The Christchurch Massacre

John Locke

Everyone is deeply shaken by the miniature holocaust that just happened in Christchurch, New Zealand. In part, no doubt, because this is a little bit like “man bites dog”; not the first time it has happened, but we are more accustomed to hearing of some Muslim shooting up Westerners than of some Westerner shooting up Muslims. This seems to take things to another, and an ominous, level. And the second shocking element is that it happened in little, peaceful, New Zealand. Middle Earth. Is nowhere safe any longer?

Nowhere is.

Now we get the inevitable rote expressions of disgust and horror from all quarters. But what does it all accomplish? We have heard it all now so many times before. Very well; so everyone is publicly against murder. Everyone is against hate. What does it do to say so? Is this going to make these incidents stop? Why would it this time?

Some will of course call for practical measures. But we have heard these all before as well. Some will call for tougher gun laws in New Zealand. We know this will do nothing. These events have taken place everywhere, regardless of very different laws on gun ownership. They have been done using bombs or airplanes or boxcutters or kitchen knives.

Others will of course call for more mental health treatment. We know this will do nothing. These events have taken place everywhere, regardless too of very different mental health systems. Often, the perpetrators have already been under psychiatric treatment; obviously, it made no difference.

The problem is instead quite simply the complex of postmodernism and multiculturalism. As we have warned previously in this space, this carnage is their inevitable result. Unless we do something more than mouth platitudes, things are going to get much worse.

Postmodernism holds that there is no shared truth. Truth is constructed by each one of us, either alone or in our group. It is “our truth.” That means we have no shared notion of right and wrong, no ethical values. If we disagree, if our chosen “realities” collide, there is no basis on which to settle our differences but gunfire. And we have that intrinsic right. It is “our truth.”

Multiculturalism holds that people are defined by their culture. There is, moreover, no objective truth by which any culture can be judged right or wrong, better or worse. Cultures cannot, in principle, change or develop, because there is no reality outside themselves. They ought moreover not to mix—that’s “appropriation.” They are each self-contained, hermetically sealed, each with “their truths.”

Suttee: a colourful bit of traditional South Asian culture.

It follows inevitably from these two principles, if accepted, that all cultures are an intrinsic threat to all others. And the only intelligent response to immigration is violence. You have to kill them before they take over and kill you.

A few people have figured this out. More will over time.

The way, and the only way, to end the killing is to drive a stake through the heart of postmodernism and multiculturalism.

Before the Enlightenment, social cohesion depended on shared religion; this was the shared set of truths on which disagreements could be resolved fairly and amicably. This, and not blind prejudice, was why everyone was required in those days to hold to the same faith, and religious minorities were considered a danger to the state. The Enlightenment substituted the principles of liberalism. We held certain truths to be sacred and inviolable: that all man were created equal, and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights, including but not limited to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; Locke had this last as “the enjoyment of property.”

Given this set of shared truths, religious liberty was now possible. And on them, America was able to build a thriving society assimilating people from diverse backgrounds.

Postmodernism and multiculturalism now directly oppose these liberal principles and seek to destroy them. Without either them, or their religious precursors, all is lost. We are beginning to see just what Enoch Powell predicted many years ago: rivers of blood in our streets. Only a fool should be surprised.

The unjustly much-maligned Enoch Powell.

If we want to end the slaughter, a first step would be to require, as many have recently called for, a values test for all new immigrants. The values to be tested for must be those in the US Declaration of Independence or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Everyone new must sign on to this social contract.

The curriculum in all public schools and all publicly funded universities must then be overtly based on these core principles. Including mandatory courses in civics. Demonstrated failure to support and promote liberal principles like free speech and freedom of conscience should result in immediate loss of funding.

Nor is this in itself any infringement on free speech. There is a vital public interest involved here, and anyone would still be free to set up their own private school or university on any other basis, sans public funding.

Note that this means multiculturalism and postmodernism must be officially rejected. No courses in them; cited only to be dismissed.

There are yet more controversial issues involved: this is a big reason why we have strayed so far into postmodernism and multiculturalism in the first place. It has been to avoid a few big controversies.

Most notably, liberalism requires an acceptance of the right to life. That means abortion cannot be legal, and cannot be advocated in the school or university system.

Properly, too, all “affirmative action” measures are in direct violation of the principle of human equality.

And notice that reference in the Declaration of Independence to a Creator. The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, similarly, is the phrase “Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.”

There is a reason for this. Locke relies on it as well. Without the assumption of a Creator, human equality and human rights are not, in fact, self-evident or sacred. Without God, everything, as Nietzsche rightly realized, is then permissible. Any liberal social and educational regime which permits Canada or civilization to survive must be based on bedrock theism. Atheism might be tolerated, but it must receive no official recognition or sanction. It is not morally neutral.