Remember lads, subscribe to PewDiePie or Christchurch Mosques Shooting

[Mr. Internet]

i believe you can turn 'autoplay videos' off

Great, thanks.

[Zetetic]

PewDiePie and Taylor Swift are 29 years old.

Which is as good a link as any to highlight this, posted on Twitter by a IT support bloke¹ who sort-of-not-really-pretends to by Taylor Swift writing about computer security (or at least that was his shtick some time ago, not so much now):

So, something weird happened a year and a half ago [early 2016?] I've never talked about. It was a direct message from a white supremacist.
...
They linked me a tweet of theirs, and asked me to mock them. What I said it didn't matter, just as long as I quote-tweeted their message.
...
https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/1106398131414028290

Which I think is interesting.

^{1 Broadly, right?}

[Crisps?]

Just sick of seeing people trying to make excuses for racists, Barry.

[Barry Admin]

Just sick of seeing people trying to make excuses for racists, Barry.

Yeah, I just don't think he's anything more than a bit of an edgelord, but don't want to get too into defending him, again. I think there's plenty of blame to go around, and there are far more significant and influential targets than Pewdiepie, and to focus on him is to miss the real problems with internet culture, and the way people interact with it.

The deindividuation that takes place, the dehumanising of people, and the inherent rubbish tribalism of human beings has all brought out the worst in people, and I don't think there's any way we can go back. This shooter wore a GoPro on his head so he could film and stream the whole thing from his point of view, as if it was a video game or porn. He was so callous and distanced that he apparently went round "double tapping" everyone, ie putting rounds into people a second time to finish them off as they lay dying and pleading. Even seeing the phrase "double tap" today horrified me. The causal nature of it, the slang. It's a perk in "Call of Duty", and I'm not sure I ever realised the derivation of it before. "Tap" - such a gentle word to be used for the deliberate and methodical ending of a life.

I think the focus needs to be a lot motherfucking broader than some YouTuber who was invoked as a meme. I'm frequently surprised by how society seems to have changed - and how that seems to be directly because of the internet. Like I saw a story a few days ago, Luke Perry's 18-year old daughter was calling out trolls who "grief-shamed" her for acting in certain ways after her dads death. And I'm just frequently astonished at how distant and unempathic people seem to have become - that they can sit ranting at a young woman like that all day long on their Twitter or instagram feeds.

This cunt today was just pure internet. The meme songs he used, the phrases etched on his weapons etc... it's just shocking. A lot of the reaction is pre-canned too, I saw countless "he's white so he'll be called a lone wolf" memes when I looked on twitter earlier. When do we actually start to look at the deeper issues that are causing this kind of aberrant behaviour and mindset? When do we begin to actually tackle them?

[Carpool Dragon]

The phrase "Subscribe to Pewdiepie" is a meme itself, I've seen it spray-painted on a wall in the back arse of nowhere in Galway, such is it's reach. It's possible the shooter wasn't a fan or ever even watched his videos.

Wonder if NZ will tighten the gun laws now like Australia after Port Arthur. The law as it stands seems ridiculously lax.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Even seeing the phrase "double tap" today horrified me. The causal nature of it, the slang. It's a perk in "Call of Duty", and I'm not sure I ever realised the derivation of it before. "Tap" - such a gentle word to be used for the deliberate and methodical ending of a life.

I think it was popularised in the film Zombieland.

[Carpool Dragon]

I think it was popularised in the film Zombieland.

Yeah the sequel is even going to be called Zombieland 2: Double Tap.

[biggytitbo]

Yeah I pretty much fucking loathe Pewdiepie and his ilk, but I don't think that he's an antisemite, he just likes edgy South Park style humour which occasionally leads him to say awful, irresponsible shit but it's really hard to detect any real ideological content in what he does

Admittedly most of what I know about him comes from this forum, but the everything/everyone is a Nazi stuff is so tiresome. Most people who get into trouble on YouTube it's a by product of the medium rather than because they're actually horrible racists. These are mostly amateurs, often kids, broadcasting hundreds of hours with little or no  oversight, proper writers, production teams etc. Most people on telly would get caught saying stupid stuff all the time in the same circumstances.

[Barry Admin]

Yeah the sequel is even going to be called Zombieland 2: Double Tap.

Just saw that when I googled. The term originally seems to refer to shooting quick shots in two succession, but I definitely saw people using it today to refer to going round and finishing victims off. Wiki also mentions:

Double tap strike   

The term has also been used more recently to refer to the practice of following up a strike, e.g., a missile, air strikes, artillery shelling or improvised explosive device attack with a second strike several minutes later, hitting response teams, helpers, and medics rushing to the site.

What a fucking brilliant species we are. Absolutely superb.

[St_Eddie]

"Tap" - such a gentle word to be used for the deliberate and methodical ending of a life.

Tell me about it.

[biggytitbo]

Is there actually any connection between what happened and pewdiepie? It's seems extremely unfair to him to try and draw some contrived parallels in the absense of real evidence just because some cunt said his name before doing something terrible.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Where is the coverage of who these victims were, what they looked like, who they were? I see the Mail have already compiled a full biography of the killer, yet that loser should be the one plunged into obscurity and anonymity.

[biggytitbo]

They were Muslims so nobody in the media gives much of a shit.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

They were Muslims so nobody in the media gives much of a shit.

