Christchurch Terrorist Attack: 49 People Shot Dead in Mosque
In memory of those who died in the Christchurch Mosque shooting.
Today marks the anniversary of the horrible terrorist attack, resulting in the killing of innocents praying at the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Islamic Centre, in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
The Christchurch Terrorist Attack occurred on March 15, 2019. The fact that this senseless slaughter took place, during Friday Prayer, only heightens the calculated and extreme callousness with which the perpetrator went about committing his heinous crimes.
What can we do to change the tide of these, now too frequent, terrorist mass shootings around the world?
At times of darkness it’s my habit to look towards the light. That’s exactly what I found in the response to this tragedy from New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.
Prime Minister Ardern showcased the tolerant, empathetic and compassionate nature that’s at the heart of Kiwi society.
News reports at the time showcased Prime Minister Ardern’s authentic nature. Her response demonstrated a leader who, while shaken, was stoic, determined and compassionate.
How good it must be to be represented by a leader who presents a voice of reason and tolerance on the world stage.
I remember thinking that the changes Prime Minister Ardern had signaled to gun laws, that were likely to follow on from the Christchurch killings, were reasonable and logical.
I fully supported Prime Minister Ardern’s intentions and hoped that they’d provided the momentum that would result in similar reforms in my own country, Australia, and elsewhere.
The recent murder of innocents at the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia on December 14, 2025 suggests we still have work to do.
Or we could continue to watch the slaughter of innocent people.
I’II always support logical, reasonable and inclusive policies.
And I vote!
Fallen flower petals at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Stop the Proliferation of Hate Speech and Extreme Violence
It will take time to turn this wave of racist and/or religious based discontent around. But we have to start somewhere. And we need to start now.
There needs to be a much higher degree of collaboration and effort from politicians, civil and religious leaders and large corporations in this regard.
Introducing commonsense to xenophobic, disengaged and disillusioned people is going to require a patient and long term approach.
And it must start by taking on the corrosive and unproductive political debate in our own countries.
While I pay them no heed, I look forward to the diminished influence of radio and TV shock jocks. They need to be replaced with more reasonable voices, for the good of all.
Reasonable People Are Too Often Apathetic
Just as in politics, the battle is often won in the middle ground.
That's where the views and opinions of normal, everyday reasonable people shift from right to left and back again.
I don’t consider myself to be a particularly political person and consider myself to be part of the sensible centre.
It’s been a policy of mine, from the beginning of my time as a blogger back in 2009, to produce beautiful life affirming content and, in doing so, to gentle nudge people towards a more engaged and creative life.
I usually keep quiet when it comes to political debate. Often because I find the arguments, on either side, to be overly simplistic and not terribly well informed.
Sometimes, like many other people, I feel the problems that we face all seem too hard to deal with and too far into the future to act upon.
I’ve waited for a government to take the kind of long term action that’s required to build a safer, more tolerant and inclusive society.
I’ve dreamed of a determined and properly funded response to homelessness and of a government who takes the environment seriously.
But enough is enough. My own apathy has led to a failure to express sensible viewpoints. And that makes me part of the problem.
Should Freedom Of Expression Be Tempered?
Why should it only be extreme viewpoints that catch our attention on social media, and are given so much attention in tradition news channels?
The messages that reach us should be broad and diverse but, to my way of thinking, we all need to be protected from the extreme views of ultra radical hate speech.
Freedom of expression should not provide an open door for extremists to penetrate the consciousness of decent, everyday folk.
Tree branch divides a colorful carpet of flowers in Christchurch.
Immediate Action To Silence Hate Speech
It seems to me that there should be much more pressure on social media channels to stop the posting and sharing of such horrendous content.
To achieve this, it's necessary to remove the opportunity for oxygen being added to the fires these people start. That's where social media, with its overly aggressive algorithms, currently fails us.
Anyone who posts such content should be immediately and permanently banned from social media, across all channels.
Ideally, it's for these social media channels to determine where the line exists and then to communicate that in clear and unequivocal language to those folk who use their platforms.
If social media companies fail to properly self police, then that power should be imposed on them by legislators.
That’s my opinion and I don’t feel it’s at all unreasonable.
It follows then that, social media platforms should have to manage the blocking of such content and the suspension or banning of users who break strict terms of compliance regarding the following:
Hate speech
Violence
Expression of extremist viewpoints
And they need to do so quickly and efficiently, before there’s any chance of that content going viral.
If they fail to meet such legislative requirements then, perhaps, they should be forced by government to pay the costs for independent companies to do the job for them.
Either way stringent and independent oversight is required.
Let’s face, social media companies have had their snouts, deeply imbedded, in the trough for years.
Isn’t it time social media companies started taking responsibility for cleaning up their own backyard and getting rid of the stink and putrid remains that proliferate and fester on their platform?
The relative market share, as a percentage of users, for the individual platforms will not be affected if offenders who breach clear and obvious protocols are banned across all social media platforms simultaneously.
Perhaps anyone who then re-shares this kind of content could be suspended from all social media platforms for a period of time (e.g., 90 days).
