Once again, we find ourselves trying to grapple with evil that lives among us. I wish I could say I feel for the victims and their families. I can’t--I don’t know what feelings will help them. They don’t know me, I don’t know them. I try to imagine my own feelings if someone I loved were gunned down, and I can’t. I weep for them, for their innocence, for the world in which they live. This was not a natural disaster, or a disease--this was not the Universe striking down one of the souls who populates this blue marble. We did this ourselves. Humanity failed.
A 28-year-old Australian citizen named Brenton Harrison Tarrant killed at least 50 people on Friday, March 15, 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He walked into two mosques and killed those praying and engaging in religious services.
He also electronically published a lengthy manifesto, and part of what he did in that manifesto was do a sort of “question and answer” section. In that section, he explicitly says this was a racial attack. This point is made clear--not from inference or supposition, but by his own direct comment. He also says directly that this was a terrorist attack. There is no interpretation needed, as if his actions didn’t speak loudly enough.
Furthermore, he said he was a supporter of Donald Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” He added also, “the person that has influenced me above all was Candace Owens. Each time she spoke I was stunned by her insights and her own views helped push me further and further into the belief of violence over meekness. Though I will have to disavow some of her beliefs, the extreme actions she calls for are too much, even for my tastes.”
All of that was context. Here’s what I am not saying, nor taking a position on in this entry. I will not claim here that Trump or Owens, or even the right wing in the U.S. is responsible for what Tarrant did. I may one day write my thoughts on that, but I won’t do it here.
Instead, I am wondering: if I were named thusly in a manifesto written by a terrorist--if I read that a terrorist claimed to have been inspired by me, or indeed was a supporter of my ideology--I would be horrified almost beyond my capacity to express. I can not imagine the feeling that would engender. Knowing that a deranged mass murderer took me as an example would throw everything I am into question. It would certainly make me examine my own actions. I don’t think any amount of self-talk, or support from even those whom I admire and respect, could eliminate the feelings of guilt and remorse, even if they were unearned, I would have. It would devastate me, possibly break me forever.
Trump, on the other hand, has said nothing of consequence. His lackeys have said “it’s absurd to connect him to this,” even though the murderer directly did so. Owens went a step further: ““LOL! 😂 FACT: I’ve never created any content espousing my views on the 2nd Amendment or Islam. The Left pretending I inspired a mosque massacre in…New Zealand because I believe black America can do it without government hand outs is the reachiest reach of all reaches!! LOL!”
Putting aside for the moment the pesky truth that Trump has called for a “Muslim Ban,” and putting aside for the moment the pesky truth that Owens has indeed created content about the 2nd amendment, what does it mean that for both of them, their reactions were to lash out angrily at any accusation that they hold any culpability for the murders? Wouldn’t a stable, mentally healthy, moral individual examine their own actions in light of this? Responsibility or not, wouldn’t one’s initial reaction be shock and horror at the possibility?
I can only conclude that this is the natural outgrowth of Trump’s “never show weakness--never apologize” ideology of life.
If one equates compassion with weakness, if one equates reflection with indecisiveness, then yes, never show compassion, never be reflective. Compassion does mean, after all, you are sacrificing some of your own well-being (materially, spiritually, ethically, etc.) to aid another. It means understanding how another person might feel, and acting in a manner to ease their pain. If that is weakness, if seeing how another person is being harmed and working to mitigate that harm is lack of strength, then indeed, the Trump ideology is being followed. Owens did not, as far as I know, decide to show compassion for the dead, or look at her own actions to see why a mass murderer would claim she was “the person who influenced [him] above all,” in his own direct words.
Even putting aside the argument about culpability and responsibility--what kind of a person sees the murder of fifty innocent people and thinks about him or herself first? What must have happened to the soul of a person who sees this unspeakable tragedy and uses the Internet abbreviation, “LOL?”
Show no weakness.
Never apologize.
The meek will inherit nothing.
Cast the first stone.
Be seeing you.
A 28-year-old Australian citizen named Brenton Harrison Tarrant killed at least 50 people on Friday, March 15, 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He walked into two mosques and killed those praying and engaging in religious services.
He also electronically published a lengthy manifesto, and part of what he did in that manifesto was do a sort of “question and answer” section. In that section, he explicitly says this was a racial attack. This point is made clear--not from inference or supposition, but by his own direct comment. He also says directly that this was a terrorist attack. There is no interpretation needed, as if his actions didn’t speak loudly enough.
Furthermore, he said he was a supporter of Donald Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” He added also, “the person that has influenced me above all was Candace Owens. Each time she spoke I was stunned by her insights and her own views helped push me further and further into the belief of violence over meekness. Though I will have to disavow some of her beliefs, the extreme actions she calls for are too much, even for my tastes.”
All of that was context. Here’s what I am not saying, nor taking a position on in this entry. I will not claim here that Trump or Owens, or even the right wing in the U.S. is responsible for what Tarrant did. I may one day write my thoughts on that, but I won’t do it here.
Instead, I am wondering: if I were named thusly in a manifesto written by a terrorist--if I read that a terrorist claimed to have been inspired by me, or indeed was a supporter of my ideology--I would be horrified almost beyond my capacity to express. I can not imagine the feeling that would engender. Knowing that a deranged mass murderer took me as an example would throw everything I am into question. It would certainly make me examine my own actions. I don’t think any amount of self-talk, or support from even those whom I admire and respect, could eliminate the feelings of guilt and remorse, even if they were unearned, I would have. It would devastate me, possibly break me forever.
Trump, on the other hand, has said nothing of consequence. His lackeys have said “it’s absurd to connect him to this,” even though the murderer directly did so. Owens went a step further: ““LOL! 😂 FACT: I’ve never created any content espousing my views on the 2nd Amendment or Islam. The Left pretending I inspired a mosque massacre in…New Zealand because I believe black America can do it without government hand outs is the reachiest reach of all reaches!! LOL!”
Putting aside for the moment the pesky truth that Trump has called for a “Muslim Ban,” and putting aside for the moment the pesky truth that Owens has indeed created content about the 2nd amendment, what does it mean that for both of them, their reactions were to lash out angrily at any accusation that they hold any culpability for the murders? Wouldn’t a stable, mentally healthy, moral individual examine their own actions in light of this? Responsibility or not, wouldn’t one’s initial reaction be shock and horror at the possibility?
I can only conclude that this is the natural outgrowth of Trump’s “never show weakness--never apologize” ideology of life.
If one equates compassion with weakness, if one equates reflection with indecisiveness, then yes, never show compassion, never be reflective. Compassion does mean, after all, you are sacrificing some of your own well-being (materially, spiritually, ethically, etc.) to aid another. It means understanding how another person might feel, and acting in a manner to ease their pain. If that is weakness, if seeing how another person is being harmed and working to mitigate that harm is lack of strength, then indeed, the Trump ideology is being followed. Owens did not, as far as I know, decide to show compassion for the dead, or look at her own actions to see why a mass murderer would claim she was “the person who influenced [him] above all,” in his own direct words.
Even putting aside the argument about culpability and responsibility--what kind of a person sees the murder of fifty innocent people and thinks about him or herself first? What must have happened to the soul of a person who sees this unspeakable tragedy and uses the Internet abbreviation, “LOL?”
Show no weakness.
Never apologize.
The meek will inherit nothing.
Cast the first stone.
Be seeing you.
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