Denial

And so we have yet another terrorist attack in France, this time in Nice. As Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi wrote:
“This time, they chose to attack on Bastille Day, the very symbol of freedom, liberality and democracy, abhorred by the extremist Islamist outfits and their Salafist ideologues.”
So will the reaction be any different this time? Of course not. It will be the usual meaningless statements of solidarity by world leaders, the changing of profile pics on Facebook to have French colors, and, what Sreemoy Talukdar points out:
“The prevalent discourse around terrorism is rendered ineffective and ultimately useless by the mind-bending political correctness and an obdurate denial to link it to Islam.”

And the best worst part of this denial?
“Even when perpetrators repeatedly evoke their unflinching faith in the greatness of god during the very acts of violence — as, for instance, they did during the Charlie Hebdo attacks or the present tragedy in Nice — there is stout insistence not to take the proclamations seriously.”
Evidence and facts have no place in the discussion. Anyone who cites facts is branded “communal” in countries like India and “racist” in the West. Because, of course, name calling beats the facts.

No wonder a bit of the backlash is now beginning in some corners:
“This presents the ideal situation for xenophobic and right wing forces to rise… because the leaders of mainstream political parties worldwide are loathe to discuss the link between terrorism (and) Islam.”
So we have the rise of Trump and possibly the next Presidential candidate in France. As this wag tweeted about her:
“Marine Le Pen doesn't even have to bother campaigning - the news is her campaign.”

And so the world will continue with its business as usual response, while ignoring the obvious:
“Growing terrorism in the world is not just a law and order problem. It is a crystal-clear ideological battle that has deep roots in an extremist theology.”
But hey, God forbid that we should acknowledge that fact. Better to have endless innocents continuing to die than accepting the inconvenient truth. And then these self-proclaimed “moral” folks will go their merry way, waiting to repeat the same garbage after the next terrorist attack.

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarJuly 18, 2016 at 6:06 PM

    This blog seems to suggest that more or less all the affected nations allow or actually encourage Islamic terrorism and that entirely due to the 'self-proclaimed “moral” folks' who seem spineless. Not sure if this is wholesome truth.

    It is very uncharitable to believe that the affected nations are unwilling to counter/fight terrorism. I am inclined to believe that the situation is wrought with difficulty and we need to have some sympathy with the nations who are trying hard to fight terrorism. There is this famous quote by the leading terrorist of Northern Ireland when UK was trying to fight this menace. When an attempt to assassinate some important politician, maybe the PM failed, he proclaimed, "I have to be lucky only once. You have to be lucky every time". Intelligence failures are there for one thing. Since the ground work of the terrorists is done covertly, is it possible to be "know all" by the intelligence agencies is a difficult question to answer. Islamic (and other) terrorisms have this intrinsic burden for the victim nations: they have to defend to exhausting and vexing levels. Let's be fair and say this: much effort is taking place to defend; otherwise the situation would be much worse.

    The deprecation of 'morality' in this context is due to the anger that some argue that entirely resorting to tit-for-tat method will not be the right thing to do. Some moralists may have to be condemned, I agree. Nevertheless, "By tormenting every Muslim, are we going to succeed?" is not an invalid question. In this context is this. In the movie "Battle of the Bulge" the German army will execute some 50 or so captured prisoners of war. This will happen when a respected and courageous German military officer was about to take charge of the near-hopeless situation. When the Allies sent a messenger demanding, to be precise accusing, the execution. The new German officer would send the messenger back without being able to answer. But full of anger he picks up the phone and shouts at his commanding officer, a general, "You are converting even an ordinary enemy soldier an indefatigable and to-be-feared force. And, you believe I will deliver you victory". By tormenting everyone therefore we will have more menace to combat against. I therefore endorse the combating of terrorism both powerfully and intelligently. Mere uncontrolled anger is not strength always.

    Today the Muslim own voice and action against their evil people is pathetic. It is better than what it was two decades back but still negligible. This is the reason whey the Muslim society is the breeding ground of the bigoted extremists or terrorists. Their mindlessness is at the root of their decay, or, their decay is their mindlessness. Their own decadence will actually do half our work. Let's come together and fight on.

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