Apparently Donald Trump thinks his Muslim ban is justified because of the terrorist act that was perpetrated in Quebec, where a mosque was shot up and six people killed.
Might I gently suggest that somebody tell the President the shooter was a far-right white nationalist?
-Shiv
Nonsense! If the shooter was white, it is not terrorism (probably mental illness or some other excuse). If the shooter is conservative or far right, it is not terrorism (maybe it was self-defense? they might have had Skittles!). If the shooter was a nationalist, it is not terrorism (just defending his nation from Untermensch, donchaknow). Which means that, if Canada called it terrorism (and Canada is just an adjunct to the United States and has exactly the same ideas and ideals (save for their fascination with hockey and poutaine), then it must have really been an improperly vetted jihadist mujaheddin from a country where Trump does not have significant properties. Under the orange hair, alt-facts rule.
The fascist’s propaganda about this story started as a complete lie, within an hour of the shooting being spread on twitter by their trolls and bots, that the shooters were syrian refugees who’d been in the country for a week. When it came out that a Moroccan man was in custody and that somebody had shouted ‘Allahu ackbar’ during the shooting, because in a room full of pious muslims scared out of their minds nobody innocent would be shouting the arabic equivalent of ‘Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!’. That the police had a second clearly white dude in custody was odd, but they found ways to explain that off. A muslim did it. They were sure of that. They were reporting that.
Then the chaos subsided the next morning and the cops came out with the facts. The morrocan man was a witness, not a suspect. The shooter was a white man with a history of immigrant bashing and a fondness for La Pen/Trump, AKA: One of the ‘alt-right’ fascists. So how did these ‘far-right’ outlets with millions of readers react to these facts? Did they go back and correct their stories?
Hell no. Breitbart left up their article in full about how the evil muslim had killed innocent people, with a tiny mention that their was also white dude in custody for some reason. The only change was a disclaimer at the top saying that one of the suspects had been cleared. Not that the muslim man was innocent and one of their own ilk had just murdered six innocent people, but that ‘one of the suspects’ had been cleared of wrongdoing. Over their article screaming about how that muslim was one of the suspects and had clearly done it. Other sites were even more shameless. They just declared with no evidence whatsoever that the shooter was a secret muslim or that it really had been refugees and the evil liberals were covering it up.
Again, millions of people read this nonsense. They read it and pat themselves on the back for being smart enough to see through the liberal’s lies. That is the level of propaganda our society is facing. Thinking about that fills me with utter despair.
The fascist’s propaganda about this story started as a complete lie, within an hour of the shooting being spread on twitter by their trolls and bots, that the shooters were syrian refugees who’d been in the country for a week.
It’s like something the nazis’d do, isn’t it?
It is exactly from their playbook, yes.
Yesterday morning, I heard Jason Kenney (if you don’t know who he is search this blog) interviewed regarding comments he had made about Trump’s muslim ban. Kenney unequivocally condemned it. Think about this, Sam Harris’ position is to the right of Fucking Jason Kenney.
Given what we know about the shooter (bullied in school, a bit of a loner and someone who bought full “alt right” MRA/Nazi package), I think this a good example of stochastic terrorism.
Wouldn’t change a thing. For him, hadn’t the Muslims existed in the Canada (or at all), a good white man wouldn’t have been tempted to shoot them all up. Just like how women are always blamed for being raped. Same logic from the same people.
—
militantagnostic #5
Generally fascists are to the right of conservatives.
@militantagnostic #6: I’ve recently read an interview with Christian Picciolini, who as a young man was a devoted far right member, much like me, he too left, and helps others to quit.
My point is, that by the description you gave, given the similarities, I also should have been a bigoted, ignorant monster who doesn’t see a solution to his life, other than violence and murder. There’s always a choice to be different, to make our own decisions without giving into darkness. This man did not, as he couldn’t move past his ego. This “we fight and save our race” is a mere advertisement, it’s as much about belonging to somewhere, but also about being one’s ego.
I grew up, and managed to forgive my wrongdoers, and I abandoned any ill will I held toward people I did not even know. The irony is, that growing up I lost sight of the fact, that a condition, like tinnitus already separates me from other people who at best can sympathize with it, but can’t know what it’s like. I was bullied because I was different, and that brings me closer, and should have brought me closer to those who went through the same, but experiencing the same thing doesn’t always make us allies. He’s the type of person who chose to remain miserable.
Hate can be like heroin, and those who seek out loners know that. The first score, that they give out for free is the lie, that having horrible thoughts about others makes you the good guy, because you are but, and the evil lurking in the shadows has many faces. The second score comes at a price, they say, the good people who defend the unclean do so because their hearts have been clouded by infestation, and only your courage can save it. This is a classic move to identify the subject with the prince of fairy tales, the hero of his own story.
Like any good pusher, the “dealers” don’t do their own stuff. The news outlets reinforce the idea, that the ban is good, because if they weren’t there, they couldn’t be killed either. They don’t talk about the fact, that if it’s not a mosque, then it’s a synagogue, or that Dylan Roof couldn’t be banned before he killed people.
Here is a Global News article on Why there is almost never a second shooter.
The article also contains the following from University of Toronto sociology professor Jooyoung Lee, an expert on gun violence:
and
Kate Purchase, director at the PMO, contacted Fox news to vigorously complain about their tweet identifying the suspected shooter as “of Moroccan origin”. Fox news (eventually) pulled the tweet and apologised. Hooray, one small victory for “non-alternative” facts.
CBC story
(Meanwhile in another Canadian news site – I can’t remember which one – a Trumpista was already weighing with a predictable response; yes, you guessed it, “it was a false flag operation, I don’t believe anybody was really killed…” )