I don’t have much to add to the attack on the offices of the Parisian satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. I don’t want to say that we are exactly getting used to these sorts of things, but who is surprised that a magazine that mocked Mohammed, or as NBC news refers to him, “The Prophet Mohammed,” gets machine gunned? That’s just the world we live in, a vibrant and confident Islam flexes its demographic muscles in areas where it’s been allowed to settle. Meanwhile, a weak West, which believes in less and less, goes through its cycle of blame and recriminations.
I don’t know exactly when I noticed it, but since yesterday, following the evolving news coverage of the shooting and aftermath, I was struck by how unsurprised I was at each step of the coverage. It seemed to follow a fairly predictable pattern that resembles the Five Stages of Grief. The only difference is that no progress is made when the media does it. They never seem to get to acceptance.
Step 1: We don’t know that Muslims did it.
You may think this step is prominent in the early moments of the crisis when we genuinely don’t know for sure who the culprits are, but it continues long afterward to deny who the culprits were.
https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/552895929259282432
Step 2: OK they’re Muslims, but not real Muslims.
This is to separate Islam the religion, from Islam….uh…the religion. Or at least it’s teachings. Howard Dean was an especially amusing example of this when he insisted that the attackers were no more Muslim than he was. Well Assalamu Alaykum Governor! You’ll notice we’re near the end of stage two when you hear references to the Inquisition, the Crusades and Westboro Baptist Church.
Step 3: Standing Together
This is where the media exhorts us to “stand together” with the moderate Muslims or with Free Speech, depending on the condition. Sometimes it’s a mixture of both. However nothing is more temporary than standing “with” anyone who is a target. Ask Ayaan Hirsi Ali about that.
Step 4: Root Causes
I’ve noticed that the root causes never have anything to do with the actual root causes. In this case, the root causes were that Charlie Hebdo ran insulting Mohammed cartoons. I mean, that is the real root cause. But instead we’ll be treated to Islamaphobia, Imperialism, poverty, alienation, or whatever the left oops excuse me I mean the media, want to talk about.
Step 5: Backlash
This is the real media worry, not continuing violent acts by Muslims, but that someone may actually be upset about it. The New York Times put it perfectly:
LONDON — The sophisticated, military-style strike Wednesday on a French newspaper known for satirizing Islam staggered a continent already seething with anti-immigrant sentiments in some quarters, feeding far-right nationalist parties like France’s National Front.
“This is a dangerous moment for European societies,” said Peter Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London. “With increasing radicalization among supporters of jihadist organizations and the white working class increasingly feeling disenfranchised and uncoupled from elites, things are coming to a head.”
A “dangerous moment for European societies?” “Things are coming to a head?” You mean more Islamic terrorism? Ha! Foolish mortal!
Anti-immigrant attitudes have been on the rise in recent years in Europe, propelled in part by a moribund economy and high unemployment, as well as increasing immigration and more porous borders. The growing resentments have lifted the fortunes of established parties like the U.K. Independence Party in Britain and the National Front, as well as lesser-known groups like Patriotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West, which assembled 18,000 marchers in Dresden, Germany, on Monday.
In Sweden, where there have been three recent attacks on mosques, the anti-immigrant, anti-Islamist Sweden Democrats Party has been getting about 15 percent support in recent public opinion polls.
Yes the real threat is anti-immigrant attitudes!
We can’t have any of that. So the stages of dealing with Islamic Terrorism do lead to an acceptance of sorts, that the terrorists are the real victims all along.
It’s like an O Henry short story.
Zinger.
And then there will eventually be a new terrorist act, and the process begins all over again.
Mike Street Station 
I read this in a comment section. I don’t remember where.
The difference between a radical Muslim and a moderate Muslim.
A radical Muslim wants to kill you if you don’t believe exactly as he does.
A moderate Muslim wants the radical Muslim to kill you if you don’t believe exactly as he does.
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I don’t know how true that is, but even if it’s just a tiny bit true, it’s a big problem.
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I read the article. Hogwash is contained in there. Islamo-fascists want the caliphate, they want all lands previously held by Muslims to be returned to Muslim control (southern Spain, etc.), don’t really tolerate other religions. The liberals in this country foolishly think that by leaving Islamo-fascists alone, that these evil-doers will leave us alone. That’s completely false. They especially don’t like the decadent lifestyle enjoyed by people who claim to be “progressives” in our society. That “religion of peace” was created after the “Prophet” dabbled in Pagan rituals in Medina. He made up shit as he went along. He took a child bride, then bedded her at 9 years of age (approximately).
