Rhetoric Doesn’t Kill People, Violence Does: New Zealand’s Anger, Sorrow & Worry

By Olivia Pierson

As many New Zealanders feel after Brenton Tarrant murdered 49 innocent Muslims in cold blood during their time of worship, I’m carrying around a sense of anger, sorrow and worry. We were the only Western country left where tensions between the Islamic world and our own had not erupted into a rampage of senseless violence. 

I’m angry that a man from another country can come so easily into our country and destroy our peace with one terrifying act.

I’m sorry that a sick, stupid bastard killed and injured so many innocent men, women and children to prove a political point on my country’s soil.

I’m worried that there may be reprisals from the Muslim community, as well as intense over-reactions from our government. One bad man committed this act.  He has been arrested and now must face the full brunt of the law.

Our media is funnelling stories out to the world about a “right-wing extremist,” but Brenton Tarrant’s recently written manifesto shows he was deeply self aggrandising and confused. He saw himself as an “eco-fascist,” which fits with the violent act he finally perpetrated.
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[EDIT: The content previously quoted here has been censored by the NZ government]



If this manifesto is true - and I suspect it is a carefully constructed piece of fiction - in his relatively short 28 years so far, Tarrant has run the full gamut of the whole political spectrum: The far right representing no rule of law (anarchy), to the far left representing total rule of law (totalitarianism), Tarrant has identified with all of it but settled into a comfy respect for Communist China.

Already the mainstream media, spear-headed by Prime-minister Ardern’s statements in press conferences, are coming for tighter gun laws (a favourite topic of progressives) and no doubt a clamp down on NZ free speech laws are to follow.  This is absolutely the wrong thing to do. 

Ardern said in her statement this morning: 

“Rhetoric of racism, division and extremism should not have a place in New Zealand or in society as a whole.”

Rhetoric doesn’t kill people, violence does.  Ardern should not confuse the two at a time so fraught with confusion and pain.  This will only bode poorly for NZers who value the civilisational cornerstone of free speech in our country.

The Independent Australasia ran a news article today which sadly echos the view of much of the MSM, titled: 'Not only the perpetrators, but also politicians and media’: World leaders blame global rise of Islamophobia for New Zealand terror attack:

“Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Western countries of ‘defending demonisation of Muslims’ under the pretext of ‘freedom of expression’. Impunity in Western 'democracies' to promote bigotry leads to this," he wrote on Twitter. "Western hypocrisy of defending demonisation of Muslims as 'freedom of expression' MUST end." 

Aside from the grotesque irony of NZ being reproached by the Foreign Minister of the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, Mr. Zarif happens to be profoundly wrong.  What NZ needs more of right now, instead of less, is open and honest speech about the tensions that have come to bear in the West, resulting from repeated Islamic terrorism on Western soil. Though this has never yet happened in NZ, we have not been blind to watching it happen in other Western countries including our close neighbour Australia, with an intense regularity over the last 20 years.  Shutting down freedom of expression will only make these tensions worse; much worse.

“In a statement, Al-Azhar University, Egypt's 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islamic learning, said the attacks had "violated the sanctity of the houses of God”.

"We warn the attack is a dangerous indicator of the dire consequences of escalating hate speech, xenophobia, and the spread of Islamophobia.”

Wrong again.  There is a much wider context to this tension that is never acknowledged by our leaders or our media, and that is that the United Nations have foolishly dealt with the refugee crisis, originating out of Syria, by placing Islamic refugees into lands with a Judeao-Chrisitan heritage, rather than into lands which share their culture, customs, religion and ideology.  This has been devastating for Europe and the UK.  Too many terror attacks in their countries have been committed with many, many innocent Westerners dead because of it. Considering the enormity of this change in Western culture, reprisals toward Muslims have been few.  What has just happened in NZ is very rare. Long may it continue to be so.  

Ardern signed NZ up to the UN Global Migration Compact without any debate on the floor of our Parliament and without any public debate in our media.  She is forcing Islamic immigration onto NZ citizens and has not consulted with us about any of it!
Yet she consistently promised to lead the most transparent government ever.

Remember, a New Zealander did not commit this atrocious attack, we’re tolerant, undramatic people.  But after watching the events of the last 20 years, many of us feel that it would be better wisdom for the UN to be repatriating Islamic refugees from the migrant camps into one of the 54 Islamic countries in the world where, surely, their natural brethren would welcome them in support and empathy, without the tensions and mounting civil strife that we have watched our fellow Europeans go through.

Yesterday is indeed a very dark hour for New Zealand. I feel that things are only going to darken further if our natural rights, like free speech, are squelched because a disturbed Australian millennial with murder on his mind waltzed in here and did a diabolical thing.

Today much has changed - and will change further, but for now, the grieving must be left in peace to bury their dead and mourn them.
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If you enjoyed this article, please buy my book "Western Values Defended: A Primer" ​ ​