I just found this article on my phone “Why US President Donald Trump’s response to Christchurch shooting is dangerous“.
Well, having read it I’m none to clear about Trump. But the article… now that’s dangerous.
Most Americans were shocked to learn about the massacre of 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday. They shouldn’t be. The violent strain of white nationalism that appears to have inspired the alleged gunman has grown increasingly pervasive and strident in the United States during the past several years.
Yea.. um… funny thing. The shooting wasn’t in the United States.
At its core, white nationalism is about fear…
So are a lot of things. For example, articles trying to make white nationalism seem more popular than it is.
While most Americans are quick to write off white nationalist conspiracy theories and violence as something on the fringes of society or perpetuated by an alienated few or by those in need of mental health treatment, the reality is that…
…the media has used them to great effect.
[skip rambling yarn about US history]
Today, we live in a generally more tolerant and empathetic time. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern bluntly declared the Muslim victims of Friday’s mass shooting “are us”, in sharp contrast to…
…her rhetoric on the campaign trail where she blamed migrants for house prices, and promised to make life harder for them. Lol, no. You can’t bring that up now!
But we also live in a time of rising violent white supremacy. In recent years in the United States, American white nationalists have been aggressively on guard against what they envision to be existential threats to white power. This revival of violent white supremacy, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been framed as a response to demographic changes.
And there you go – their source is the SPLC. Well, it’s not like they’ve blown their credibility to shreds or anything!
[ok, this is supposed to be about Trump… let’s skip to that part.]
After Friday’s attack, President Donald Trump dismissed white nationalism as simply a case of “a small group of people” with “very, very serious problems”.
Eh, that can’t be it? Trump dismissed them – pretty much the same way that Obama or any other president might have. So…. that’s why he’s dangerous? He mocks them as a small group (which they are) and they have serious problems (which they do)?
That’s hardly a “dangerous” response. It’s actually really reasonable.
Yet there can be no doubt that white nationalism is on the rise in the West. As the case of the United States during World War I indicates, we minimise such violent ideologies at our own peril.
Yea, when your only real source for the claim that it’s “on the rise in the west” is the SPLC, you’re going to have a hard time convincing people.
This is news, in 2019. And they wonder why they get dismissed as “fake”.
Something should go here, maybe later. 