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A new type of terrorist has emerged and is still emerging. A troll terrorist who views mass murder as an instrument of hypermedia staging. The CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wrote in a tweet: "There can be no explanation for that ..." and that may or may not be written in shock, but the exact opposite is true: there is an explanation for that, because the terrorist from New Zealand thought and acted on a pattern that we have already encountered and will encounter. This text is an attempt to approximate this explanation.

The public is not lacking in explanation, they refer to the manifesto of the mass murderer, to his live streaming of the assassination and the remaining traces he left on the net. But because it is just a new type of extreme right-wing terrorist, any attempt at explanation that does not take into account the communication, cultural peculiarities and political positions of the net generation must fail. A generation is growing up that deals much faster and, in many ways, wiser with the public, because it is used to operating in front of and with the audience from the beginning. Never before has a generation been so comprehensive and knowledgeable about the global public, its rules, rituals and reactions. That's good for the most part. The exception is the mass murderer of Christchurch.

Troll Terrorist - what is it?

The term troll terrorist may seem exaggerated or distasteful, and I can understand if you reject it. But a certain form of net culture can be found very clearly in the lines of the document, in the act itself, and also in the mode of dissemination, for example, 8chan. This is an internet discussion forum, an image board, where all users can post images and texts anonymously without registration. 8chan is a spin-off of the more popular 4chan after it became too harmless for the most extreme users. The essence of these troll forums is a mixture of offensive humor, border crossing and often misanthropy, and they have developed their own codes and practices that are found throughout the manifesto. For example, the Prank, a mixture of coarse prank, disturbing staging in front of the public and the test of courage, is firmly in the instrument.

The manifesto must be read in the light of this cultural imprint of the author, and from this follow different rules for the analysis of the text:

  • Any sentence can be ironic, written only for provocation or confusion, as public confusion is one of the troll's main goals.
  • Nevertheless, for insiders and other experts the actual content seems to be through, because of course there is still, it is a real manifesto.
  • Because the document is relatively long and presumably written under pressure of time, the best way to approximate the writer's true attitude is to check consistency: if a statement is more common, even in different contexts and from different angles, it is more likely to be serious meant.
  • And finally, one can see the document above all as coherent, where it is consistent with the terrorist act.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of these mechanisms and the troll culture does not mean that I can say with one hundred percent certainty not to fall for individual assassinations, jokes or trollies of the assassin. Even the knowledgeable journalist Kevin Roose, who reports on net culture for the New York Times, urges caution on Twitter and adds, "Seriously, the whole thing is a minefield, I'm very online and I do not feel 100% sure what Please be careful. "In his analysis, he explains that it feels like a premiere, it is a" net-born mass murder, conceived and produced entirely within the irony-soaked discourse of the modern day Extremism".

Yes, born on the net, unfortunately there is hardly any doubt about that. The manifesto is partly written as a "FAQ", the English abbreviation of "Frequently Asked Questions", a network-wide type of question-and-answer statement. On the self-imposed question "Where did you get your beliefs, researched, developed?" he replies, "On the net, of course, you will not find the truth anywhere else."

First, the three minimum requirements to approach the act medially is to describe it as what it is: the anti-Muslim racist mass murder of a far-right terrorist. Secondly, to realize that this is a network-specific terror phenomenon with network-specific rules. And, thirdly, to recognize the two main goals of the act and the manifesto.

The two goals of the manifesto

The manifesto must be considered part of the assassination. The terrorist is concerned with spreading his fascist ideology. You do not have to regard it as a great, highly intelligent manipulator, because the essential mechanisms of the network culture itself are factory-wide for distribution and an echo for the target group. In the use of the instruments, the effectiveness is already built-in.

The manifesto identifies two key goals:

  • Objective 1: to get the attention of possible imitation perpetrators all over the world and to persuade them to further mass murders. That's enough for spreading the ideology, precisely because the manifesto and the act are conceived according to the rules of the net and the marketing. It is, and this designation is unfortunately necessary to content marketing for right-wing terror.
  • Goal 2: To exploit the editorial media to reinforce their own message. Even in 2019, a good portion of the traditional media either barely understands that they can be hacked or willing to hack. Taking the message of the manifesto in its entirety and sending it on without comment is the surest way to fall for the assassin and become part of his marketing campaign for more mass murders.

The medial staging

The manifesto was named "Press Kit" by professionals on Twitter. Certain phrases are written only for journalists, they are a word-clenched PR strategy aimed at maximum dissemination. In concrete terms, this can happen in different ways, for example via individual keywords. If you google it or search on Youtube, they reliably lead to pages that make convincing work in the sense of the perpetrator. "White Genocide" is such a term. This suggests that a "genocide of whites" is under way, through the very existence of non-whites. In part, the names of the assassins, who are referred to in the manifesto as role models, also function as such key concepts.

