Many will say that its too early and too fresh in the minds to comment but with the shocking events yesterday in Christchurch, and the live streaming on Facebook from the terrorists own body mounted GoPro and then via YouTube, we are in need of a new set of words to describe such a grotesque, malicious, satanic and obscene phenomenon.
I’m not sure what they are, but for now, “terror-porn” will have to suffice.
Apart from the clinical, casual, matter of fact and methodical, Martin Bryant way he went about his deed, it takes a special kind of dark, sinister and evil mindset to even contemplate the associated live streaming.
Like most people I imagine, my initial reaction was, what could possibly motivate and drive someone to not just do what he did, but live stream it like it was some kind of performance art?
We don’t have to go to far to find out. Take a look around. This kind of violence is all around us in the form of what passes for entertainment in movies and particularly the virtual reality of many video games or even plain old suburban grog fuelled one punch violence on any night of the week.
We’re no longer in the realm of 1950’s Pinball or 1980’s Pac-Man
As consumers of news we’ve become so inured and conditioned that it barely even registers anymore. 9/11 was a first. Planes into buildings. 15/3 and the live streaming takes it to a new level again.
At this stage we don’t know whether yesterday’s terrorist was a gamer, he could have been and it would be interesting to find out but the fact that people play violent video games in all their virtual reality of blood and gore and splattered brains and actually enjoy the GoPro style thrill of the kill, become addicted to the point that eventually the violence must permeate the brain and become something of a new normal for them.
Those synapses and neurons in the brain have got to be fed and activated and the endorphins released and so the participants in terror-porn ramp up it to the next level until eventually they take it to the streets and stream it live.
Should we be shocked and surprised? Well, yes but no.