Last night news broke that gunmen had shot up a mosque in Quebec City. It was all over the news, on CNN and online. It was very quickly declared an act of terrorism (hard to argue that shooting up a group of random civvies is anything but), but apart from a death toll of five and the fact that two shooters were arrested, there was a distinct lack of data. I watched the news and poked around online for a while hoping that some details would come out, but apart from a whole lot of people screaming and speculating, there was nothing. I assumed that when I woke up this morning, CNN would lead off with the details about who the shooters were.
So I wake up, turn on the tube and see… nothing. They’re yammering about Trump, bitching about Friday’s executive order, showing Chuck Schumer crying about it, showing protestors doing what they can to inconvenience as many uninvolved people as they can. A few other news items, but I haven’t even seen them mention the Quebec attack. It’s dropped completely off the radar.
Last night the speculation ran rampant in various places that the shooting must have been carried out by white supremacists, Canadian Trump supporters, right-wing Quebecker nationalists… *some* form of alt-righter. Take a look at the comments HERE if you’ve a mind to. This morning all I can find is some sort of rumor that one of the shooters was of Moroccan origin, which would *tend* to argue against this being one of those long hoped-for (on the left) right-wing terrorist acts. The names *seem* to be Mohamed Khadir and Alexander Bissonnette, indicating that terrorists are finally getting in on the diversity bandwagon.
But CNN at least doesn’t seem too interested int he story now. It’s almost as if they have decided that it doesn’t fit their preferred narrative anymore.
UPDATE: It seems now that there is only a single suspect in custody, Alexander Bissonnette, who does seem to fit into the alt-right/white nationalist stereotype. Huzzah!This story can now be readily discussed on the news, I suppose.