15/03/2019
We awoke this morning to the shocking news of the terror attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The two mosques that were attacked were the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood mosque.
New Zealand is a country that has, until now, been unaffected by such atrocities. The country isn't a hotbed of extremism of any kind and it appears that this is what caused 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant to target mosques in Christchurch.
Disturbingly, Tarrant live-streamed his attack via his Facebook account.
I should stress that Brenton Tarrant has not been officially named, but his social media activity makes it clear he is a white supremacist and it seems certain he is to blame.
Tarrant posted multiple photos of rifle magazines and a link to what has been described as a manifesto for his actions.
As I write this, there have been 49 confirmed deaths. Christchurch hospital is apparently treating a further 48 people, including young children, for gunshot wounds. It is believed there are other victims who are being treated at other medical facilities in the area.
This is another example of the horrific threat posed by extremists across the globe. Just as Islamic extremism has been fuelled by hate preachers like Anjem Choudary, white supremacist and anti-Muslim extremism has been fuelled by worthless imbeciles like Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen.
The right to have freedom of speech should not extend to a right to publicly express hate against different sections of society and seek to spread such hateful messages. I know that many will say suppressing views is wrong; perhaps it is. But, and it is a big BUT, allowing extremists to preach hatred and stir up violence against others is far worse.
Terrorism doesn't have a religion, a colour, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity.
Hatred doesn't have a religion, a colour, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity.
Extremism doesn't have a religion, a colour, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity.
We should all stand against such vulgar actions and should challenge extremist views when we see them written down or hear them vocalised. These imbeciles should be under no doubt that the vast majority of people do not share their views and that we will not tolerate them.
The likes of Yaxley-Lennon, Golding and Fransen are guilty of trying to radicalise others and, in doing so, are guilty of creating monsters.
A civilised society should not accommodate such vile creatures.
All extremism is wrong and it is time that the tolerant, peaceful and inclusive majority called for action to be taken against xenophobic hate mongers.
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