{"id":3165,"date":"2019-03-16T00:14:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T00:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=3165"},"modified":"2019-06-23T20:40:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T20:40:35","slug":"christchurch-headcam-at-the-mosques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/christchurch-headcam-at-the-mosques\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch: Headcam at the Mosques"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/christchurch-headcam-at-the-mosques\/#dead\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20190304ff\/20190315-_106038384_052957459-1-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>You&#8217;ve almost certainly seen the news by now. Someone killed more than four dozen folks at a Friday afternoon prayer meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>One attack was east of the city&#8217;s center, the other west. Both were about a mile from Cathedral Square.<\/p>\n<p>The Bangladesh Cricket team were on their way to one of the prayer meetings. They hadn&#8217;t quite arrived when the killing started. They&#8217;re a bit rattled, but otherwise okay.<\/p>\n<p>The cricketers weren&#8217;t the only ones who had their day disrupted. Christchurch authorities stopped a climate change rally in Cathedral Square and put the city&#8217;s schools in lockdown.<sup><a href=\"#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The attacker&#8217;s identity was obvious, at least in 20-20 hindsight. He identified himself by name, and livestreamed video of at least one attack from his headcam.<\/p>\n<p>I noticed familiar angles in today&#8217;s news and op-eds covering the attacks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-47578798\">Christchurch shootings: 49 dead in New Zealand mosque attacks<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nBBC News (March 15, 2019)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-47578798\">Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are struggling to remove New Zealand mosque shooting videos<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nLauren Feiner, CNBC (March 15, 2019)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/mar\/15\/new-zealand-gun-laws-face-scrutiny-after-christchurch-attack\">New Zealand gun laws face scrutiny after Christchurch attack<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nLois Beckett, The Guardian (March 15, 2019)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stuff.co.nz\/the-press\/111319980\/christchurch-city-in-lock-down-thousands-of-workers-students-stuck\">Christchurch city in lock down, thousands of workers, students stuck<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nChris Hutching, Liz McDonald, Adele Redmond; Stuff, New Zealand (March 15, 2019)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s understandable. Even if some outfit managed to get all the facts and discussed how they&#8217;d affect \u2014 or might affect \u2014 everyone, I doubt that anyone would read the result. Maybe a few news wonks, with entirely too much time on their hands.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve got an angle or two, myself.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"dead\"><\/a>Dead or Missing<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-47584114\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20190304ff\/20190315-_106038384_052957459-1-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Getty Images, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;A floral tribute on Linwood Avenue, near one of the mosques that was targeted&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/romans\/12#53012015\">Romans 12:15<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure which would be less pleasant: knowing that someone in my family had been killed, or knowing only that he or she is missing and might be dead or injured.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, I&#8217;d almost certainly prefer knowledge to uncertainty. From the trouble taken to update missing persons lists, I&#8217;d say that others share my preference:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/familylinks.icrc.org\/new-zealand\/en\/Pages\/search-persons.aspx\">Christchurch Firearms Incident in New Zealand &#8211; Search<\/a><br \/>\nInternational Committee of the Red Cross, New Zealand; in cooperation with National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8216;Weeping with those who weep&#8217; is easier for me in cases like this, where I can identify with the mourners. Maybe that needs an explanation.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"fear\"><\/a>Fear<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/who-is-my-neighbor\/#ive\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/Anti-Catholic_octopus_cartoon-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I&#8217;m a Christian, a Catholic. From some viewpoints, I&#8217;d be expected to see Muslims as enemy threats.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t, partly because respecting other religions is a good idea. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p123a9p3.htm#839\">839<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p123a9p3.htm#845\">845<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c1a1.htm#2104\">2104<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>And partly because I&#8217;m a Catholic, living in a country where some folks may still see us as minions of a foreign power.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a little truth behind that fear. The pope isn&#8217;t an American. I can&#8217;t vote for or against an amendment to the Decalogue, or even collect signatures for a referendum on trans-species marriage.<\/p>\n<p>I could, actually. And that&#8217;s anther topic.<\/p>\n<p>But, undemocratic and un-American as it is, I&#8217;m pretty sure &#8220;Romanism&#8221; won&#8217;t engulf this fair land in its tentacles of tyranny, superstition, bigotry and ignorance.<\/p>\n<p>I figure many Muslims living in America and New Zealand take their faith as seriously as I do. Particularly those who let themselves be seen following their religious practices.<\/p>\n<p>Not that I&#8217;d hope to convince stalwart defenders of &#8216;their&#8217; country that Islam and Muslims are no more a threat than creeping Catholicism and Papists with too many kids.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"not\"><\/a>Not Missing &#8216;the Good Old Days&#8217;<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-47578798\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20190304ff\/20190315-_106039145_christchurch_mosque_attacks_map03_640-nc-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The attacker&#8217;s livestream video apparently went straight to his Facebook account. Folks who share his attitude promptly shared it in assorted social media.<\/p>\n<p>I think there&#8217;s a lesson or two here, and it&#8217;s not that civilization is doomed unless we limit social media content to material screened by right-minded officials.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t even think that social media, the Internet, guns or motor-driven vehicles make people behave badly.<\/p>\n<p>Turning our thoughts into actions is easier with technology. Whether we help or hurt each other? That&#8217;s up to us. