The recent news that the Trump Racist and Criminal White House - a nest of vipers if ever there was one - snubbed the Christchurch Call, should not shock anyone. The "Christchurch Call", for those unaware, was an accord signed by nine nations Wednesday in response to the murderous attack on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand that left 51 dead.
One would have thought all civilized nations with interests in curbing extremist vitriol online would have signed on the 3-page agreement sponsored by New Zealand Premier Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron.
But not Trump and the U.S. The Trump White House stated that "while it agrees with the overarching message" of the initiative, it "isn't currently in a position to join the endorsement". These are weasel words for asserting it fully intends to protect hate speech, such as emanates from the dregs of the net, like 8chan, 4chan and similar cesspools.
Just put the speech under the banner of "free speech" and anything goes, and besides Trump can then get to applaud his top pals amongst the Nazis and KKK as worthy of respect.
I mean, when you have former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke applauding your spiel it's a no brainer that you're on the freaking WRONG side of history. Worse, you're cheering the Nazis and KKK, White Nationalists on by referring to them as "some very fine people". This is what Herr Drumpf did back in August of 2017 after the Charlottesville violence with racists beating the holy hell our of protesters, e.g.
As well as thousands of cheering jeering Nazis and Confederates parading proudly, gratified to emerge from the hate woodwork after Trump had ascended to Fuhrer.
Trump's extremist minions march in Charlottesville, VA in Aug. 2017.
So why be surprised the Trump criminal vermin would refuse to sign on to an accord that would seek to curb hate speech, and the sort of verbal vomit that egged on the perpetrators of the slaughter in New Zealand as well as last year in the U.S. e.g. in the Tree of Life massacre.
According to the corporate media the U.S. stance simply "points to how ideological differences on the role of government and the primacy of free expression complicate efforts to rein in extreme content on social media". But I have a different take more in line with the signatories: that the U.S. leadership no longer possesses the moral compass to distinguish right from wrong, and hence is unable to differentiate hate speech from free speech. In effect, in the Trumpite Nazis' minds the two are now conflated, and woe betide anyone who tries to bring heat down on the Trump base for their bigoted memes.
Am I being too hard on Trump and his retinue of fascists, bigots and lawbreakers? Judge for yourselves after Trump delivered his "very fine people" spiel and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke responded: "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa.”
Righto - the "leftist terrorists" who protected elderly African-Americans singing "this little light of mine" from being clubbed to death and maced by white supremacist thugs who also pointed guns at their heads.
Back to the Christchurch accord: it takes aim at online terror, extremist rhetoric, and anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim content. In other words, anything that can trigger terror attacks such as the one in N.Z. where we know the Aussie mass killer had live streamed his murderous acts to appeal to the denizens of 8chan for their approval.
This is not rocket science and as my psychologist niece Shayl put it the M.O. is clear: "Most of the domestic terrorists promote themselves and their propaganda online and use it to basically radicalize others, create copycats and mainstream their memes and ideologies."
At the meeting Wednesday all the main G7 nations agreed the accord needed to be implemented to shut down extremist voices. The only country that diverged - in the name of "protecting free speech" (actually protecting hate speech)- was the United States. As one on site media observer noted last night on 'All In':
"Everyone's jaw dropped. It was then clear the president of the United States - who refused to disavow his Nazi and white nationalist supporters- now had made it official to the rest of the world. That is, he is unwilling to fight hate and terror online."
What was the big deal, the big problem in signing? Who knows? The accord simply incorporated signed commitments to act from signatory governments and tech giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google - owner of Youtube. The promises include the creation of a crisis plan for sharing information in the event of a terrorist attack. Also important are the commitments of companies (like Google and Facebook) to prevent the live streaming of any domestic terror butchery or any other displays that might spread violent extremism.
Sadly, we know other memes the Trumpies may have listened to are similar to what appeared in a TIME essay ('Hate Can't Be Blocked', May 19, p.25). That essay, by Alex Krasodomski-Jones, claimed it was "impossible" to totally snuff out hate speech given it would always emerge someplace - maybe in darkness (dark web) - where its propagators could still feed off it. Maybe. But at least it would be sequestered from the more open public square where it might infect susceptible minds.
What was most revolting to me is when the author claimed:
"There's a lot to learn from sites like 8chan, alongside the violent extremism"
He argues this is given "they are among the most innovative and forceful drivers of cultural change and politics online for the last decade."
Yeah, but seriously, one need not go to a landfill to excavate the waste from porto-potties to learn how bad waste and its contamination can be.
He also inbsists we need to learn (governments, that is), how and why extremist communities thrive in online spaces and "how they can brought back into the fold." This again, isn't like general relativity. More education, including in basic ethics, is needed at all levels for a largely amoral populace that thrives on seeing anyone different as "the other" and open to persecution. In the meantime, we need to control the spread of the incipient mind viruses like we would Measles or Avian flu. We also know the setting of moral-ethical standards begins at the top, so we need an election (next year) to change this vile current occupation by nationalists and know nothings. Ethicist and author Marilynne Robinson is correct that we need to re-examine ourselves. That includes the basis for voting choices. We can't simply base them on reaping better 401k balances.
We also know other nations - like Germany - take such viral mind infection seriously. Thus, as my German friend Reinhardt noted when I last saw him in Garmisch 6 years ago, one can get years in prison for displaying swastikas or engaging in holocaust denial.
I am not saying the U.S. need go that far, but it could at least be a signatory to an accord that embodies acceptance of basic human decency, and making an effort to control the dissemination of pathological propaganda and mind viruses online. Especially given social media platforms are among the most powerful agents for radicalization today.
It's either that, or we are faced with ever more domestic terror and mass slaughters. Meanwhile, the Canadians signing onto the accord were very clear on where they wish to go and are unafraid to over regulate if need be. Better to err on the side of over regulation than have mass slaughter such as in New Zealand and the Tree of Life Synagogue in the U.S.
See also:
by Ilana Novick | May 17, 2019 - 6:47am | permalink
Excerpt:
"Sometimes, however, theories escape the confines of online message boards and social media and turn dangerous, even fatal. No one laughed when a man named Edgar Welch drove from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., and fired shots at innocent people in a pizzeria because he was a “believer in Pizzagate,” a theory spread by people like right-wing radio show host Alex Jones that Hillary Clinton and her close advisers ran a pedophilia ring out of the pizzeria’s basement. There also was no laughter when James Alex Fields drove his car into a crowd at a 2017 white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Va., killing anti-racist protester Heather Heyer.
As journalist Anna Merlan explains in her new book, “Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power,” “While conspiracy theories are as old as the country itself, there is something new at work: people who peddle lies and half-truths have come to prominence, fame, and power as never before,” thanks to the Trump administration’s outward embrace of some of their biggest boosters."
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