There’s a problem with the reporting surrounding every major mass shooting of the last few years, and its making people question media organizations and law enforcement. The problem is that law enforcement officials and the media are always quick to pin down one to two shooters.
Yet in almost every major shooting of the last couple of years, there have been reports from people on the ground that say otherwise. Sometimes witnesses have claimed to see more shooters, or shooters dressed in paramilitary garb. In cases where no additional shooters were reported, police were arbitrarily delayed for some unknown reason.
In the California shooting carried out in San Bernardino by Pakistani-American couple Sayed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in 2015, there were reports from witnesses describing men wearing black BDUs who were killing civilians.
In the Las Vegas shooting, mystery paramilitary men were seen again, and there were reports of multiple guns firing at once. Those reports are backed up by audio which trained military people with combat experience say sound like multiple guns firing.
Immediately after the Boston Marathon bombing several men dressed in what looks like military garb and carrying firearms were photographed getting into a black SUV and driving away from the scene.
Now, we have the Mosque shooting in New Zealand, and the questions are piling up once again.
Lest anyone accuses us of being anti-Muslim or not carrying about the dead let’s take a moment to recognize the horror of this event. Our deepest sympathies go out to the victims and all those affected by this senseless killing. This tragic event should never have happened and the perpetrators should all face the harshest of punishments for their actions.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media hasn’t done their job well and have left us with a number of unanswered questions surrounding this attack. First and foremost, is the fact that in the video- which the New Zealand government is desperate to conceal- shows glimpses of multiple shooters other than Brenton Tarrant, who is wearing a paramilitary uniform.
What’s more, the local police did not show up for almost half an hour.
Stranger still is the behavior of Brenton Tarrant, the man arrested for carrying out the killings. In the video, he is seen going in and out of the same room, first killing people- but then returning to shoot the bodies of people he had already killed.
Let’s be clear that we are not alleging a conspiracy in the shootings. However, we are pointing out the fact that there are serious questions which are oddly not being talked about or answered by mainstream media outlets.
Now, authorities in New Zealand have made it clear that these questions are not going to be answered. They have issued a series of stern warnings to the general public that anyone found in possession of the video which the killer made of the shooting can be imprisoned for up to 10 years, and anyone who shares the video can be imprisoned for up to 14 years. Additionally, they say any media organization that broadcasts the video may be fined up to $200,000 USD.
Tarrant streamed 17 minutes of the attack live on Facebook. The video was shared far and wide and became international news within minutes. Within just a few hours, Facebook, YouTube and other social media outlets deployed specialized algorithms to block the video from search results.
The response of New Zealand police to officially criminalize possession of the video was extremely fast. At 3:22pm on Saturday, just hours after the shooting, NZP tweeted this stern warning:
“We would also like to remind the public that it is an offence to distribute an objectionable publication and that is punishable by imprisonment. Once again I want to reassure the public that a large Police presence remains in the city for the time being.”
It’s also worth noting that the new social commentary app, Dissenter, has been blocked in New Zealand. Dissenter is a web application created by the makers of Gab.ai which allows anyone to comment on anything that exists on the Internet. It was designed to allow commentary even on materials where public forums have been switched off.
Many Dissenter users in New Zealand were shocked to find that they could not access the application soon after the event. Dissenter.com responded to its New Zealand users saying:
“Getting reports that New Zealand ISPs have banned http://dissenter.com until it is “censorship compliant,” despite the fact that Dissenter was in no way involved with this week’s tragic events in NZ.”
Even more shocking is the fact that several non-mainstream news sites such as Zerohedge were also blocked. After activating a VPN, many users indicated that they could now run these apps and sites.
What we’re seeing here is the active suppression of information by a western government. As a holding of the British Crown, New Zealand has no legal duty to respect freedom of speech.
