The bloody cost of Islamophobia

Politicians around the world have stoked anti-Muslim bigotry for political advantage. It should not be surprising if occasionally some of their supporters follow their words to their logical conclusions.

A policeman.
(Image credit: Illustrated | TESSA BURROWS/AFP/Getty Images, kostenkodesign/iStock)

The appalling massacre of 49 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Thursday naturally has people around the world looking for explanations. Proximate motivations were not hard to discover. The alleged terrorist, a 28-year-old man from Australia, posted a white supremacist tract online where he lauded President Trump as a "symbol of white identity." He livestreamed the shooting, in which he repeated many white nationalist slogans and recommended that viewers "subscribe to PewDiePie" (YouTube's most popular independent channel, which is somehow constantly getting in trouble for "ironic" racism).

One important aspect of this horror is how the internet enables the spread of genocidal propaganda. Worldwide peer-to-peer communication networks makes it easier than ever for hatred and racist conspiracy theories to spread.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.