‘Fascist scum’: Terror-geek Tarrant’s rise from digital backwaters
The online communities where mass-killer and terrorist Brenton Tarrant posted his crazed beliefs were part of his plan of a global crusade — but as he confessed to his horrible crimes they derided him as “eco fascist scum”.
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Brenton Tarrant thought mass murder and terrorism against innocent citizens would elevate his incoherent online ramblings into a war against “foreign invaders”.
Instead, the man who thought Nazi memes would define a global crusade will likely rot in a prison cell forgotten even by the dinky forums he crawled out of.
Tarrant was 28 when he walked into two Christchurch mosques and shot and killed 51 worshippers last March in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called one of New Zealand’s “darkest days”.
In the live-streamed attack Tarrant played a song known online as Remove Kebab, a Bosnian Serb propaganda folk song from the 1990s which became a meme popular with the far-right.
Witnesses described it as “military music” but it was, in reality, a coded message to the online communities where Tarrant honed his skewed beliefs.
His weapons and body armour also carried nods to his sympathisers — his tools of death were emblazoned with historical references, symbols and memes related to conflicts between Christians and Muslims.
It didn’t take long for these digital backwaters to notice. They quickly referred to him as “ourguy” and, within minutes of the attack, realised a manifesto posted online was penned by the killer.
The Great Replacement, named after a genocidal conspiracy theory, revealed Tarrant wanted to “take revenge on the invaders for the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by foreign invaders in European lands throughout history”.
In a Q&A section he asked himself “What are your wishes?” and responded with a white nationalist slogan known as “the 14 words”.
New Zealand outlawed the document for fear it would inspire copycats or spread the terrorist's beliefs.
Major Australian telcos blocked access to the websites Tarrant had developed his ideas on.
Originally from Grafton, Tarrant worked as a personal trainer.
He travelled overseas and images emerged of him in Pakistan not long before the attack.
The manifesto explained he only wanted to live in NZ temporarily but he soon realised it was “target rich” and began legally collecting firearms including military style rifles.
Tarrant’s online presence was quickly unearthed — he had links to Australian far-right groups and protests in real life and online.
He was into “fashwave”, a 1980s retro ironic art style that combines neon colours, science fiction and Nazi iconography.
His writings also revealed he believed “memes have done more for the ethno-nationalist movement than any manifesto”.
He promised to plead not guilty and go to trial but that changed on Thursday when he admitted to his crimes.
Many feared Tarrant would use the trial as a platform to spread and explain his hateful ideology. He will now not have that opportunity.
Some in the forums Tarrant frequented continued to deify him in memes as the news broke on Thursday he would change his plea to guilty.
But many more derided him as a Nazi and mocked how thin he looked on the prison audiovisual link.
“Perhaps he is finally ready to admit that he's just eco fascist scum and murdered a bunch of people in a foreign country for no reason,” one poster wrote.
“Cringe,” another said.
