I am appalled and horrified by the wicked and murderous attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Settling scores with violence is the recourse of ignorant, cowardly barbarians – lower than animals. I am heartbroken for every person affected.
This was without doubt intended as an act of terrorism. But I refuse to be terrorised and decline the opportunity to hate. What does that mean practically? Terrorism is like a pernicious auto-immune disease to which it is easy to succumb. It seeks to provoke us into destroying ourselves.
- To respond with attempts to make society less open is to succumb.
- To respond with advocacy for or against religion is to succumb.
- To respond with hatred of anything except terrorism is to succumb.
- To respond by advocating racism and disrespect for anyone is to succumb.
- To blame the victims is to succumb.
We should respond to this act of hate, which is as indefensible to anyone who embraces one of the world’s religions as to those who reject them all, by ensuring we do not succumb to the self-destructive reactions perpetrators of terrorism want to provoke. The best response is to strengthen the open, fair and tolerant society that terrorism seeks to destroy.
[This formed the seed for my column in InfoWorld]
Filed under: Zeitgeist | Tagged: Charlie Hebdo, Terrorism |
Wild Webmink 