Terrorism in New Zealand

On Friday, March 15th, 49 people were killed in two shootings at mosques in New Zealand. The shooter was a 28-year-old white nationalist man from Australia. Prior to the shootings, he posted long accounts of his favorite white nationalists, as well as advertising on multiples social media sites that he would be live streaming the shooting on Facebook, which he did.

This mass shooting comes as a huge shock to the country of New Zealand, which only had 35 occurrences of murder using a gun in 2017, a number surpassed by the attack today alone.

This terrorist attack had unique connections to social media, which has brought about discussion as to how to make social media safe. Social media companies have been furiously attempting to remove all praise of the shootings, but it is almost uncontrollable. Social media naturally fosters extremist ideas in an unprecedented way we do not know to handle. The internet has connected people in positive ways, but it has also provided a channel through which extreme ideas can more easily travel. One New Zealander wrote in their New York Times opinion piece that the violence felt "imported."

Photo courtesy CNN

In my own opinion, social media provides a way to hide. A person can float ideas they would never utter to another person without fear of consequences in their "real" life. It also provides a way for these opinions and ideas to be publicized like never before. Because what we do on social media doesn't necessarily feel like our real lives, we are faced with a dilemma. We cannot take everything people say on social media completely seriously, but we also need to somehow control what is said that turns into action. If authorities investigated every person who posted about wanting to kill someone, they would never be able to do anything else.

As this story unfolds, I'm sure we will learn more about the shooter himself and I hope this tragedy can be an impetus for change.