Latest reports suggest that YouTube videos played a role in radicalizing Christchurch shooter and stimulated him towards murdering 51 and injuring 40 Muslims while they were offering prayer.
A white supremacist, on March 15, 2019, attacked two mosques including Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre during the Friday prayer. He initiated gunfire which resulted in the deaths of innocent people.
YouTube’s Role in Radicalizing Christchurch Shooter
New Zealand is a country that hadn’t seen a crime of this nature in decades. However, sadly the heinous crime took place at the hands of an extremist who followed his hate towards Islam. In the light of the crime and reports presented by the New Zealand Royal Commission, the shooter took inspiration from YouTube videos, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern said she would investigate the role of the platform in this unspeakable act of violence.
The real question here is how come a video streaming site is involved in a mass murder by a psychopath extremist. Although according to the information gathered through the investigation, the Christchurch shooter used YouTube tutorials to modify his guns.
Could the Crime Have Been Prevented?
The Christchurch shooter, Brenton Harrison Tarrant planned the massacre, put 40 Muslims in the hospital with severe injuries, and murdered 51 in cold blood. New Zealand held a memorial service for the victims of terrorisms, nonetheless, they weren’t allegedly aware of the fact that the whole spree could have been prevented.
The killer sent an email with his attached manifesto to the news channels, parliament, the PM’s office, and 8chan eight minutes before the deadly chaos. The shocking part of the information is that he wanted the public to watch Muslims being slaughtered by him. Thus, he mentioned the link of a Facebook page where he wanted to broadcast the attack through live streaming. After the attack, the videos were removed from Facebook but that world had already seen it since the sick-minded criminal uploaded it on multiple platforms frequently.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Possibility of Preventing Crime
The dilemma argues that if the authorities were already informed then why couldn’t they stop it before happening. They could at least save some of the people since the offender targeted two mosques. However, the PM, Jacinda Ardern apologized for the lack of security and the police’s alleged inability to save the public. Furthermore, she also stated that the crime couldn’t have been prevented. However, Police arrested the killer shortly after the attack and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
As per Arden, further precautions can be taken to prevent such terrorist attacks. She said that the New Zealand government needs to form the ministry of ethnic communities, train and improve police so that it can prevent hate crimes by identifying the individuals with bad intentions. Moreover, a responsive attitude towards the victims would be better for their satisfaction. Most significantly, preparing and implementing intervention programs for those who show signs of radicalization would be a good approach towards preventing hate crimes.
In her viewpoint, avoiding the crime was inevitable, yet New Zealand can avoid such a catastrophic series of events and criminal activities by taking precautions.
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