Ryan Bridge: Should we worry about extremism in NZ?

Did you see the cops put out a handy warning for us all yesterday?

Hide, tell, escape.

The spooks in Wellington reckon extremist violence is a realistically possibility in this country. 

Now, they’ve been saying this for some time. 

Yesterday you may have got a news alert about this new campaign from police telling you what to do during an armed attack in a crowded place. 

You could think, well, maybe they’re just being prepared, and better to know what to do than not.

But isn’t there a part of you that also thinks, do they know something specific? Or are they following so many suspected terrorists that they’ve maxed capacity and feel now is the time to inform the last line of defence, or self-defence, us?

It’s one of those things —I was thinking about it last night after watching the news— where you wonder if you’re being a bit paranoid or whether it’s so plain and obvious that everyone else assumes the same.

On the news we had Luigi Mangione. A young guy who hated insurance companies and assassinated a CEO in cold blood, allegedly.

Tyler Robinson was in there. Another young guy with strong views who allegedly took his granddad’s gun to university to shoot and kill a guest speaker.

They reckon the risk here remains low but the threat is growing.

The most likely scenario would involve a lone actor, radicalised online through dangerous ideology and grievances. The cops say all this is just one click away...

Now, given all of this, think carefully about stuff that’s said on social media, about grievances and extreme language, and the need to ‘do something’ about it.

A recent survey of business leaders found more were worried about extremism in NZ than interest rates. I think most reasonable Kiwis are, and if not, should be too.

The cops' advice this week is an update on similar stuff released after the mosque shootings.

You just hope like hell we can figure out a way to talk and reason with one another before something happens as bad, or worse, than that.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you see the cops put out a handy warning
for us all yesterday Hide Tell escape or is it
hide escape Tell? Yes? The latter The spooks, their spies
and Wellington reckon that extremist violence is a realistic possibility
in this country. Now they've been saying this for some time,
but yesterday you would have seen a news alert about
this new campaign from police. It's what to do during

(00:21):
an armed attack and a crowded place. Now you could think, well,
maybe they're just being prepared, and that's good. Good to
be prepared, better to know than not. But is there
a little part of you that also thinks do they
know something specific you know? Or are they following so
many suspected terrorists or potential terrorists that they've maxed capacity

(00:41):
and feel like it's time to inform the last line
of defense or self defense US. It's one of those things.
I was thinking about it last night after watching the news,
and you wonder whether maybe I'm just being a bit paranoid,
or is this so plain and obvious that everyone else
assumes the same thing you had. Luigi Mangioni over the US.
This is the young guy who hated insurance companies and

(01:03):
assassinated a CEO in cold blood. Allegedly, you had Tyler
Robinson over in the US again, he was in there.
Another young guy strong Views allegedly took his granddad's gun
to university to shoot and kill a guest speaker. They
reckon hear the risk remains low, but the threat is growing.
The most likely scenario would involve a lone actor radicalized

(01:27):
online through dangerous ideology and grievances. And the cops said explicitly,
this is you know, this is something that is just
one click away. It's not hard to find. It's not
like it's on some far flung corner of the internet. Now,
given all of this, just think carefully about the stuff
that is said on social media, about grievances and about

(01:51):
extreme language, and the need to do something about it.
A recent survey of business leaders he have found more
we're worried about extreme as of than interest rates. And
I think most reasonable kiwis if they're not, they should
be as worried about it too. The cops' advice this
week is an update on some similar stuff that they

(02:13):
released after the mosque shootings. And you just hope, like
hell that we can figure out as a society, figure
out a way to talk and reason with one another
before something happens as bad or worse than that. For
more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to
News Talks it'd be from five am weekdays, or follow

(02:34):
the podcast on iHeartRadio