There are conflicting “commandments” throughout the Q’uran about non-believers (Um Kafir) and how Muslims are to treat them (forced conversion or pay a tax… or kill them)–similar to differences in Old vs. New Testament. That “peaceful religion” is stuck in the middle ages and is in need for a reformation. Look at Palestine… Look at Saudi Arabia… what do they have on their flags? Swords and AKs. On Palestinian TV, the thugs there teach young kids to hate Jews. They parade kids around with military-style uniforms and toy machine guns. They bitch and complain about the Occupation, praise the uprising against Zionists. Sure, the Israelis do shit to antagonize the Palestinians and claim land as their own and build settlements which angers the international community. I will admit I’m somewhat ignorant of history here, but I think the Ashkenazi who moved to Israel have a major chip on their shoulders. They’re so pissed off at the rest of the world for the atrocities of the Holocaust that they’re going to stick it to others. Thus, their die-hard stance on putting up as many illegal settlements in the West Bank as they can–thumbing their noses at the rest of the world as they build them.
Back to Islamo-fascists. You have the Wahhabi and Sufi (these may be Sunni) sects, which are the source of most of the tension between Muslims and non-Muslims, off-shoots of Islam which exist in the Middle East, and with the Shia Muslims. So, the pretext of the occupation is mostly a ruse. It’s a “religion” stuck in a rut of outdated beliefs and dysfunction. A religion, where it’s still acceptable for dirty, old men to marry little girls, temporary marriages between a man and a woman, and a penchant for violence. Islam means “submission” (not peace, as some people believe). Yes, Bible Thumpers here in the U.S. have their own issues (Westboro Baptist Church, etc.), but they’re not espousing killing of people for drawing God or Jesus or any other Saint.
In the Middle East, where you have groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, they oppress their own people under threat of violence, then hand out food, clothing, and money in staged media events to demonstrate that they’re the good guys, in spite of their actions against Israel.
Just my incomplete $0.02 opinion.
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I’ve noticed the same thing on message boards which is why I abandoned them. The same discussions were being held over and over again.
“You don’t know it was muslims, don’t be judgmental and jump to conclusions.” (meanwhile they are salivating for it to have been a Timothy McVeigh type).
“Christianity is just as bad” (the crusades).
“Don’t pain muslims with a broad stroke… you wouldn’t do that to Christians would you” (that’s when westboro comes up).
One thing I could say on behalf of muslims is that many in the muslim world are absolutely convinced the CIA/ mossad (etc. … take your pick) are behind these attacks (including 9/11) so they genuinely may not feel responsible and thus see no need to make amends with the west.
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The reasons why Muslims may be pointing to other actors may have to do with the fact that they don’t want to acknowledge that the radicalized Muslims is really a cancer. Yes, not all muslims are terrorists. However, Islam is not a religion of peace. If you are Um Kafir, you are an infidel. The Wahhabis and Salafists (not Sufi) are stuck a thI us and years in the past. That religion needs a major transformation. If they immigrate to western countries, they cannot impose Sharia Law on non-Muslims and should abide by the laws of the countries in which they reside.
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The media in the muslim world is far more amenable to conspiracy theories than our western media. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is openly sold, read, and even acted out on TV. The roots for this could be varied but denial and passing the buck are certainly part of the package.
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That’s not to say that the US Government doesn’t step all over itself with its foreign policy, regardless of the fool in the White House. That needs to change. I agree with the initial push to take down the Taliban in Afghanistan, but politics got in the way and the job wasn’t completed (thanks Dubya and Warhawks Cheney and Rumsfeld). Of course, blame Eagleburger and Albright for not having the “balls” to take out bin Laden in Tora Bora when they had the chance. I think the Iraq war (2003) was a big mistake. It was a folly of Cheney and his cronies who wanted to get back at Saddam for a failed assassination attempt in Kuwait of Bush 41. They reasoned that the Shia in southern Iraq would welcome the U.S. with open arms. They failed to secure Baghdad. They let politics get in the way of military missions in the Anbar province. If it were up to me, I would charge the current and last 3 former POTUSes with dereliction of duty as commanders-in-chief for not safe-guarding the men and women serving the U.S. However, back to the topic of Islam and the lack of intestinal fortitude of moderate Muslims to clean up their own house. Unfortunately, with the Monarchies in the Middle East being puppets to radical Imams in order to keep power (and not incur the Arab Spring in their lands), nothing is going to change.
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