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schneefinkThe terror attacks in Paris were a tragedy. No question. But the aftermath is a mess.
There's so much hypocrisy going around, it's amazing. All Muslims need to state that they don't support ISIS and terror attacks? Why don't all Christians need to state that they don't support the Westboro Baptist Church or pedophilia? It's not only trolls on Twitter, but also "respectable" newspapers that suddenly think it's okay to write that Islam's core values are different and that of course Muslims are under suspicion.
So many politicians came to the rally in Paris, talking about how freedom of speech is a fundamental ingredient of democracy and society, while journalists are being sued and/or attacked in their own countries. I wonder if they even noticed.
Yes, people are afraid of more terror attacks now. But the most cause to be afraid have Muslims and Jews, there have already been dozens of attacks on them after the Charlie attack. I've only seen numbers for France, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if similar things happen in other countries too. For some reason these get much less media attention. Islamophobia and antisemitism have been on the rise for years, in all of Europe and in France specifically, but people like to not pay attention to that. Either that, or they take it as something external, something that's not possible or feasible to combat. Racism often gets that same treatment.
Blaming Islam for terror will do more to create a divide between Muslims and others than any stupid newspaper.
And that's another annoying thing, that suddenly people think they have to support the newspaper because it's been attacked. It's perfectly possible to condemn violence without liking the victim. (A good article on this: Why I am not Charlie.) And why don't we all need to show solidarity with the victims when it's mosques that are attacked?
We should talk about freedom of speech in general: even if it's allowed to say anything, that doesn't mean it's not offensive and/or a bad idea. In Austria we have laws that restrict freedom of speech in the case of hatespeech, excusing the Third Reich, and blasphemy, and there are reasons for that. Reasons that can be debated, but they exist.
Politicians are already starting to use this attack to talk about strengthening anti-terror laws, increase surveillance, give the police bigger weapons... Snowden put a dent in that development for a while, but now politicians have another event they can use to scare people.
It's only when perceived right-wing groups like Pegida in Germany try to join the conversation that the media suddenly says "that's too far, you can't use tragedy for your own political goals", despite that fact that in this case their statements were exactly the same as those seen everywhere else. And the fact that almost every organization that voices concerns about integration - some of them justified! - is automatically called extremist right-wing and their concerns safely ignored by the mainstream doesn't help the conversation, just the opposite.
Many aggressive reactions are understandable, especially in the immediate aftermath. But it's been several days and I haven't seen a change in the way the story is presented. (The newspaper here wrote today that France is sending the police to protect especially Jewish schools, but that's all.) Maybe that'll take more time, but right now, with hourly reports that all sound the same on the radio, it doesn't seem like it. I'm scared, not of terrorism, but of hate, and that seems at least as difficult to fight.
There's so much hypocrisy going around, it's amazing. All Muslims need to state that they don't support ISIS and terror attacks? Why don't all Christians need to state that they don't support the Westboro Baptist Church or pedophilia? It's not only trolls on Twitter, but also "respectable" newspapers that suddenly think it's okay to write that Islam's core values are different and that of course Muslims are under suspicion.
So many politicians came to the rally in Paris, talking about how freedom of speech is a fundamental ingredient of democracy and society, while journalists are being sued and/or attacked in their own countries. I wonder if they even noticed.
Yes, people are afraid of more terror attacks now. But the most cause to be afraid have Muslims and Jews, there have already been dozens of attacks on them after the Charlie attack. I've only seen numbers for France, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if similar things happen in other countries too. For some reason these get much less media attention. Islamophobia and antisemitism have been on the rise for years, in all of Europe and in France specifically, but people like to not pay attention to that. Either that, or they take it as something external, something that's not possible or feasible to combat. Racism often gets that same treatment.
Blaming Islam for terror will do more to create a divide between Muslims and others than any stupid newspaper.
And that's another annoying thing, that suddenly people think they have to support the newspaper because it's been attacked. It's perfectly possible to condemn violence without liking the victim. (A good article on this: Why I am not Charlie.) And why don't we all need to show solidarity with the victims when it's mosques that are attacked?
We should talk about freedom of speech in general: even if it's allowed to say anything, that doesn't mean it's not offensive and/or a bad idea. In Austria we have laws that restrict freedom of speech in the case of hatespeech, excusing the Third Reich, and blasphemy, and there are reasons for that. Reasons that can be debated, but they exist.
Politicians are already starting to use this attack to talk about strengthening anti-terror laws, increase surveillance, give the police bigger weapons... Snowden put a dent in that development for a while, but now politicians have another event they can use to scare people.
It's only when perceived right-wing groups like Pegida in Germany try to join the conversation that the media suddenly says "that's too far, you can't use tragedy for your own political goals", despite that fact that in this case their statements were exactly the same as those seen everywhere else. And the fact that almost every organization that voices concerns about integration - some of them justified! - is automatically called extremist right-wing and their concerns safely ignored by the mainstream doesn't help the conversation, just the opposite.
Many aggressive reactions are understandable, especially in the immediate aftermath. But it's been several days and I haven't seen a change in the way the story is presented. (The newspaper here wrote today that France is sending the police to protect especially Jewish schools, but that's all.) Maybe that'll take more time, but right now, with hourly reports that all sound the same on the radio, it doesn't seem like it. I'm scared, not of terrorism, but of hate, and that seems at least as difficult to fight.