But in my view, it is therefore necessary to understand the deed and the manifest without falling for the traps set. For in the closer analysis, under consideration of the described conditions, unfolds a viral guidance of the troll terrorism, which plays with the insignia of the coolness of this generation. In his act, in the manifesto and in the social media staging, the perpetrator has tried to provide as many points of contact as possible for the core target group, ie for young white men with European roots who are to be recruited for right-wing terror.

Worldview and radicalization

The radicalization of young, white men has long been socially overlooked or petted. There is still talk in the public of "gunmen", "individual perpetrators with mental health problems" or even "tragic events", if behind them is actually exactly this right-wing extremist radicalization. The perpetrator describes himself in the manifesto as "racist", "fascist" and "white ethno-nationalist". He writes at the same time as statement and demand: "The radicalization of young, western men is not only unavoidable, but also necessary." Needless to say, he explains elsewhere that he means only white non-Jews. The contents of the radicalization are similar to the traditional right-wing extremist approaches. Form and presentation, however, often differ significantly.

The radicalization of this group goes far beyond those who eventually become murderers. If one looks at the concrete connecting factors in the manifesto and the accompanying communication, then the following subgroups can be identified, all male adolescents and young men:

  • Rights and legal rights
  • Racists and anti-democrats
  • misogynists
  • System skeptics of all kinds
  • Anger Gamer and Internet Trolls

Overlapping is the rule and not the exception in these target groups, sharing the feeling of neglect, of losing, of being degraded. Of course, all adolescents know such and other feelings of injustice. But the most important starting point for radicalization is to offer an explanation that amounts to one or more conspiracies. The message is that you yourself are not to blame for feeling bad - but the powerful, the Jews, the women, the blacks or even Muslims. Hence the basis of radicalization, an enemy image that must be fought at all costs. A "we-against-the-feeling" should arise, the impression that a final battle is imminent or already in progress. This existential feeling of a supposed collective is necessary to regard one's own life as negligible. The life of the victims anyway.

The manifesto also claims that the assassin is an "eco-fascist", which requires explanation because it means something different from the rights that use this term for the Greens, for example. In fact, climate change and environmental problems are a means to an end because it is a credible end-time scenario. And because a fight for resources necessary for survival gets a comprehensible framework.

My thesis is that in the future climate change will increasingly be adopted by right-wing extremists and right-wing extremists, because the tale of the impending doom of the world is apt to call for the decisive battle. It is no coincidence that even the far-right networks in the Bundeswehr and the authorities are working towards a "Day X" of the "final battle", with a world of ideas that have great parallels to those of the assassin. It is, to my cautious, completely incomprehensible, why the incidents of "Hannibal" and the association "Uniter" get so disturbing little echo - especially since there could be a connection because the assassin previously published appropriate news on social media.

Racist conspiracy theories

The title of the manifesto is already a conspiracy theory, called "The Great Exchange", in the German-speaking world also with the term coined by the Nazis "Umvolkung". After that, white Europeans should be replaced by non-whites. The alleged responsible names the assassin: "immigrants and capitalists". In his right-wing extremist mind, the "globalist, capitalist, egalitarian, anti-white" elites are directing Muslim immigration flows, with the goal of "cheap labor" and "new consumers." Here is a common conspiracy combination of anti-Muslim racism and coded anti-Semitism, where Jews ("anti-white globalists") are the enemies of the whites who want to defeat them by "exchanging" with Muslim immigrants.

Such conspiracy theories are highly dangerous because they serve to dehumanize the victims of terror. The assassin writes: "The children of the invaders do not remain children, they become adults, they plant themselves and create more invaders to replace your people ... would you rather kill them or leave the killing to your children, your grandchildren?" In this way, the perpetrator explains himself why he kills children, they are part of the invasion. This, in turn, only works if racism is the only criterion of distinction. The term Umvolkung sloshes in Germany into parliament, not only that he is often used in AFD spheres, even the CDU Bundestag Deputy Bettina Kudla has used it in public in 2016.

misogyny

The journalist Kira Ayyadi writes in January 2018: "The yearning and the reappropriation of a dominant masculinity and the associated anti-feminism often serve as a gateway to a nationalist national worldview." This is exactly what is found in the Manifesto, starting with the threefold repetition of the sentence "It's the birth rate".

The "genocide of whites" is due to the higher birth rate of immigrants, which is racist and genocidal in every way. Subsequently, the West is portrayed as soft, confused by the "present nihilistic, hedonistic, individualistic delusion that has taken control of Western thinking." Especially the men are the problem. Under the heading "Who is really guilty?" he states: "Weak men have created this situation, strong men are needed to repair them."