I would make it illegal for any media outlet to publish anything beyond cursory details of a mass shooter and to do so in a standardised matter of fact format.

[alan nagsworth]

This is deffo the sort of thing I should be having words with my 14 year old half brother about isn't it? He loves all this famous YouTuber piss and spends all his time on the Internet in his room.

[Barry Admin]

Where is the coverage of who these victims were, what they looked like, who they were? I see the Mail have already compiled a full biography of the killer, yet that loser should be the one plunged into obscurity and anonymity.

The victims have to be identified, and their families have to be notified, for starters.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The term has also been used more recently to refer to the practice of following up a strike, e.g., a missile, air strikes, artillery shelling or improvised explosive device attack with a second strike several minutes later, hitting response teams, helpers, and medics rushing to the site.

A timely reminder that Nazis were the ones who removed even the basic war conventions that had hung over from the pre-Industrial age. Any sort of notion of valour, honour let alone conduct in ensuring war was carried out between armed forces, not civilians or medical staff was rendered void in the complete and total war the Nazis enabled then necessitated.

These days there is simply achieving goals or not achieving them. Even in an age of mass media there is no true way of identifying and trying war criminals in a prompt and fair manner.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

The victims have to be identified, and their families have to be notified, for starters.

Well yes. That should have been accomplished by now. It isn't an unearthed submarine, this is a minority religious community, 90% of whom saw each other every week, some every day.

[Barry Admin]

Well yes. That should have been accomplished by now. It isn't an unearthed submarine, this is a minority religious community.

Yes I suppose they've had more than enough time to grieve by now.

[Uncle TechTip]

Yeah I pretty much fucking loathe Pewdiepie and his ilk, but I don't think that he's an antisemite, he just likes edgy South Park style humour which occasionally leads him to say awful, irresponsible shit but it's really hard to detect any real ideological content in what he does

Interesting, do his followers view it in such a nuanced way?

[alan nagsworth]

Is there actually any connection between what happened and pewdiepie? It's seems extremely unfair to him to try and draw some contrived parallels in the absense of real evidence just because some cunt said his name before doing something terrible.

No, not overtly. That's the whole point though it seems.

[Zetetic]

A timely reminder that Nazis were the ones who removed even the basic war conventions that had hung over from the pre-Industrial age.

I think that's an extremely optimistic view of the "pre-Industrial Age". (Off the top of my head, in the couple of hundred years prior: Britain had an actual ethnic cleansing campaign in the 1740s. Thirty Years War. British Civil Wars, including their prosecution in Ireland.)

Not to exonerate the Nazis, mind you, or argue that we shouldn't at the very least aspire to not frequently murdering civilians.

[biggytitbo]

This is deffo the sort of thing I should be having words with my 14 year old half brother about isn't it? He loves all this famous YouTuber piss and spends all his time on the Internet in his room.

He's probably not watching much youtube in there.


.

[Barry Admin]

Where is the coverage of who these victims were, what they looked like, who they were? I see the Mail have already compiled a full biography of the killer, yet that loser should be the one plunged into obscurity and anonymity.

Just to reply to this again, I know you're trying to say the right thing here, and we've all seen that Charlie Brooker video about how the perpetrators of mass shootings shouldn't be named because it causes more to occur, and so on.

And I do understand that your heart is in the right place.

I just wonder about the thirst for coverage of the victims - is that healthy? Let's not rush to make people's tragedy and grief part of the news. There are - as I've said - valid reasons why victims aren't immediately shown on TV, and much of it comes down to sensitivity towards the bereaved.

[Zetetic]

Not just upsetting them here and now either - rehearsing this stuff over-and-over right now can help worsen the trauma later.

[biggytitbo]

We live in a western culture that so normalises islamaphobia, and so 'others' muslims, I wouldn't expect the media to try and humanise the victims, make them real 3 dimension human beings anyway. Family sensibilities aside, it would be a good thing if they did, mind.

[Barry Admin]

Not just upsetting them here and now either - rehearsing this stuff over-and-over right now can help worsen the trauma later.

I hadn't considered that - so in other words they're packaging the trauma into sound bites for the media, then reliving it over and over?

The actual mechanics are definitely worth focusing on - my gut feeling was just revulsion that we'd want to make them part of the media circus, but yeah, shit, imagine actually having to go and broadcast your loss... the actual process of it. Fucking hell.

[Birdie]

Well yes. That should have been accomplished by now. It isn't an unearthed submarine, this is a minority religious community, 90% of whom saw each other every week, some every day.

It happened less than 24 hours ago and the city was in effect locked down into the evening. People are still missing.

You think our priority should be encouraging journalists to scrape around for victims names and FB photos?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes I suppose they've had more than enough time to grieve by now.

I don't have thirst for any of this, I have a stake in a media reporting things in a proportionate and responsible way, which yes includes showing respect to any families who wish for their loss to not be spread across the world's media.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It happened less than 24 hours ago and the city was in effect locked down into the evening. People are still missing.

You think our priority should be encouraging journalists to scrape around for victims names and FB photos?

No, I don't. Journalists won't need to be "scraping around" anyway because the victims will be identified by medical professionals, not journalists. I don't think it would be ethical for anyone in the media to publish private information without consent of the families involved even if it is publicly accessible.

The fact remains, the quicker these victims are humanised by the media rather than the focus being on the killer's profile, the better for all of us.