The Australian terrorist who killed so many people in New Zealand is a symptom of the online shitposting power of RWNJs.
Like Individual-1’s codes referring to criminal acts or pardons, the NZ shooter decided to make his terror also an act of trolling, acknowledging a large body of online “influence” to obscure his actual ideological position.
His firearms are decorated with numerous anti-Islamic and fascist references that repeat neofascist memes (which are omitted here to reduce their amplification).
His manifesto contains plenty of messages for other RWNJs like Rush Limbaugh to use by misdirecting meaning, claiming this action was a “false flag”. Limbaurgh among others selectively choose ideological positions from an abundance of possibly contradictory messages. The shooter’s manifesto contains multiple meanings plus meta-messages for an online in-group which in this case was 8chan.
At its core, it’s still racist hatred complete with extra references, and amplified by social media especially as a livestream. The shooter is ultimately about sowing social division. As with Trump tweeting, the messaging here devolves to shitposting.
What is Shitposting?
Shitposting is the act of throwing out huge amounts of content, most of it ironic, low-quality trolling, for the purpose of provoking an emotional reaction in less Internet-savvy viewers. The ultimate goal is to derail productive discussion and distract readers. “The Great Replacement” is a clear and brutally obvious example of this technique.
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Given the tone surrounding the Candace Owens passage, it seems clear that it was “bait”, thrown out to attract attention on social media and sow further political division. The entire manifesto is dotted, liberally, with references to memes and Internet in-jokes that only the extremely online would get.
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Before beginning his bloody spree, the Christchurch shooter- presumably the same person who wrote the manifesto- announced his intentions to 8chan’s /pol/ board. He opened by saying that it is “time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort”.
Now there are some things the author truly believes, and those things are not hidden- although they are less obvious than his statements about Candace Owens. For one thing, the shooter repeatedly references Oswald Mosley. Mosley was the founder of the British Union of Fascists, a political party in the 1930s that sought to return England to a state of “autarchy”, or complete financial and cultural independence from the rest of the world. The author’s violent anti-immigrant rhetoric jibes completely with this. Mosley is not an entirely obscure figure, but he is also not a particularly prominent thinker in the 21st century right wing.
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The shooter seems to have achieved his goal of providing the anons of 8chan with lulz, and with inspiration. One user hailed him as “the next Breivik”. And before much more than an hour had passed, there were already calls for other anons to follow in his bloody footsteps.
www.bellingcat.com/...
Shitposting is a feature, unfortunately common to many ironic, low-quality trolls:
Trump mindlessly tweets out link to anti-Muslim website shortly after New Zealand mosque shooting
Late Thursday, after the shooting had been reported by U.S. media and presumably after the president would have been briefed, Trump tweeted out a link to the Breitbart homepage, where the lead story at that point was an article highlighting disgraced New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik’s claims about special counsel Robert Mueller.
- He wrote a manifesto, just like Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. He cites right wing personalities and military battles glorified by white nationalists, such as the Siege of Vienna in 1863 - where Europe staved off Islam apparently. 2/
- Like mass murderer Breivik, he wants to punish Muslims and immigrants for allegedly invading his soil, he wants to take revenge. Notice the language of "invasion" - does it sound familiar? It should. It's used against immigrants and Muslims in America - 2018 midterms. 3/
- He left behind a video, live streamed his rampage w/ a camera on his head, making it like first person video game DOOM. He shared it on social media sites. He wants to be known. He is a hero, a martyr, the one brave enough to do what others can't to save "Western" civilization 4/
- Compare his methods & alleged ideology to Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed 6. He was a white nationalist who loathed immigrants, refugees and Muslims. Christopher Hasson, a domestic terrorist, just caught, also wanted to kill Muslims, inspired by Breivik 5/
- Compare this to the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter in Pittsburgh. He killed 11 Jewish worshippers. He shared a post on his Gad account about punishing "filthy evil Jews" for bringing in "filthy evil Muslims." This was in reference to the Soros-caravan conspiracy theory. 6/
- The underlining ideology anchoring all of this is White supremacy and their main fear is "replacement." That the immigrants, Jews, blacks and Muslims will replace them, the Whites. Remember Charlottesville? "Jews will not replace us." See Steve King's tweets about babies 7/
- Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief advisor, cites CAMP OF SAINTS as one of his favorite books. He recommends it. It's a racist novel about brown immigrants "invading" and overtaking France. White natioanalists believe Jews are the head of the cabal who use the rest of us 8/
- We are dealing with angry, disaffected men, mostly White, who find purpose & community with these extremist groups who give them a hero's narrative through violent ideology of White supremacy. They are saving civilization by getting rid of the rest of us. It's like White ISIS 9/
- The victims are not just Muslims, but also Jews, immigrants, refugees, Blacks, Sikhs, Latinos & women (they really hate feminists). It's a zero sum absolutism. No grey area. Just like ISIS. These groups are rising in the US & Europe. They have mainstream elected messengers. 10/
- Pay attention. Take this extremist ideology & terror threat seriously. Be wary of politicians, academics & media heads who give it a platform and spout it under the guise of "free speech" and fighting "political correctness." Look out for each other. Love each other. END.