A whole new kind of evil has raised its ugly, violent head in Aotearoa New Zealand today.
The details are unclear, but one or more gunmen stormed two mosques in Christchurch and fired on worshippers. Many people — we don’t yet know how many — are dead or wounded. Security forces are defusing IEDs and the city is in lockdown.
I woke up today feeling angry that yesterday one of the leaders of the Green Party, James Shaw — a Cabinet Minister — was beaten up while walking to work in central Wellington. It wasn’t a random attack; he was deliberately targeted. Shit like that isn’t meant to happen in NZ where our politicians are routinely to be found hanging out like normal people and are generally incredibly accessible.
By lunchtime I was cheered by the energy of the climate change strike events — at which James Shaw, black eye and all — spoke passionately to huge applause.
Then it all came crashing down.
I suppose it was naive to think that these little islands at the bottom of the world could be immune to the insane hatred and violence blighting so many other countries. Our time had to come. And it has.
Tonight we are a nation in mourning. For the senseless loss of precious lives, and for our country’s loss of innocence today.
So sad 😞
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Su, I am thinking of you all over there. I have friends in Christchurch. I am so sorry this is happening.
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Thank you Aggie. My hope is that enough of us are willing to stand up and actually take the small steps that will show we will not tolerate this evil.
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You will.
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I thought Christchurch could never shock me again after the earthquakes. I was wrong. I feel totally betrayed. And angry. And sad for this awful tragedy perpetrated against good, and godly, members of our city. And, as you say, this is not just our tragedy, it’s New Zealand’s.
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I’m so angry and upset that Christchurch has once again suffered so much trauma. Not that I would wish this on any place, but you have suffered more than enough and I am so afraid for the health and well-being of you all. So much worse that it has been brought about by human evil. Kia Kaha.
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Oh man – so sorry – 💜🙏
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Thanks Yvette.
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Just woke up to the terrible news. Love and commiserations to New Zealand this morning.
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Thanks so much Anabel. My hope is that this will bring out the best in Kiwis and we will stand up and say “no more.”
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With you in spirit.
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this is utterly sad.
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I suppose we had to expect it sometime. But my heart is breaking for the families and the Muslim community
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It is never expected
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No. We believed ourselves to be too small, too remote, too kind a nation.
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Exactly as I saw it from the outside
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As an American I’ve had to deal with this and it never gets easier- hearts go out to all
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We feel for you every time it happens in your country. This is a clipboard no-one should ever join.
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Club — not clipboard. Love auto-correct; NOT
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I was very grieved to read this news this morning.
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Thanks 🙏
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The dimensions of these gruesome attacks are really shocking. I would not have expect such in New Zealand.
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Neither did we ☹️
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We have certainly lost our innocence. Too much emphasis was focused on the other on Islamic Terrorism and post 9/11 less focus on the extreme right. That will now change due to this horrendous act of terrorism. My heart goes out to all of those who were affected. As you previously wrote Su, Kia Kaha NZ
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I sincerely hope the spotlight is turned on all haters and perpetrators of evil.
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I couldn’t agree more!
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So sorry to hear this Su, it’s horrific! Sending thoughts across the ditch xx
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Thanks so much Debbie
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Words fail, Su. Sorry isn’t big enough to cover it. Those poor, poor people.
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Thanks Tish. Latest death toll 49. I can only hope it galvanises my compatriots into action against this sort of hatred, then something good will come of it.
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I share your hopes. But I’m thinking too that every one of us around the world needs galvanising. A calling to account of all those individuals and media that daily foster and amplify hatred is long overdue.
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I totally agree Tish.
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Su, my deepest sympathies for the trauma this has caused the NZ community and for those who lost loved ones as a result of this atrocity. We are united with you in sorrow. Hugs. Tracy.
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Thank you so much Tracy. Much is being made here of the gunman’s Australian nationality and I fear this will become another schism. So much sadness; I feel lost, and it is incredibly comforting to read your words, and those of other members of my blogging whanau.
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Much will be made of it here too, Su. And rightly so. Look after each other. My thoughts are with you.
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Thank you my friend.
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Sad to hear about this and read it in the news.
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Ugly and senseless. All we need is love and there is so little of it.
