This is Not Us – and Yet it is Us: Why Gendered Analysis of Terrorism is Sorely Needed

Today, the ease of access to the internet and the rise of social media has enabled the spread of these ideologies to new recruits on the web, in chatrooms, on Facebook and Twitter. Globalization has lowered the cost of international travel as well as allowed new online and offline alliances to be forged among right-wing, white nationalist groups in far corners of the world – including Norway and NZ. If we dig deep and across the poles of our planet as medieval Cumbrians did in Vincent Ward’s 1988 acclaimed film, The Navigator, we will see that we are connected in more ways than one. We face a frightening world of proliferating nuclear weapons and rising sea levels threatening island nations and where a few alienated, angry people, usually young men, threaten us all. In the New Zealand case the arrested gunman has clearly been influenced by his Norwegian kindred spirit who rendered the 2011 tragedy. New Zealand’s Prime Minister (PM), Jacinda Ardern has refused to say the name of the gunman to stem his notoriety and prevent future copycat attacks – and to focus on the victims, their loss to their grieving families and to the nation.

如今，互联网接入的便捷性与社交媒体的兴起，使得这些意识形态得以通过网络、聊天室以及Facebook、Twitter等平台向新的追随者传播。全球化不仅降低了国际旅行的成本，还促成了全球偏远地区——包括挪威与新西兰（New Zealand）的右翼白人民族主义团体之间建立线上与线下的新型联盟。倘若我们如同文森特·沃德（Vincent Ward）1988年广受赞誉的影片《领航者》（The Navigator）中的中世纪坎布里亚人那般，深入探查地球的各个角落，便会发现人类之间的联结远超我们的想象。我们正身处一个令人惶恐的世界：核武器不断扩散，海平面上升正威胁着岛国的生存，而少数心态疏离、充满戾气的群体——通常为年轻男性——更将全体人类置于险境。在新西兰这起枪击案中，被捕的枪手显然受到了其挪威同类的影响——正是后者酿成了2011年的惨剧。新西兰总理（PM）杰辛达·阿德恩（Jacinda Ardern）拒绝提及枪手的姓名，以遏制其臭名昭著的影响力，防范未来出现模仿作案的情况，并将焦点放在受害者及其家属与整个国家的悲痛之上。