Jane Coaston, writing in Vox, argues that there is a clear connection in the language used on the part of the Christchurch mass murderer, on the one hand, and "white nationalist" writings around the world.
An argument has been made that because the mass murderer endorsed Communist China, something other than white nationalism must be at play. Coaston argues that this is not the case, implying that the "shout out" to Communist China in his manifesto is a distraction from his central themes.
Here is the shortened version of Coaston's piece which takes a wider, contextual view of what Brenton Tarrant has written in his so-called Manifesto:
There is a lot we don’t yet know about what motivated the 28-year-old man charged with murder in a shooting that killed 50 people and injured at least 50 others in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
But his writings suggest that the white nationalist ideas behind violence and attempted violence in the United States and elsewhere influenced him deeply. The shooter reportedly left behind a 74-page manifesto. It’s the kind of document instigators of mass violence often write to inspire copycat attackers (which is why I chose not to link to it).
Still, the document is worth understanding in context. There are throughlines in the manifesto that are similar to the ideas described by other shooters or those who have attempted shootings in recent cases in the United States and around the world.
In February, a “white nationalist” Coast Guard lieutenant in Maryland was accused of planning attacks on members of the media and left-leaning politicians. (The attacks may have been stymied because of his web searches related to drugs and violent extremist acts.) The Christchurch shooter and the Coast Guard lieutenant used similar language, made similar references, and most disturbingly, revered the same people for their use of horrific violence in the furtherance of white nationalism.
A word on terrorist manifestos
The reason it’s important to both understand the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto and refuse to spread its contents without context is that a manifesto is a published and public declaration of intent or belief — and the critical term to remember is “public.” The Christchurch shooter wrote his manifesto with the clear intention of it being shared widely after he committed an act of mass murder.
That means that historically, terrorist manifestos have never been accurate documentation of either their belief system or the planning that went into their attacks. The main intention of terrorist manifestos is not to help everyday people understand how they became terrorists — it is to create new terrorists.