If these social media platforms fail to act, quickly and decisively, then they should be fined a significant amount of money and face the potential of their platform being closed down for a period of time.
Money talks, and the only way to push these social media behemoths to act is through a coordinated and cohesive approach to policy development and application from governments around our world.
Vibrant crimson flowers in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Time For Worldwide Legislation
We all know Facebook and the like can't be trusted to act in the best interests of users, by which I mean consumers.
It's important for us to realize that it’s actually advertisers, not consumers, who are the customers of Facebook.
This issue has nothing to do with right or wrong, left or right. It goes far beyond the pettiness of local politics.
What I'm talking about is the need for millions of people around our world to be protected from hate speech and extreme violence.
Most folks want government out of their face. And I feel the same way.
But the reality is that we all need government, together with police and the legal system, to provide reasonable boundaries inside which we can express our views and learn from each other without the threat of physical or psychological abuse.
Red and yellow flowers representing harmony at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens.
Are You Happy With Your Own Life?
Do we actually live in a kind, safe, inclusive and prosperous society?
You could argue that it's all relative and that life in Melbourne, Helsinki or Seattle compares very well with living under a totalitarian regime.
However, our societies are a long way from what they could be.
Despite significant advancements in technology, are we any happier?
Most of us live a largely sedentary existance and rely on technology to keep us passively entertained.
But, as a consequence, we’ve become disengaged from real person to person interaction and community life.
Has our psychological evolution stalled?
Are we actively pursuing a meaning rich and purpose driven life?
Will we continue to fail ourselves and each other?
Social Media: Please, Break Your Addiction
Perhaps a good start would be to take a break from social media. Say a 30-day, self imposed ban.
Frankly, accept for YouTube, I haven’t used social media in years.
I love YouTube as it allows me to learn about a range of interests I have including the following:
Electric cars (EV’s) and the Tesla company
Technology
History
International politics
J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle Earth
Travel
Critically, YouTube gives me quite a bit of control over the content I see. This allows me to avoid overly simplistic, aggressive and opinionated content, particularly when it comes to politics.
I also listen to podcasts, particularly on my daily walks, and I keep in contact with family and a few friends via Facebook Messenger and the Messages app on my iPhone.
Of course, I’m a blogger and I believe in the power of blogging to change our world, for the better.
Apparently, in a very broad sense, a blog is considered to be a kind of social media. Oops!
Interestingly, I almost never read other peoples blogs. I just don’t have the time.
But I love to blog and, as a very experienced teacher of photography, I continue to blog in the hope that it helps other people on their own creative journey through the joy of photography.
However, it seems to me that the more people who either reduce or eliminate their exposure to Facebook, X, and other, similar social media platforms, the better.
By doing so less attention would be placed there by advertisers and, as a consequence, the more social media platforms would respect their user base.
Given nothings for free, I’d support the idea of paying a regular monthly or yearly subscription fee as a way of providing users with an advertising free feed on social media.
I'm glad to say I've never experienced any level of addiction with social media. I'm one of the lucky ones, but we all make decisions that influence our actions.
And it’s actions that determine our happiness, success and personal growth.
I vote for engagement, community and a kinder, more empathetic and pluralist society.
What about you?
One way to move us in that direction is for each of us to do what we can to stop the proliferation of hate speech on social media platforms.
While there’s very little these platforms seem to do to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for their users they’re whole business model would evaporate without us.
So, please, be care what posts you engage with and what you search for on social media platforms. By doing so you’re only feeding the algorithm beast.
Please, Question the Value of Live Streaming
Imagine, if you will, a more decent, inclusive and friendly social media platform that’s free of hate speech, racism and radicalism.
One way to begin to create such a space would be to limit the opportunities for live streaming on such platforms.
Markets and businesses will find other ways to promote their wares. After all, they did just fine before live streaming.
But if social media platforms are unable to control the content posted in live streams, and it’s proliferation across the platform, then it’s not unreasonable that such features are removed from the platform.
I understand the attraction of citizen journalism to broadcast live during protests, sometimes aimed at toppling totalitarian regimes, around the world.
But live streaming also offers extremists a platform and a potentially massive audience.
I can’t help but wonder if removing live streaming technology from social media platforms might actually reduce the likelihood of extreme acts of violence, such as the Christchurch Mosque shooting, from being committed.
While I would never watch such content, I also remember hearing about executions being conducted, live to air, by Islamic extremists.
And I’ve long feared copy cat crimes being conducted after alienated and gullible people have seen them on the web.
Maybe AI will offer a solution, by being able to instantly assess and, where appropriate, stop these more shocking kinds of live streaming.
We were promised communities.
But I wonder if so many folk have ended up in ghettos, isolated from reality?
Is this the kind of space in which you’d want your children hanging out?
Isn’t it time we made it clear just what kind of platform we want to spend our time inside?
Whenever I become dissatisfied or stressed, I get up and head outside, into the light for some fresh air and a fresh perspective.
While I might tune into a podcast or some personally curated music, one thing I don’t do when I’m outside is open up a social media app.
To me that just completely goes against the very reason I’ve sort solace in nature.
You might want to try it sometime.
In the meantime, please feel free to share this post widely and wildly.
