Once I read the New Zealand attack business, and the term 'manifesto' popped up, I just shook my head. Typically, manifesto-people are on the fringe of society, and on some great adventure to change history, culture, or to bring on massive revolution.
A manifesto can be just forty pages in-depth. It can be a hundred. In the case of Anders Behring Breivik (the 2011 Norway 'nut'), his manifesto went on for 1,500 pages. In the case of Adolph HItler, his manifesto (volume 1/2) went on for 720 pages (Mein Kampf). The Communist Manifesto by Marx actually went to only 70 pages.
Most manifesto narratives lay out a problem (plural perhaps), and the author is attempting suggest his resolution or 'fix' to correct the situation.
In the case of Ted Kaczynski, his piece was called an essay, but went on for 35,000 words. For the most part, you'd consider it a manifesto. The key feature of Ted's essay.....in the end, to achieve the end of the technology revolution.....you needed to kill a number of people, and bombing was a key part of the 'resolution'.
This 28-year-old gentleman in Christchurch? If you go and read a brief couple of pages of his manifesto....it's the same basic story as Breivik in Norway. He wants to upset various people....trigger a revolution, and cause a massive shift. In his mind, his action will cause not just dozens, but hundreds if not thousands of people to parish....to bring about the society he envisions. In the 2011 episode with Breivik.....he actually went out and killed young teenagers on a island, to trigger a change in government....not now, but thirty years into the future. Those teens were all kids of prominent political figures, and were all figured to be prominent politicians in the future.
Insane? This Christchurch guy is alive, and figures a court case will give him a chance to present his manifesto in its entirety. If I were the authorities in New Zealand, I'd conduct a review of his mental state, proclaim insane, and clear the deck for no trial/court case. Yes, just bring him into the room with the judge, and note that there's no need to really mess with the guy.....send him to a maximum security situation and give him little to access to the public. I wouldn't even give him access to television or newspapers.
The key thing here....the more attention you pile upon him, or the anger you demonstrate.....the more that you helped him achieve his goal. In his mind, he thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
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