Plymouth and the Hoe
Except it’s not terrorism when the person radicalised is white. No surprise there, then.
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Friday, 13 August 2021
Plymouth And Far Right Obsession
Not long after 1800 hours yesterday, Devon and Cornwall Police responded to an incident in the Keyham area of Plymouth. Armed officers were deployed. Soon after, ambulances and air ambulances were dispatched to the scene. It was reported that several people had been killed. This was followed by the grim news that a mass shooting had occurred, the first on mainland Britain for over a decade. Six were dead, including the shooter.
As the BBC has reported, “Three females and two males were shot in the Keyham area of [Plymouth] on Thursday evening. Police said the incident, the worst mass shooting in Britain since 2010, is not terror-related. Four people died at the scene and one died later in hospital. An MP has said one victim was a child”. And there was more.
“Devon and Cornwall Police said … ‘The area has been cordoned off and police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident’ … Plymouth Sutton & Devonport MP Luke Pollard said the incident was ‘unspeakably awful’ and that he was ‘utterly devastated’ to learn one of those killed was a child”. Then came the speculation.
One Tweeter saw this coming. “Things that happen on twitter after a violent incident … people share details … others say don’t share details … speculation about who did it … people define terrorism … people assume people are being racist … an MP wades in … someone tweets ‘so-called religion of peace’”. And so it came to pass.
“Yeah people don't like it when you say religion of peace strikes in Plymouth.... even though its [sic] definitely true” was one effort. “I hear there have been fatal shootings in Keyham #Plymouth Is this anything to do with the religion of peace by any chance?” was another. And then came the M-Word. As in Scary Muslims™.
“Bet all the killings in Plymouth are Muslim related”. Anyone agree with that? Worryingly, someone identifying as a former soldier did just that, responding to BBC Radio 5 Live with “Tenner says the Plymouth shooter is a Muslim”. But he wasn’t a Muslim. He apparently wasn’t religious. The shooter’s identity was revealed earlier this morning.
Jake Davison was 23. He had a social media presence, which has now been pored over by our free and fearless press, with the Mail telling that he “was a nihilistic YouTuber who fantasised about being The Terminator, ranted about being a 'f***ing fat ugly virgin' and described his affinity with the 'incel' movement linked to mass murder by misogynists in the US and Canada”. And, as with anything Mail related, there is more.
Davison “was an active YouTuber calling himself 'Professor Waffle', who posted videos of himself working out and most recently ten-minute rants about life being 'rigged against you', humanity being on the 'brink of extinction' and being repulsive to the opposite sex”. And as to it not being terrorism, the Daily Beast has told readers “Suspected U.K. Mass Shooter Said He Was American, Trump-Supporting Virgin”. Really? Do go on.
He “posted about ‘devil worshipers’ and pedophiles in government … wrote about conspiracy theories that sound similar to those pushed by QAnon believers”. Which sounds like he was radicalised by the far right. Which sounds like terrorism.
Except it’s not terrorism when the person radicalised is white. No surprise there, then.
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Except it’s not terrorism when the person radicalised is white. No surprise there, then.
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A Very British Tragedy.
ReplyDeleteTinged, inevitably, with the worst of Americana.
The moral decline goes on, no end in sight.
The Daily Mail has picked up on the Daily Beast stuff, but downplayed the guys obsession with Trump & Co. However, perhaps without thinking, they let slip that he worked for local contractor Babcock International. Babcock run a major facility at the Plymouth Devonport Naval Depot and service the UK's nuclear Vanguard and Trident submarines at the base.. Be interesting to know wat checks and profiling they carried out on this employee........(See Babcock https://www.babcockinternational.com/case-study/Devonport/)
ReplyDeleteEven if not politically motivated and presuming he was nowt more than a disillusioned fat bloke the murder of innocent citizens in my book makes him a terrorist,, since what he installs into the people of this country is a state of terror.
ReplyDeleteBut again they’d never say that cause he is white.
Now that we categorically know the perpetrator was a white man with obvious serious mental problems....it would be appropriate for those who slandered and libelled our Muslim citizens to apologise and admit openly they were wrong. But that's not the kind of culture we have, so don't hold your breath. And No, I am not a Muslim; I am an atheist.
ReplyDeleteSo, in other words, an Incel.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did this man ever get a gun licence?
ReplyDelete@DBC: big difference between a firearms licence and a shotgun certificate in the depth of checking. Also there’s a woeful lack of licensing officers to carry out those checks; Sinister Agent R notes that
ReplyDelete“[…] you may have one firearms licensing officer dealing with a whole county/force area - and in a predominantly rural county, that's a hell of a lot of license applications/renewals. I know in one area there is a single officer dealing with two rural counties.“
This from the BBC:-
ReplyDelete"The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it had received preliminary information that Davison's firearm and licence were returned to him in early July this year.
The certificate and shotgun had been removed from him by police in December 2020 following an allegation of assault in September 2020, the watchdog said.
The IOPC has said it will investigate Devon and Cornwall Police's decision-making in relation to Davison's possession of a shotgun and shotgun certificate.
His licence was revoked last December and restored last month. Something that must involve more checks that getting one in the first place.
ReplyDeletePerhaps time for the under-staffed police to review their priorities.
ReplyDeleteLess time monitoring environmentalists and trade unionists.
More time monitoring violent international conspiracy movements.