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So sorry to hear about this happening in your little corner of the world as well, Su. As a group, humans appear to be regressing instead of progressing and I don’t understand why.
Deb
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I don’t understand either Deb. It’s terrifying and so sad.
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Unable to even think. We are on short hols, but ‚homestruck‘ as I‘m down with the worst lumbago possible and HH who keeps track of the world‘s happenings just told me. Thought immediately of you…. It makes for desperate souls worldwide and deep sadness. Praying for those people.
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I hope you feel better soon; back pain is dreadful.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. The support of my blogging whanau is very special to me.
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I saw this online this morning and immediately thought of you. Will this hatred never end??! So very sorry, Su.
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Thanks for you thoughts. I appreciate the support of my blogging whanau like never before today.
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Mourning with you.
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Thank you
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I woke up to this news across the globe from you, my friend, and felt that same sickness and immediately thought of you, the only person I know in NZ. I recognize that sense of shock, anger, bewilderment, heartbreak. Sadly I have experienced it too many times here in the US. But somehow I also thought NZ was immune from gun violence and hatred. It’s devastating to know otherwise.
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Thank you so much Amy. I so appreciate your thoughts and words. We thought we were immune too. It has already raised questions about access to firearms, and I hope that some good may come from a closer look our laws and the illicit channels for guns. But mainly I hope that the anger and revulsion I’m seeing and experiencing can be channeled into positive support for all our communities.
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We woke up to the shocking news this morning – although I hadn’t heard about the IEDs. I too immediately thought of you and how deeply this was going to affect you and the entire country.
Sadly, it appears the madness is spreading 😥 I have no words …
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Thank you Joanne. I’m looking out the window this morning at a landscape I’ve seen every day for 19 years, and knowing that it will never be quite the same again. I really appreciate all the love and support from my blogging whanau. Nga Mihi Nui.
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❤️
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There are no words to offer comfort through something like this, the feelings of helplessness and shock. **hugs** my blogging friend.
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Hugs are good. We are sharing a lot of them here right now. 😀
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I am sad and even angry. Evil and hate finds its way to every corner of our world today. No place is safe. My sincere condolences.
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Thank you so much for your kind thoughts.
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Dear Su. There are no words to express my sadness at this happening in your beautiful country. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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Thank you so much for your kind thoughts. It is so important to know good people everywhere are repulsed by this.
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Racism, bigotry, ignorance, they are human traits and manifest wherever people are. My thoughts are with New Zealand today, and all those directly affected by this act. It is a real shit show.
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Truer words never spoken. But out of the shit may grow something good if we are sufficiently pissed off to stand up against this evil.
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Except there is nothing to stand up against. We are talking random individuals with warped perspectives on life. We can stand against extremist views, but you can’t prevent the random.
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The existence of a manifesto (and the video) suggests that the terrorist wanted people to understand and support his views. This was ideological and ideologies need people to support them. To ignore that is to normalise it — something that’s already happened in many parts of the world. These people don’t care what people like me think — they’ve already written us off as “trendy lefties” or whatever. But I think they believe they represent some sort of silent majority, and if enough of those people (like the quite conservative kiwi blokes I know who are outraged right now) reject them, it helps to hold the centre. That’s what we stand up for.
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There is no doubt that what these people believe and how the world works are totally different things. I agree we need to openly reject these views. Ii’s like you said though, they write off the views of those who don’t agree with them. Human beings are very good at ignoring information they don’t want to accept.
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That’s true. We probably can’t stop radicals from the ends of any spectrum. The fight is for the middle ground and what is considered normal and acceptable.
Nazism may have started as an extreme belief system, but the ideology became normalised and people who would have otherwise been revolted by it accepted and indeed embraced it.
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I see. And I agree. It has taken society a long time to get to where we are now and we can’t lose that. Doesn’t help when pricks like Trump get in positions of responsibility though.
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You’re right there ☹️
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We here in Canada had our fair share of violence and disgusting display of hatred and bigotry. One has to guard against getting desensitized with the daily bombardment of bad news. I can see how shocking the news of so many innocent people murdered must have been. It is still early morning here and I have turned on the radio yet.
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NZ is only home to around 4million people, so you can imagine what such a high death and injury toll represents to us. Chances are, we will all know a family affected. My hope is that it will shock us out of any complacency we have had, and bring us on the the streets to stand against racism and hatred.
