Saturday 14 November 2015
The horrific terrorist attacks in Paris
Like many of you, I am totally shocked and horrified by what I am seeing in the news about Paris. I have a special connection to Paris - I studied in Paris years ago as a student at the Paris-IV Sorbonne and I returned there last year to work a contract with Google France. I have been encouraging my readers for so many years to visit Paris and explore the wonderful country of France. I wrote two articles trying to explain why the Charlie Hebdo attacks happened earlier this year and the mindset of the French to my readers; I am busy working today but will take the opportunity to collect my thoughts and write a much longer post this weekend about what happened in Paris once it becomes clear who the attackers were and what their motivations/aims were. In the meantime, I will be glad to take questions with regards to traveling to Paris, France and anything related to the issue. Many thanks for reading. Merci beaucoup.
Hi Limpeh, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the terrors
ReplyDeleteLike I said Meimei, I am at work today and wrote this hours before the latest news was available. I am monitoring the situation via BBC News and other French news networks as I do have friends in Paris who are directly affected and have lost loved ones.
DeleteMy husband and I were just lamenting that people like these are hell bent on spreading hate and ugliness in this world. We have decided that when we are retired, we will travel to places to do good through volunteerism --- Habitat for Humanity for one. I think the world needs each of us to contribute to the beauty of life than to cause harm and pain. I digress. What I am saying is that events like these remind us that each of us has a responsibility to take up the torch and fight the unfinished battles of all who have died in the name of freedom. We can do by standing up for freedom in all that we say, do, think, and preach. Viva la France!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Di. I am now composing a longer response.
DeleteFrom a lot of post in Facebook, quite a number of people had condemn the one sided coverage of Paris while nothing is being covered on the bombing in Beirut. What is your view on these?
ReplyDeleteAnother question. Is this incident that happen due to the mass exodus of refugees to the European Union?
Out of topic: Facebook had removed Alvin Tan profile and post from the social media website. Is Facebook becoming like Singapore in being restrictive or Alvin Tan trying be the second Charlie Hebdo?
Hi Kelvin,
DeleteThanks for your comment. As for the lack of coverage on the Beirut suicide bombing, I think it is a sign that people are used to hearing about violence in the Middle East. There is so much violence in Iraq, Palestine and Syria and this has been going on for years. OK, Lebanon is a peaceful country at the moment that is not at war, which is why the suicide bombing there is especially shocking - but I guess in the rest of the world, people are like oh yeah the Middle East again, so what? But people don't expect an attack on such a scale in Paris - that is why the news focused more on the Paris attack than what happened in Beirut. In a sense both reflects and reinforces the prejudices and ignorance of the viewers/readers.
As for the refugees - the two are unrelated. France's foreign policy and domestic politics has already angered plenty of Muslim fundamentalists long before the current exodus of refugees that started this summer. The Charlie Hebdo attacks in January happened months before the mass exodus of refugees to the EU. The refugees are mostly Syrians and Iraqis fleeing ISIS - and it is ISIS who are bringing their fight to the EU. Blame ISIS if you want, but never blame the refugees.
As for Alvin Tan, please lah: the guy wants attention and he enjoys provoking the Muslims. His latest stunt involving the Koran is clearly designed to insult, offend and anger Muslims. It does cross the line when it comes to inciting racial/religious tensions - if you or I posted something similar, our profiles would be removed too. Don't blame Facebook, they are just doing their job.
I disagree with your opinion that the lack of interest in Mid East attacks is because we are used to it. Attacks in Europe is nothing new. It has been accepted as “will happen in matter of time” just as it is accepted that we have attacks in Mid East. Ever since 911, Europe and other Western targets have been attacked in major cities. So what is so shocking about Paris than Beirut, such that Beiruit and all the atrocities in Mid East get relegated down the media attention?
ReplyDeleteI also cannot fathom how some anti-refugees are willing to blame the immigrants for the attacks. As pointed out, these refugees are running away from the attackers just like how the French and other Europeans are trying to avoid these attackers.
That said, what is undermentioned is that, isn't this mayhem the result of American and Europe's interference in Syria in the first place? Wasn't it because they wanted to rid Syria of Bashar Assad that they supported the rebels in Syria? Which caused the destabilisation of the govt, which in turn made it easy for ISIS to form and capitalise the situation?
This lack of foresight by Western powers is baffling. It has happened many times in the last more than half century that whenever the West gets involved in a sovereign nation and fail to install their favourite puppet leader, there will be destabilisation in that nation which in turn will be fertile ground for dissenting groups to thrive. Ironically, that's exactly what happened to Beirut in 1983 when Israel, with backing of US, invaded Lebanon. The vacuum left by Israel and the UN, who did nothing to assist the Lebanese which were left governmentless, gave rise to Hezbollah which rebuilded Lebanon to what it is today. And to think that West sees Hezbollah as terrorists, when the locals actually see them as the rebuilders of their home!
As for Alvin, I think he just wants to attack Malaysia's govt. Since the govt is mainly Muslim, he simply attacks Islam. No different from how some anti-Zionists who wish to attack Israel's occupation attack Jews and Judaism instead of Israeli govt policies on occupation.
Hi Hermit. A few points for you:
Delete1. As for the news coverage bias, well Kelvin asked a question and I came up with a theory. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I offered a theory based on my opinion. Feel free to disagree with it and offer an alternative POV, that's what social media is all about. I don't think we have to reach this "I'm right, you're wrong" impasse. Gosh, I had this disagreement at work recently and I had to remain professional and not resort to telling the other person he is plain wrong - I eventually said, "You can always tell me what you think, but on this occasion, with all due respect, I have listened to you and I have to say that I do not agree with you, I stand by my judgement and I appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion." And I left it at that - I was happy to walk away but he wasn't happy with my response, he just wanted to wear me down to a "I'm right, you're wrong" conclusion but I wasn't going to give him that. How about, "we have different opinions on the issue, let's leave it at that"?
2. Many Europeans are already quite unnerved by the number of refugees that have turned up this year and they are just looking for an excuse to turn them away.
3. As for Alvin, whilst he is my friend, I cannot speak on his behalf. Feel free to contact him via FB.
At least with this incident that happen in Paris, more and more moderate Muslims are coming and condemn the attacks. Even the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is finally coming to condemn it which is the first time I saw while it remain quiet most of the time.
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