His call for strong men corresponds to a longing for a racist, patriarchal society, and throughout the manifesto women are almost exclusively assigned a reproductive role. There are strong, digital points of contact here. Protected by the virtuality of the network is a communication space in which an enormous number of young and not so young men live out their misogyny. Like the group of influential French journalists, who, in early 2019, after years of collusion, spotted attacks on women.

Network researcher Yasmina Banaszczuk, herself a gamer, has repeatedly analyzed the international, right-wing, misogynist movement "Gamergate," which has played a pivotal role in the emergence of "Alt-Right," the far-right US movement Donald Trump Internet campaign has made. Banaszcuk concludes that the gamer scene is "based on a culture that has been a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and misogyny for far too long." The manifesto is not only a racial challenge, but also the call to return to reactionary, misogynist role models in which the man is breadwinner and soldier, the wife gets many white children and all other sexualities are at best ignored.

Humor and memes

Each of the mentioned target groups is addressed in the manifest and emotionally activated. Angry gamers, for example, the assassin with the live broadcast, which reminds not accidentally with helmet camera to the appearance of a first person shooter. At the beginning he said, "Dude, do not forget to subscribe to PewDiePie!" PewDiePie has one of the most heavily subscribed Youtube channels in the world and became known as the "Let's Play" player who recorded and commented on his video game activities as a video. Meanwhile, he has become a troll pop star who does not shrink from extremist jokes. "Kill all the Jews," he had two men write money on a sign for money, and then put his hand over his mouth and laugh at his own crossing of the border.

Behind this lies an important pattern of the new radicalization: it thrives in a culture that does not necessarily want to radicalize itself. But it contributes to radicalization by normalizing enmity with cross-border and extreme humor. One of the most well-known neo-Nazi sites in the United States wrote in its guide to writing texts: "The unconverted should never know whether we are joking or not." Ambiguity and irony can cause both the audience and the speakers themselves to get used to expressing monstrosity. In the manifesto, the perpetrator has stated, "Lately, I've worked part-time as a kebab remover." The terrorist mass murder is packed here as a gag, at the same time the Muslim victims are dehumanized.

The chapter "Emotions against facts" is a concise description of the strategy with which the radicalized target group should communicate on the net: "Create memes, post memes and disseminate memes, memes have done more for the ethno-nationalist movement than any manifesto." The term Mem goes back to Richard Dawkins, who described ideas that propagate themselves analogously to genes themselves.

In the net word-image combinations are thus usually called, which transport a certain world of ideas. "Memetic warfare" has long been a reality, social battle scenarios are always fights for communication, which is increasingly marked in the network. The most well-known meme of the "Umvolkung" in the German-speaking world came to some fame when Erika Steinbach spread a variant of it on social media. It is the photo of a single, white, blond child, surrounded by dozens of black children, here is the line: "Germany 2030".

Media and society

After the assassination decides whether the media and society allow a "success" in the sense of the perpetrator. The reactions and non-responses to the act of terrorism are crucial, and there are right, neutral and wrong manners.

And there are monstrous manners. The Berlin BZ from the Axel Springer publishing house has titled selfie of the offender and photo of his assault rifle: "He killed innocent people as revenge for the terror at Breitscheidplatz". In this way the PR strategy of the terrorist is fulfilled. The title strengthens the "we-versus-the-attitude" attitude, because it goes without saying that you can take revenge on an Islamist terrorist by murdering Muslims on the other side of the world. However, this can only be "revenge" if one accepts the murderous racism of the perpetrator as a world view. At the same time, the BZ is spreading the narrative that it is a backlash. This legitimizes the victim pose, which the culprit ascribes to himself, the whites would have to defend themselves. It is a title page that the racist mass murderer could not wish for more beautiful. The BZ has thus completed the media part of the assassination.

And that leads to a possibility to deal sensibly with the terrorist act, even as a private person in social media, but especially as part of the media public, whether as a journalist, on Twitter or as Youtuber:

  • Avoid everything that supports the story "We (whites) against the (all Muslims)"
  • do not disseminate quotes from the manifest without knowledge and categorization
  • not spread the video recording of the act
  • not sorting and communicating the shock as a single act, but as a result of a dangerously widespread ideology - see NSU, see "Hannibal"
  • do not recklessly spread the name and photo of the racist mass murderer.

And finally, as an individual, one can be aware of whether young and not so young men in their own environment are sliding into such extremist spheres. And confront them if this suspicion exists or is confirmed. If only to show them: we are here and we are attentive.