Aucks

[champs95]

I do hope you are about this eve? I wanted to express how much this awful event has gotten to me. I'm really sorry to hear about such horrific events taking place in an otherwise great place. Which as you pointed out, has also been affected by natural disasters in recent times.
I see the American ones, I even noticed one in Brazil earlier in the week. Putting them ro oneside.....But this. Posted live, and such deadly precision. He went around and around making sure. Women, children's people in the street, in cars, his calmness. His arsenal....the while thing is just almost too much to comprehend. Living in society. To have done this. I just hoped to have quick chat.

[AucklandRover]

Champs - I've just come back from taking one of my grandsons to his rock-climbing lesson. At the end of the session, the instructor spoke to the students about the events.
He said, "In a way, New Zealand lost its innocence yesterday."
This is exactly how it feels. It was probably naive to believe it couldn't happen here, but I think there WAS an element of that.
Obviously, there are extremists everywhere, but the general feeling here is of a diverse but friendly and tolerant society, which makes this all the more shocking.
I have had a look at some of the alt-Right websites this morning, and there are people treating this maniac as a hero. What can you say?
One of our best friends is Muslim, and we are going with him and other people from an ethnic cross-section of the Auckland population to a vigil this afternoon.
We can only hope that this does not lead to some act of retaliation, and also, that other white supremacists aren't inspired to copy these dreadful actions.

[champs95]

I am sorry to hear that this has happened. It's a fantastic place, I've heard that from so many different people over the years. And I do realise this really is, as you say, the innocence being taken away from a nation today. I can pretty much say we all send our love and concern over to everyone.

[champs95]

This is not NZ's problem. You have merely been dragged into this disgraceful world in the most brutal way. 49 people, in one horrific incident. My first thoughts after taking it all in, was concern for a retaliation. Which is almost ineviabatble. But this is a world problem. Extremism on both sides. And sadly, as you also mentioned, further white supremists acts like today. This is a real melting pot, simmering away which can blow at any time.
2 things hit me today. This is a person, living in a relatively tranquil society, obviously influenced by acts around the world. Not affecting his actual day to day life where he lives. He has been radicalized. Clearly. And I just feel the only way that happened was soley down to social media. Which also brings me to my biggest concern from today. Just putting yet another mass shooting from another maniac to one side, as that is a whole other issue. It's the social media coverage of this very act of horror. Played out live to millions on Facebook live and left on various other social media outlets for hours after the events took place (the person himself broadcast live) which spread these images around the world. Despite numerous complaints made, due to it severe graphic content.
To me this is equally the problem. To me it now stands side by side with that 28 year old ....thing....you can't say man .....with the real issue to take out from today.
It goes on and on and on and won't stop. The news organisations also chose to show quite extreme pictures today, while they do have a job to report the news, I feel how it's delivered (here in the uk) is also a problem. This today was glorified around the world, and we created that. That's our doing in recent times. Social media is extremely damaging. We all use it. We all ignore the fact it can provide such influence. To the 4 corners of the planet like ever before. We get it live now, in all its glory. Which I feel helps create the melting pot. And is constantly manipulated in which messages it sends out, and how it spreads poison.

Also, what are the actual gun laws in NZ? He had a huge arsenal. As we know it appears the US is very easy for someone to do this, but how easy would it have been for him to get hold of all this stuff?

[AucklandRover]

Champs - there were some brilliant (and moving) speeches this afternoon, in front of a huge multi-faith (and "no-faith") crowd.
Interestingly, Phil Goff - the Mayor of Auckland - made exactly the same points as you about the potentially pernicious effects of social media.
The strongest message to emerge, though, was that we should overcome the anger we are bound to feel at first, and come together with a reinforced sense of unity.
I know a lot of people believe multiculturalism doesn't work, but I think it CAN, as long as the process is not dominated by one group, and every group is willing to make allowances for cultural differences. It isn't about melting everyone in the same pot; it's about finding what you have in common while retaining valuable distinctions and variations.
The Muslims I know don't bear the slightest resemblance to the stereotype we hear every day.
Don't get me wrong - there are evil extremists acting in the name of Islam, but many of my friends and acquaintances are in NZ precisely because they have managed to escaped from the oppression and repression imposed by those extremists.