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Yes, you are right, Su. Complacency (for some it is numbing of the senses) is the real danger.
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I have no words. 😥
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We’re struggling this morning. My normally stoic Big T is looking particularly shell-shocked.
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It is hard to believe that some people can have such a hatred towards others.
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At a personal level, I agree. Historically it is all too common.
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I immediately thought of you when I heard this. I am so sorry that NZ has had this horrific incident.
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Thank you for your kind thoughts. It is heartening to know so many people share our abhorrence of this evil.
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Dear Su, the massacre in your good country… those poor people. I share your grief and disillusionment.
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Thank you Susan. I feel like we’ve joined a club no-one wants to belong to.
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Wow. Sadly, I know the feeling well. You are all in my thoughts.
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Thank you. 🙏
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I just saw the number of people killed. My goodness. I know there is a lot of pain there right now. We send lots of love your way. Take care of you.
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Thanks so much. In our tiny population, it is a staggering number.
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You all are in our thoughts. 😢
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Thanks so much Ruth.
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There are no words this morning to convey the horror and grief. We live in a small community is SW Ontario, and events like these feel far removed, but as you say, even the ‘sane’ pockets of the world are feeling the repercussions of hatred. Currently staying in southern U.S. where hate rhetoric is open and common. There are no ‘isolated’ occurrences – acts of terrorism such as this affects all of us.
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My hope is that this will backfire on the terrorists by galvanising people here into standing up against hatred.
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I hope so, too. More needs to be done.
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What happened is so sad. I wish we behaved more like humans.
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Thank you for your kind thoughts.
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Very sad indeed! As one who lived through 911, I can sympathasize with how you are feeling. The world is a scary place these days. People have no morals or regard for human life, in my opinion. Life takes on a new “normal” and sadly, you learn to live with how these events continue to take place. I am praying for you and all of your fellow citizens. You are all in my prayers.
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Thank you so much. Like so many people I watched the events of 9/11 in utter disbelief. Yesterday was the closest I’ve come to feeling that way again. I hope it will be the last time.
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I wish you were right. Unfortunately, I think it’s become a way of life. My thoughts and prayers are with you all. Life goes on and sadly we become immune to so much of it. Until it happens again. And it will, happen again.
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☹️
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I’ve just heard about the attack on the news, Su. I’m so, so sorry! 😯 I can only imagine how shocked you and everyone living in NZ must feel that this horror has now reached your part of the world too. Sending you lots of hugs and love! Kia kaha ❤
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Thank you so much my dear friend. I feel that we have joined a club no-one should have to belong to. I am heartened to see this morning on social media many messages of support for the victims, and our Muslim community, so I hope we will be galvanised to stand together against hatred. xxxxxxx
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Su, it was high on our news today. I’m so sorry to hear about it.
Leslie xoxo
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Thanks Leslie. We are a country in shock.
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We are all vulnerable now…I’m sorry to say…
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Shocking!! Horrifying!
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Oh how awful Su. I fear that no where on our planet is immune anymore. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating.
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So sorry for your loss! How terrible an act! Peace and healing to all peoples there!
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Thank you for your kind words Robert 🙏
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I was so sad to read about this, Su. Evil is truly everywhere. We must all fight back in whatever ways we can.
janet
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There is something so terribly wrong going on around the world. There’s a very 1930s sense of hatred and ugliness and it’s found its way to just about every continent. Whatever awfulness we inflict on third-world countries, we inflict the same horrors on ourselves.
We need to rid the world of a lot of testosterone. Seriously. Too many men. Far too many men.
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I am sorry for your nation’s loss in the senseless killings. Stay safe and prayers for your country and the affected families to heal.
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Thank you for your kind words and prayers. Knowing good people stand together to condemn this makes it easier to bear.
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I am so sorry.
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Thank you Andrea
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I am so very sorry.
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Thank you
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Ugh, so many senseless acts of violence happening in our world. No place seems impervious to it these days. And the shock, pain, grief are just too much for words sometimes.. Condolences, peace & Love to you and the people of New Zealand. ❤
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I am so sorry. More power to you and people in your country!
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Everyone I’m close to here in Canada grieves along with you for this tragedy. Xoxo
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Thanks so much for your kind words.
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