Millions of people around the world witnessed the horrible terrorist attack in New Zealand on video. However, the government of New Zealand is now telling people that it will arrest anybody who watched that video in its own country, and is threatening persons in other nations according to a report:
New Zealand authorities have reminded citizens that they face up to 10 years in prison for “knowingly” possessing a copy of the New Zealand mosque shooting video – and up to 14 years in prison for sharing it. Corporations (such as web hosts) face an additional $200,000 ($137,000 US) fine under the same law.
Terrorist Brenton Tarrant used Facebook Live to broadcast the first 17 minutes of his attack on the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand at approximately 1:40 p.m. on Friday – the first of two mosque attacks which left 50 dead and 50 injured.
Copies of Tarrant’s livestream, along with his lengthy manifesto, began to rapidly circulate on various file hosting sites following the attack, which as we noted Friday – were quickly scrubbed from mainstream platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Scribd. YouTube has gone so far as to intentionally disable search filters so that people cannot find Christchurch shooting materials – including footage of suspected multiple shooters as well as the arrest of Tarrant and other suspects.
On Saturday, journalist Nick Monroe reported that New Zealand police have warned citizens that they face imprisonment for distributing the video, while popular New Zealand Facebook group Wellington Live notes that “NZ police would like to remind the public that it is an offence to share an objectional publication which includes the horrific video from yesterday’s attack. If you see this video, report it immediately. Do not download it. Do not share it. If you are found to have a copy of the video or to have shared it, you face fines & potential imprisonment.”
Along with the censorship of online materials and investigation of content sharing platforms such as BitChute and 8chan – where the shooter posted a link to the livestream of his attack, social discussion service Dissenter has been blocked in New Zealand. Created by the people behind Twitter competitor Gab.ai – Dissenter is a browser extension which pops up a third-party comments section for any website where people can discuss content outside of the control of the website owner. (source, source)
Censorship is often a contentious issue, and it varies by matter and country. It should be noted that censorship is not per se in itself a bad thing, for the principle is that certain ideas are not good for the general population and need to be prevented from spreading. While many people criticize the Catholic Church for her censorship efforts and in particular with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the concept is that of protecting the souls of her people, for just as a good parent does not expose his children to alcohol and drug abuse, one should not expose one’s soul to what is objectively spiritual abuse.
However, censorship is many times used for malicious purposes. This case in New Zealand is an excellent example of this, for while the shooting was bad and there was talk about promoting the video online to make it go viral, the fact is that people also need to see the evils of what this man did.
Mass murder is not a joke, and it is not funny. Real people die and it has real consequences. The fact that this is a major news story is also significant because it has gone around the world- people from countries everywhere have watched it, and they should be disturbed and disgusted by it.
It is a fact that efforts to censor major news stories such as this one always fail, and historically speaking, they create an underground “resistance” to it that further drives the cause. This has been noted throughout history, and was noted by the Daily Stormer years ago as a major reason why GenZ was so enamored with them, because they were offering an alternative to their parents’ ideas which is edgy, dangerous, and could possibly get girl interested in them. It was how being a Nazi went from being something “stupid” to something “cool.”
What this shooter did was terrible and deserves attention. However, it seems that something else is going on, as this also comes after people in Denmark have been charged with sharing the execution video of two women from Denmark on a trip in Morocco.
There are many gruesome death videos that one can watch, and some far more gruesome than these videos, as horrible as they are, which are all over the Internet.
One can say one wants to censor them to prevent “radicaliztion,” yet it is a known fact that has been discussed at length of the direct links between many of these “terrorists”- Islamic or not -and operations being run by intelligence organizations to compel the public to accept particular policies.
New Zealand has responded to this attack by rushing to ban weapons and is currently charging a 22-year-old man with watching the video and sharing it.
Is this an attempt to intentionally create a “subculture” of National Socialism by making it a “forbidden” thing, more so than what it is already and to drive it into further support in society?
Is it an attempt to see how far these small and comparatively insignificant countries can get away with a philosophy of censorship and shutting down or pressuring to extradite people to them for prosecution before attempting it with larger entities?
It remains to be seen.
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