Does the online far-right enable terrorism?

It's been a notable thing recently that a lot of the recent mass shootings are by people who were knee deep in online cultures such as 4 chan.

By 'ironically' talking about awful things, the most rightwards section of the Internet seems to be a cultivating ground for these people. I have met people on SW who I think would have been part of this radicalisation process.

It starts with theories of cultural war between peoples, moves to etno nationalism and ends with what happened in New Zealand.

Do the Christchurch shootings expose the murderous nature of ‘ironic’ online fascism?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2019/mar/15/do-the-christchurch-shootings-expose-the-murderous-nature-of-ironic-online-fascism?

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Kwek00 · 41-45, M Best Comment

You have people that actually "believe" that there is "something" going on lead by some obscure elite figures or a group of nations. This cabal is actively trying to kill/replace their race. Take away their soil, their jobs, their culture, their identity,.... It's pretty easy to go from that idea to the idea that they are out to kill them (because they are part of their race). That these people are taking away their power, their soil, their right to excist and want to indoctrinate their children to accept this (to them) horrific holocaust as "normal".

So there is a clear "us" and "them" dynamic. And "them" is out to get "us". If that idea becomes dominant enough, what do you think will happen? And it's impossible to talk to "them". For instance... with muslims, their is this idea of "Taqiya", which allows muslims from a certain branch of Islam to lie if it serves their purpose. If you believe all muslims use this rule, then how can you talk to them on an equal basis? They are all liars annyway, and their religious system allows this (because all muslims are the same in their opinion). This idea is actively used in extreme right circles, and if you really believe it, it makes anny negotiation with "them" impossible.

If there is no trust, and "they" are out to get "us"... what would you do? In the most extreme cases of believers, these attrocities are the logical consequence. Because they have to protect themselves. And they are englightened while all the other guys in their camp still have to wake up to this reality.

[i]Just read Carl Schmitt - On the concept of the political.
[/i]

Oh yeah... this is not a: Fashit, Right Wing, everyone else thing. It's a human thing, emotions based on bad data, that creates a narrative that is only sensible and rational to the true believers. In extreme circles on the left this dynamic is just as plaussible. Once you radicalise, loose nuance and believe all the other people are to dumb to talk too because they just don't understand... you are just bound to have problems.

Remember Marx, the last part of the communist manifesto has the same dynamics. It's not abnormal that a lot of socialist communist regimes turned violent. The Bougeois class is actively out to get us, the working class needs to wake up. Rise up, rise up, you have nothing to loose but your chains.

CountScrofula · 41-45, M

> Do the Christchurch shootings expose the murderous nature of ‘ironic’ online fascism?

I think the clearest indication of this is when the guy gave a shout-out to Pewdiepie on his livestream. Pewdiepie personifies ironic racism and there's this underlying belief that since since it's not ill-intended it's not real racism.

And yet actual racists are eating it up, building huge communities around this kind of ironic humour, and now dozens of people are dead. Again.

beckyromero · 36-40, F

I think the internet helps [i]all[/i] forms of terrorism.

No one group has a monolopy over it.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@beckyromero Yes, ISIS are helped by the Internet too.

Northwest · M

Back in the day, they had their Beer Halls, now it's social media. I don't believe social media creates extremism, but it sure seems to enable them. For certain, it serves as a distribution means for their atrocities.

I am not advocating controls over social media. Look at SW for instance. How many WallNutters were ever swayed by the honest to goodness truth? How would the actual truth affect the opinions of people like missep or jack? They will simply go into more spin.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@Northwest I'm not advocating control either however as a culture, we need to get to terms with this. The net provides a safe space where those who desire can hunt out like minded people and create a bubble around themselves. No amount of control would stop that anyway.

kayle · 70-79, M

The number of school shootings in the US have increased dramatically since the Internet became public. Hard to think there isn't a connection.

Kwek00 · 41-45, M

@kayle If you know that one of the most important inventions to spread ideas is the "wordpress"? Ages ago, monks or scriptures were busy for months to duplicate one important work. When the press got introduced, believe systems had the perfect tool to spread like wild fire. But people still need to read the tombs that were produced, time to read, time to travel the material, time to produce, ... it all took time, and ideas spread faster but still slowly in comparisson what we have now.

If a book is published today, you can get the PDF version in a matter of seconds.

Most people also don't read books, like doing real research is just not part of most peoples free time. After working hours they ussually need to take care of their family their house, etc. Then they have a bit of free time. This free time is spend doing what ever they "like" and a lot of people do things that gives enjoyment. So most bits and pieces that inform you of "reality" they get from newssites that dumb down facts and events to a 3 to 5 minute clip of data. There is verry little in depth thinking. Other people totally disregard the news, because journalists are all fake and left and ... well you know the rhetoric. (And this I believe is the worst thing Trump did, is a frontal political attack on the press and totally discredit everyone that is critical)

Then you have youtube, fora and other sites. Where people try to digest clips that don't take too long (hell if I write a to long message people already complain that I'm boring, because taking the effort just ain't part of the mindset today). A lot of these (not all) are people that are informed by these dumbdowned clips of news. I watched a Sargon of Akkad video about the betrayal of the Brexit Referendum yesterday, his entire "source" material excisted out of newssites.

And all this badly researched non-critical information gets spread by the speed of light trough glassfiber networks? ... And a lot of this information contains believe systems that if you push them to a radical extend are just toxic. I mean, what do people really expect to happen? This is not a "common occurence" but people that got so sucked in into this thoughtbubble with a terrible badly researched dataset that start believing their own crap... what outcome do you think it might produce?

On one of our WW2 Holocaust monuments (and museum) over here you can find the following wisdome:

[i]Watch your thoughts for they become words.
Watch your words for they become actions.
Watch your actions for they become habits.
Watch your habits for they become your character.
And watch your character for it becomes your destiny.[/i]

People should think about this more.
Specially english speakers, that use the word "hate" as if it's normal to hear it 50 times a day. There are other synonyms. You don't hate a certain food, you just prefer not to eat it, or dislike it tastes. Hate is way worst then all the rest you use, but because of lazyness "hate" and "love" are the go too words in a lot of peoples vocabulary these days. As an outsider... I think it's pretty sad and dangerous in the long run.

bijouxbroussard · F

It encourages it. Red herrings like the Jussie Smollett idiocy here only slightly obscure the fact that hate crimes have increased, and white supremacist groups have become more vocal and active worldwide.

SmartKat · 56-60, F

I think so, yes.

SW-User

Yes. Here in the U.S. I believe the AME Church shooter was inspired by some White Supremacist website(s).

thatscottishguy · 26-30, M

Oh aye they do the bastards

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