Rodger and Minassian both spoke about themselves in a very straight manner (Rodger referred to himself as “the closest thing there is to a living God”) the shooter today made jokey references that only people who spend a lot of time on Reddit and 4chan will get.