The crisis in France is over, but it seems the terrorists have already won. They have won by creating a huge media storm, tying up 88,000 police officers and creating the very mass panic and terror which is their real aim. The ironic fact is that now millions more people have seen the Charlie Hebdo cartoons which they thought were offensive than would have done before the attacks. If stopping the cartoons was what they wanted the attacks have backfired, but it is pretty clear the people involved were not thinking on any meaningful level, they just wanted to make a media sensation. The real point is this - there are 5 million people of Muslim descent in France, many of them in very poor social conditions, and yet a mere 3-5 of them went on a killing spree in which tragically 17 people died. This is a number matched by a large workplace/school massacre of the type which are not uncommon in the United States. Judged by the success rates of previous terrorist attacks in the West over the years, such as the IRA and other groups, Islamic terrorists in recent times have hardly killed anyone or destroyed any major targets. The spectacular success of 9/11 has skewed our perception of Islamic terrorism so that even minor attacks become huge incidents which call for a disportant response. The best response to such attacks is to simply carry on as normal. If we compare this attack to the horrific death tolls carried out by terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and in recent days in Nigeria where 2000 have died we can put this into perspective. The greatest threat from Islamic extereme groups is usually towards other muslims in their own country. We in comparision have very little to worry about. The real threat is to allow the attacks to panic us into support for the Right.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 08:14:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015