Normally events can be eclipsed, or glossed over or forgotten, but this atrocity is unique to us in modern political history and it has stamped something deep into our national psyche and many are privately thankful Jacinda was here to lead us through what has been a test for who we think we are and who we want to be so I think the ramifications of this event will be felt deep into the 2020 election.
The beauty, strength, compassion, grace and dignity Jacinda & the vast, vast majority of New Zealanders have shown in the face of this horrific atrocity has made me prouder to be a Kiwi than any other single time in my life.
When someone says something inanely ignorant and hateful, (especially right after the nation is still reeling from the violence of a white supremacy atrocity), one would think that those with media platform wishing to at least pretend to look like they are attempting to project some basic empathy would not repeat or support the inanely ignorant and hateful thing.
One would have thought.
If climate change as an existential threat to our species refuses to motivate Governments into action, maybe losing money might? The latest research from the Fed spells out how climate change could spark the next financial meltdown…
The atrocity in Christchurch will have enormous societal and political reverberations, it has reset the cultural landscape in an enormous way and trying to ascertain how something of this magnitude impacts everything will be a bunch of haphazard guesses.
So here are my haphazard guesses.
By blaming Russia and promising a conviction of collusion, the mainstream media have given proof to Trumps ‘fake news’ narrative. The impact of this may give our carrot coloured maniac another 4 years.
There are already murmurs being made that the GCSB, SIS and Police need mass surveillance powers to combat the extremism that erupted so violently towards Muslims in Christchurch last week.
As the numbness dissolves, as the recoil shock to ourselves and our national identity slows in its reverberations, we are left with an enormous amount of damage to heal, new steps forward to take and real questions that demand answering.
…attempting to connect the violence on Friday with right wing opinions, the defence of free speech or concerns about immigration and conflate that with all white people as racist murderers is a sure fire way of eroding the solidarity in sorrow that has bound many.
Mueller’s report is finally over and while the White House may try and censor anything too embarrassing, it doesn’t look like Trump is panicking at all and that could suggest that there’s no evidence of collusion.
If that’s the case, I think we are in real trouble.