Like many of you, yesterday I woke up to the shocking news emerging from Christchurch, New Zealand. Another forty nine lives lost in an act of lunacy at the hands of an obviously seriously disturbed gunman. Another tragedy in a ever increasing recent list of mass casualty shootings. First and foremost may we all spare a thought or prayer for the victims and their families.

It has now been confirmed that this heinous crime was perpetrated by one Brenton Harrison Tarratt, a 28 year old Body Builder and Personal Trainer from Grafton, Australia. A self confessed white supremacist, he had a relatively normal upbringing. However, things took a turn nine years ago with the passing of his father, where Tarratt embarked on a series of somewhat strange life choices. Most noticeably was the beginning of a tour through North Korea, Pakistan, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

More relevant perhaps was the coinciding onset obsession with the online world of white nationalists, himself becoming an active participant on several racially charge supremacist message boards. Anyway, I am sure if you want to really delve into the world of Brenton Harrison Tarratt, you can do your own research from sources far more knowledgeable than I. What is clear though is that Tarratt put himself on a dangerous path, which has ultimately ended in disaster.

Now, to the point I am trying to make. More often than not, when a terrorist attack of this magnitude takes place, there is an inner sense among the majority of us that it is all a part of a far greater reaching religious or racial conspiracy. That some well established faction have managed to dig there claws deep into the vulnerable and brainwash them into believing something. Whilst at the same time encouraging them to act on such beliefs. Personally, I do not believe this to be the case. In fact, I believe we give these so called “groups” far more credit than they actually deserve.

In my opinion, and I state that this is only “my opinion”, in the majority of these mass shootings, the perpetrator is likely to be a deeply disturbed, mentally deficient loner who has likely failed to get a grasp on the reality of a difficult and culturally diverse society . At the same time, these “personality types” are most likely to have missed some important guidance at key moments of their life. And, have lacked any type of intervention over the course of the years leading up to the moment of madness.

It is so easy for us, and the media, to turn this into some kind of religious or racial war. But in truth, this is just the workings of one mad man who just happens to be a racist. Now, I am not trying to suggest there is not a far wider racial problem the world over. We all know this unfortunately is still a reality. But that does not mean there is some kind of organised group of conspirators in the shadows pulling the strings. Just terrible acts by disturbed people looking to make a name for themselves, and become relevant.

So why does this keep happening? For me its all about access, to both information and weapons. Whilst most of us love the fact that we can access the internet at any time and search for whatever we want or are interested in, it does cause a far more serious problem. Information of all types can be found on the internet. And this includes the rantings of politically, religiously and racially deluded ignoramuses eager to connect and share information with like minded fools.

I will admit, my understanding of how the internet is policed is relatively poor. And maybe what I am about to say is stupid, but surely we as the human race need to be doing far better in this respect? Should the internet not be far more regulated that it currently is? It is far too easy to access segments of information which are harmful to society as a whole. Far too easy. And it seems like anyone can basically get away with uploading anything these days. I mean I am all for freedom of speech, but everything must have limitations.

Apart from information, there is the gun issue. Oh how tired I am of the gun issue. For me, if I had the chance to click my fingers and make all the worlds guns disappear in an instance, I would do it without hesitation. The world does not need guns. I can hear all you gun enthusiasts cursing me out as I type these words, but frankly I could not care any less. The preservation of innocent human life is far more important to me than the enjoyment you get from firing a gun. FAR MORE IMPORTANT.

As a final point I will reiterate what the headline of this blog article states. We need not blame religion or race when we look for answers at such a sensitive time. In stead we must face reality. The reality that humanity has many defective specimens. And while these defective specimens have the ability to access military hardware, these multiple death shootings will continue to be a regular occurrence. Sad but true.

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