Harmless people are dead. Gunned down in one of the most prosperous cities, in one of the most stable countries in the world. What we know is that the gunmen are scum and thugs, that Paris is on lockdown, that people are dead.
We know basically nothing else.
Here’s what I don’t want to discuss:
- How evil Islam is
I am an apostate. An ex-Muslim who, for many, deserves death for abandoning Islam. I know very well what Islam is, firsthand. I don’t want to talk about how evil you say Islam is, how terrible you think Muslims are, how dumb you think religion is. Talk among yourselves, but don’t expect me to be alongside when I’m interested in conveying solidarity and waiting for more information.
- Gamergate
Nope. Despite people wanting to draw me in. Nope.
- Charlie Hebdo were asking for it, by being provocative.
I’m sure we’ll see plenty blame Charlie Hebdo for the attacks because of their decisions in publication: I’ll take that as seriously as blaming women’s clothes for their assault or Salman Rushdie for the fatwa against him.
Nope. Extremists and thugs, by definition, don’t need “a reason” – just as sexists, rapists, etc., don’t need “a reason”. This is easily undermined by the many who are dead by such hands who did nothing “provocative”.
Look: I’d rather we focus on standing against the murderers, supporting loved ones and friends and colleagues in media. A good way to fight terror is to show strength against this fear; a good way to fight terror is to support one another and show unity, not pointless debates and bickering, which only means we operate on the poison ground extremists want.
Yeah, it’s possible that it was islamists, it is even probable, but the speed with which my Twitter timeline that is usually populated by sensible people jumped to “muslims did it” was frightening.
Even if it was islamists that:
-doesn’t mean they didn’t betray their prejudices in jumping to that conclusion within seconds
-doesn’t mean they didn’t again conflate islamists and muslims, who make up 99% of the victims of islamism.
I also don’t remember my timeline being that hectic when they murdered all those schoolchildren in Peshawar…
@Tauriq Moosa. Your article gives exactly the right focus. Blame for murder lies with the murderers. Neither atheists nor anyone else should undermine that message.
Nothing screams weakness so much as a exaggerated sensitivity.
Thanks Tauriq. My ‘terrorized’ button is set to permanent off. I’m spending my time wondering if there’s anything we can do to increase our security which doesn’t compromise our freedoms and values. In the meantime, I hope the gunmen are captured soon.
BS. Here’s what I don’t want to talk about – the patriarchy. I am a reformed sexist pig but just because some woman has beed assaulted, don’t start on badgering me about the evil patriarchy and rape culture. It’s all about the individual rapists and nothing about the culture that produces them – What a load of crap!
He never said that. Rather, “Talk among yourselves, but don’t expect me to be alongside when I’m interested in conveying solidarity and waiting for more information.” There was nothing said with regards to whether or not Islam does or does not bread such violence.
Perhaps it’s similar to you saying, right after a rape, that you’re more concerned with the welfare of the victim than with discussing theoretical aspects of the patriarchy and rape culture.
This :
http://www.onbeing.org/blog/9-points-to-ponder-on-the-paris-shooting-and-charlie-hebdo/7193
Is how one truly good, intelligent and compassionate human being and writer responds -and that human individual also happens to be a Muslim too. Respect and seconded by me. Read via rq, a commenter on the Pharyngula blog here who I would thank there were I able to do so. (Due to me messing up and being an arsehole before I cannot.)
@StevoR – That piece is truly vile and disgusting. If you cannot see that then we live in different universes. He begins with a tokenistic listing of the victims names and then never mentions them again – despite his hypocritical statement “let it always be about the human beings”. Right – you really showed a lot of empathy with the victims there Mr Safi.
Then later on we have the (by now commonplace it seems) reference to French colonialism. That’s right – those cheese eaters brought it on themselves. Every point he makes is of the “yes it was bad, but ….” variety. What a scumbag. You can almost feel the triumphalism oozing from this piece. What he really wants to say is ‘yessss, those f*****s had it coming!’ but he knows he can’t do that. So instead we get these mealy mouthed apologies for Islam.
Then a whole section about how great Muhammad is and how he is ‘beyond the need for revenge’. Think about what that implies – basically he is saying that it is understandable that mere humans would feel the need to avenge him. And then he creates a moral equivalency between the Charlie Hebdo ridicule of Muhammad and the actions of the shooters – unfuckinbelievable!!!
Remember this is the same guy who started by saying “let it always be about the human beings”. He never mentions a single thing about the victims apart from a token listing of their names. But we get two full paragraphs about the greatness of Muhammad.
Words fail me for how scummy this article is