In the wake of the worst mass shooting in New Zealand history, perpetrated by a white supremacist against immigrants, the many anti-immigrant politicians around the world who have knowingly hitched their wagon of ambition to the gaunt horse of hate, have been left unable to explain where someone would get the idea that immigrants are an imminent threat that needs to be met with drastic action.

“Where is this even coming from?” asked an American Republican who has personally tweeted 14,012 times this year alone about the dangers of the open borders that no one is proposing, and has appeared alongside known white supremacists with a suspiciously knowing smile.

“It grieves me to have to clarify, once again, that immigrants are to be feared and hated. Not killed.”

The condemnations of the wages of hate, from the stokers of the same, have been sort of quick; in many cases only taking one or two attempts to finally call this terrorism, and specifically stand with Muslims – almost as though this is a difficult thing to do for people who have pegged their political careers to the vilification of some of the most vulnerable people on Earth.

“I stand with people,” said the leader of the Canadian Conservatives, Andrew Scheer, as he carefully tried to preserve the gains he has made amongst racist nationalists. “All people. All of the people who are standing, and even all of the people who are sitting. I stand with them. We are united against lying down.”

The prime ministerial candidate later followed up with a full statement in which he said he also stands with people lying down, but only after significant pushback against the generic nature of his original message.

And in the United States, President Donald Trump said he doesn’t really see white nationalism as a problem. This in the immediate aftermath of a self-professed white nationalist killing 49 innocent people in one day, in a city with an annual murder rate of 3.

“This is just the result of a few people with very serious issues, that are somehow getting the idea that immigrants are rapists and drug dealers who are coming to ruin our society, and which must be kept out at any cost.”

Experts point to a global drought of self-awareness as the reason people who are afraid of radicalization elsewhere, are increasingly turning to radical views in their own countries.

Dr. Bob Sameshite, of the Centre For Watching History Repeat Itself, puts it this way:

“Despite our conviction that we as a species are the pinnacle of reason and understanding, when the same individuals that rail against the imams and leaders in the Middle East fomenting fear of the West, are unable to see that perpetrating the same type of thinking at home is lacking in introspection and sustainability, then we have a problem. And it is the same one we have always had: Hate is easy. Love is hard.”