icemann on 17/3/2019 at 03:39
And your correct, in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre in the 90s there was a massive banning on many types of guns. Since then we've not had 1 similar incident.
Of course theres still gun crime (mostly due to the black market) but even that is uncommon.
In other news Kotaku's reported that [url= (
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/03/valve-removes-over-100-steam-tributes-to-suspected-new-zealand-shooter/) Steam had to step in and delete over 100 profiles which had given tribute to the main shooter. Only stupid people are breeding I tell ya.
Gray on 17/3/2019 at 03:42
Are you saying clever people should have more intercourse? I've been saying that for decades!
icemann on 17/3/2019 at 03:45
Well I was meaning that the amounts of stupid people seems to be increasing but sure that'd be valid :p.
Gray on 17/3/2019 at 03:50
Yes, I know, I apologise for such a cheap joke in a very serious thread. But it was such an obvious joke I just could not resist.
Now back to our regular story.
Gray on 17/3/2019 at 04:12
I've been thinking a lot about this over the last few days. There is a great bit mosque next to the gym I go to. On one hand, I want to go in and show my support, but on the other, I do not have the faith, and I don't know if I'd be welcome, or if so, what I'd even say. I wouldn't know how to behave appropriately, or who to talk to. It somehow feels patronising assuming that all muslims will feel they are under attack just because of some nutjob on the other side of the world, but then again, maybe they always do because of the local racism. I don't know. In my soul, I feel it's important to somehow show my support, I just don't know how to do it.
Maybe I can just ask to speak to the imam, and say that not all white, blonde, blue-eyed, shaved head, big fat guys wearing black are racists and hate them. I don't know how to do it, but I want to do -something-.
demagogue on 17/3/2019 at 09:07
Quote Posted by Gray
Are you saying clever people should have more intercourse? I've been saying that for decades!
Idiocracy had a whole segment on just this point: (
http://i67.tinypic.com/slr0ih.jpg) screenshot :sweat:
(The top half is the high IQ couple. The bottom half is the low IQ couple.)
Edit: I changed the image to a link because it doesn't fit the tone of the thread maybe.
As for my general thoughts, this was of course an abhorrent tragedy. I think what's special about our era isn't that there's more of these people than before. I actually think it's better now than in the past. But now they have their own space online to brew in this toxic bile until things like this happen. And that's happening all over the place, literally every country. I feel like I've seen it where I'm from too, and in my work we're dealing with the entire Southeast Asia region taking a hard authoritarian turn since 2014 or so.
Shadowcat on 17/3/2019 at 09:44
Gray, I think that if people elsewhere in the world are moved to send messages of good will, love, and respect to their own local communities, then the global balance is shifted a little for the good. I wouldn't imagine that it would be seen as patronising to say that an act of unimaginable hate perpetrated elsewhere has inspired you to offer a message of support within your own community. You could simply leave a written message if that was the easiest way to express what you wanted to say -- so many written messages of support have been left at mosques throughout NZ; most of which will have been left by people who are not muslim and wouldn't know how to behave appropriately in a mosque but wanted to reach out somehow. I really believe that any such message would be received in the spirit it was intended, no matter the distance from the event which inspired it.
Starker on 17/3/2019 at 11:37
Also, I think they might be just a little bit on edge about white people walking into mosques right about now. A written letter might be best, given the circumstances.
icemann on 17/3/2019 at 13:39
Quote Posted by Gray
I've been thinking a lot about this over the last few days. There is a great bit mosque next to the gym I go to. On one hand, I want to go in and show my support, but on the other, I do not have the faith, and I don't know if I'd be welcome, or if so, what I'd even say. I wouldn't know how to behave appropriately, or who to talk to. It somehow feels patronising assuming that all muslims will feel they are under attack just because of some nutjob on the other side of the world, but then again, maybe they always do because of the local racism. I don't know. In my soul, I feel it's important to somehow show my support, I just don't know how to do it.
Maybe I can just ask to speak to the imam, and say that not all white, blonde, blue-eyed, shaved head, big fat guys wearing black are racists and hate them. I don't know how to do it, but I want to do -something-.
I'm married to a Somali Muslim woman (I'm catholic), and shes been very meh about it oddly. I plan on having a chat with her parents next I see them about it as some of those killed in NZ were Somali.
Going back to my earlier point about stupid people - Over here in Aus, yesterday a right wing politician blamed it on the Muslim immigrants themselves, and was immediately ridiculed. At a media event the politician in question (
https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/politics/politician-lashes-out-at-muslims-after-christchurch-shootings-they-are-the-perpetrators/news-story/8e3f11fe73821dc3e65d75432ac76f2e) was egged by a member of a public (rightly so) and reacted quite violently towards egger. Several of his right wing supporters tackled the person to the ground in a choke hold. Such lovely politicians we have. He should be sacked for comments like that. Video of the incident is in the above link.
If there is any country in the world, that I would call most like my country it's New Zealand. Very similar values and mixture of cultures. Only difference being on gun control. Until this, I was unaware that they had far lesser levels of gun control over there.
Gray on 17/3/2019 at 13:55
I saw that bit on the BBC news. A boy egged him, and he punched him in the face. It's the perfect way of saying "I'm not a violent racist asshole, trust me."