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/changing-rules\/#these\">February 4, 2018<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/robots-and-being-catholic\/#using\">January 28, 2018<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/changing-rules\/#these\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170317-N-X-desk-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Online social media didn&#8217;t exist until a few decades back.<\/p>\n<p>The technology and its developing social structures let me communicate with folks I&#8217;d never meet otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>Some share my viewpoints, many don&#8217;t. For me, that&#8217;s nothing new. Or disturbing, by itself. Some of the attitudes I see are another matter.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d much prefer living in a world where pretty much everyone didn&#8217;t act as if &#8220;different&#8221; and &#8220;evil&#8221; were synonyms. And saw other folks as neighbors, not foreign threats. That&#8217;s not how things are in today&#8217;s world.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not how they were in my &#8216;good old days,&#8217; either.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/o-tempora-o-mores-oh-well\/#poodle\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20170129-TelephoneTelevisioncollage-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Maybe it was easier to ignore everything that wasn&#8217;t in the nightly news or discussed during coffee breaks.<\/p>\n<p>But it was harder to learn what editors hadn&#8217;t selected for the day&#8217;s network news and national news services. As I keep saying, I don&#8217;t miss &#8216;the good old days.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>And I sure don&#8217;t want a world where only the &#8216;right&#8217; folks are allowed to express opinions. Even if the information gatekeepers said they had only my best interests in mind. That&#8217;s a can of worms for another day.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"love\"><\/a>Love and Dignity<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-century-of-science\/#working\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/summer_walk_by_meganerid-d5ka8eu-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I&#8217;ll wrap this up with a few points I&#8217;ve made before. Often.<\/p>\n<p>I should love God and my neighbors \u2014 and see everyone as my neighbor. <strong>Everyone.<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/5#48005043\">Matthew 5:43<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/5#48005044\">44<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/22#48022036\">22:36<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/matthew\/22#48022040\">40<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/mark\/12#49012028\">Mark 12:28<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/mark\/12#49012031\">31<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/6#50006031\">Luke 6:31<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/10#50010025\">10:25<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/luke\/10#50010037\">37<\/a>; Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a6.htm#1789\">1789<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I think human life is precious, sacred. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2258\">2258<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>We each have equal dignity. That&#8217;s true, no matter how we act, who we are or where we live. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#360\">360<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1.htm#1700\">1700<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a1.htm#1706\">1706<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1932\">1932<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1933\">1933<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c2a3.htm#1935\">1935<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I also think working together makes more sense than the alternative:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;We must <strong>overcome our fear of the future. But we will not be able to overcome it completely unless we do so together.<\/strong> The &#8216;answer&#8217; to that fear is neither coercion nor repression, nor the imposition of one social &#8216;model&#8217; on the entire world. The answer to the fear which darkens human existence at the end of the twentieth century is the common effort <strong>to build the civilization of love,<\/strong> founded on the universal values of peace, solidarity, justice, and liberty&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/w2.vatican.va\/content\/john-paul-ii\/en\/speeches\/1995\/october\/documents\/hf_jp-ii_spe_05101995_address-to-uno.html\">To the United Nations Organization<\/a>,&#8221; St. John Paul II (October 5, 1995))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maybe I&#8217;ll say more about what happened in Christchurh yesterday, when there&#8217;s more information and I&#8217;ve got more time.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, here&#8217;s the usual list of somewhat-related posts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/jolo-bombs-at-the-cathedral\/\">Jolo: Bombs at the Cathedral<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 29, 2019)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/homer-hegel-history-and-hope\/\">Homer, Hegel, History and Hope<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(May 12, 2018)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/mass-murder-no-fast-fix\/\">Mass Murder: No Fast Fix<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(February 18, 2018)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/who-is-my-neighbor\/\">Who is My Neighbor?<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(February 1, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/death-in-charlottesville\/\">Death in Charlottesville<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(August 14, 2017<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> Background:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Australia\">Australia<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christchurch\">Christchurch<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christchurch_mosque_shootings\">Christchurch mosque shootings<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Zealand\">New Zealand<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/South_Island\">South Island<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;ve almost certainly seen the news by now. Someone killed more than four dozen folks at a Friday afternoon prayer meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand. One attack was east of the city&#8217;s center, the other west. Both were about a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/christchurch-headcam-at-the-mosques\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[58,15,17,28,116],"class_list":["post-3165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discursive-detours","tag-bias","tag-life-issues","tag-love","tag-technology","tag-tolerance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-P3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3165"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3173,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions\/3173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}