Individually and as a society, we must examine our attitudes towards terrorism, and our response to terrorist attacks.
Anytime there is an attack on civilians in the post-9/11 West, demagogues immediately blame it on Muslims. They frequently lack evidence, but depend on the blunt force of anti-Muslim bigotry to bolster their accusations.
Actual evidence, on the other hand, shows that less than two percent of terrorist attacks from 2009 to 2013 in the E.U. were religiously motivated. In 2013, just one percent of the 152 terrorist attacks were religious in nature; in 2012, less than three percent of the 219 terrorist attacks were inspired by religion.
The vast majority of terrorist attacks in these years were motivated by ethno-nationalism or separatism. In 2013, 55 percent of terrorist attacks were ethno-nationalist or separatist in nature; in 2012, more than three-quarters (76 percent) of terrorist attacks were inspired by ethno-nationalism or separatism.
These facts, nonetheless, have never stopped the prejudiced pundits from insisting otherwise.
On Friday the 13th of November, militants massacred at least 127 people in Paris in a series of heinous attacks.
There are many layers of hypocrisy in the public reaction to the tragedy that must be sorted through in order to understand the larger context in which these horrific attacks are situated — and, ultimately, to prevent such attacks from happening in the future. …
The Paris attacks, as horrific as they are, could be a moment to think critically about what our governments are doing both abroad and here at home. If we do not think critically, if we act capriciously, and violently, the wounds will only continue to fester. The bloodletting will ultimately accelerate.
In short, those who promote militarist policies and anti-Muslim and anti-refugee bigotries in response to the Paris attacks are only going to further propagate violence and hatred.
Click through for the rest of this inward looking article from Alternet. Do we want a world at peace? How far are we willing to go to bring about peace? Are we even capable of bringing about peace? Such will require a great deal of hard work.
9 Responses to “Our Terrorism Double Standard: After Paris, Let’s Stop Blaming Muslims and Take a Hard Look at Ourselves”
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The link in C2 is here: http://www.care2.com/news/member/775377582/3927418
What an article. I can't add anything to what the author has pointed out.
We must ALL work for Peace, for that is the answer.
John Lennon's song hits a chord on this: Imagine.
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
Thanks, Lynn for this.
I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from learning from this article, because it is totally correct. However, I can't help wanting to comment that we are a little late (OK, very late) in getting to the party.
We, the US, are entirely responsible for the rise of Al Qaeda, the rise of Da'esh (AKA ISIS etc), and in fact every soul killed in Paris this weekend. Call it the Bush administration if you want to dissociate yourself personally, but it was still the US. Every step of the way was predictable and avoidable.
Let me call everyone's attention to an article, Terrorist Strategy 101: a quiz, which was written in 2004, for heaven's sake. It outlined exactly what terrorists were (and still are) trying to do, how they and doing it, and how our responses were (and still are) playing right into their hands. Incidentally, it is simple common sense (though those with the Republican mindset find it counter-intuitive), and it is phrased and worded in such a way as to make it obvious. Did we listen? Did we pay any attention? Noooo – and here we are, how many avoidable deaths later? – still wringing our hands.
Please read this article, it's an easy read, and please share as widely as you can. We have to try, those of us who don't want the world to end.
Incidentally, following some prominent leads, I will from here on out be using Da'esh (Daesh, DAIISH) instead of ISIS, ISIL, or IS because that spelling takes out the knee-jerk allusion to Islam. (It also contains an appropriate Arabic insult, I am told – I am not a scholar of the Arabic language myself.)
I agree with Joanne, but would narrow it down to the Republican Party, the whole US.
Excellent posting, Lynn, a must-read for those who still refuse to take any responsibility for what is happening. For those who dare to look the truth in the eye or have been doing so for a while it is an excellent basis to start a conversation and spread this truth.
Many excellent comments above as well as the well written article.
George W. Bush, aka Shrub, Dubya, USA's 43rd President of USA, is responsible for the terrorism and destabilizing of and in the middle east. His cohorts, Cheney, Rumsfeld and members of his cabinet and friends are also involved. In addition, oil corporations, weapons manufacturers and the gung-ho war military-industrial complex personnel are also responsible for the deaths of many american soldiers as well as the deaths of allied soldiers. They are also responsible for the deaths of many civilian lives, collateral damage, from bombings, gunfires and spent uranium.
They all need to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Hague. They are responsible for lying to the american public among many other crimes. The GOP is a party of war and profiteering.
Thanks, Lynn. I shared this on Facebook where dozens of posts show fear of all Muslims. We have a mosque here, that is attended by many of our most prominent, useful citizens. I wonder how many who posted the fear mongering articles even thought about those good people. Our governments foster fear of one nation or another on a regular basis.
The hardest thing we have to do is look at our own actions and accept responsibility for them. Same goes for our countries.
Thanks everyone!