The targeted assassination in Paris yesterday by Jihadist Fundamentalists of
journalists and, in particular, political cartoonists, has of course
shocked the World. While it is important to remember that for all its
awfulness and terrible symbolism, this kind of terrorism is not an
existential threat to Western societies, and should not be overreacted
to in the way that the US, it is now clear, overreacted to 9/11.
Having said that, there is a serious issue here. We wink and nod at
Saudi Arabia, because of its huge oil reserves, despite the fact that it
is a nation that fosters and harbors violent fundamentalists, arising from its foundation in the extremist Wahabi cult. We
falsely compare the violence of these terrorists to Fundamentalists of
other religions, when, in fact, while some Bible Thumpers in the US may
literally believe in the Bible, for the most part they do not raid the
homes of people who disagree with them, and drag out and stone their non-virginal
daughters.
The fact is that radical Islamist cults are fostered
and harbored by Muslim communities both in the Middle East and in Europe
(less in the USA). Islam never underwent a Reformation, and consequently, Muslim
cultures are, it is a simple fact, far more misogynist and repressive
than Western societies. But if so-called moderate Muslims, as people
like Reza Aslan are always telling us are the majority, seriously want
to be treated with respect and not be lumped together with the violent
intolerance of people like these assassins, they need to do more than
wring their hands. They need to make clear, in their mosques, in their
newspapers and media, in the actions of their supposedly moderate
governments, that these people will not be tolerated. That when
someone's relative is making bombs and attending meetings of extremist
cells... and you can't tell me people in these communities don't often
know that this is going on... they must report it just as they would
report anyone contemplating murder. And the sad truth is, out of
misplaced loyalty to their supposed co-religionists, there is all too much looking the other way.
There
will be a reaction to this awful terrorism. Marie LePen's Nationalist
party will benefit. French people will tend to regard even ordinary
Muslims with suspicion. This is just the way it is. And if moderate
Muslims, who want to live in peace as part of a pluralistic society,
want to avoid being tarred with the same brush as is applied to the
Jihadists, they must stand against them, clearly and forthrightly, and
declare their support for freedom of expression, even when it is
directed against their sacred cows. Muslim
societies must eradicate this violent intolerance root and branch, or it
will parasitize their entire culture and destroy them.
Every time a Jihadist steals
the life of someone for the "crime" of disagreeing with their Medieval
attitude towards faith and freedom, the violence is confined in space
and time, but the response, the "meme" of revulsion and such acts, grows
and spreads. 12 are killed, and a few Jihadist extremists celebrate,
but 10,000 gather in the Place de la Republique and chant "Je suis
Charlie," and the world condemns the terrorists. In the long run, the
reality is that they weaken their religion; people inevitably negatively
associate their professed religion with them and their evil acts.
Rather than avenging their "prophet," they are besmirching his name and
lessening his influence in the future.
08 January 2015
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