I watched the News in shock the other day, as I'm sure everyone did, as they broadcast the latest updates on the Terrorist Attack in Paris.
"Islamic Terrorist Attack?"
"Muslim Terrorists Attack Paris"
We've all seen headlines like these.
I've also seen a lot of racist posts on Facebook - and heard many opinions over the last few days which quite frankly are so naive it's shocking.
Firstly the way we report these attacks HAS to change. By labeling these Terrorists as Islamic or Muslim is simply wrong, and in itself is causing racial tensions - a criminal offence in this country. The fact that the terrorists were of a Muslim faith is neither here nor there. It doesn't matter. What matters is that these people have for whatever reason been radicalized into thinking that the murder of innocent people is an acceptable act.
Do you remember the guy in America who killed the Cinema goers at the screening of Batman? Or the one who killed the congregation of the Church? Were these Christian Terrorists? No of course not - they had "Mental Health Issues".
Using religious beliefs to brand terrorism is very dangerous - and totally unfair to the majority of Muslims. I have Muslim friends, one in particular I am very close to. I don't look at them and think Muslim. I think Friend. I don't look at my Jewish Friends and even think about their religion. This segregation and religious tension is the result of Media portrayal based on the acts of a minority.
Before we slate Muslims or blame Islam for the violence think about these things:
- There are 6 Million Muslims living in France
- Over 85% of the population of Turkey are Muslim
- The Koran or the Bible do not promote Terrorist Acts
- Saudi Arabia executed 19 people last month - a Muslim Country and ally of the UK. I that acceptable practice for an ally?
The thing we need to remember is that these things are dramtized by the media and mainly that is because it is closer to our Borders.
For sure there are terrible things going on in the world and ISIS must be stopped. In no way should the crimes of that organisation be allowed to continue. However - we all have to realise that there is much more going on than you see in the news. Unless its in Syria or Afghanistan (Helmand, Baghdad etc) we very rarely hear much about the terrible atrocities. We certainly don't see a sea of Facebook posts or people changing their profile pictures in support of the victims of the Bombing of a funeral in Baghdad, the Suicide Bombing in Beirut, the victims of al-shabab or the victims of Boko Haram (People seem to have forgotten about them).
Some of these extremists are Muslim, some are not. The fact of the matter is the faith of an individual does not turn them into a terrorist - it's their interpretation of it. If they are a violent person or have violence in them - they are more likely to commit these acts. It's not because their religion told them to. 100 years ago this problem did not exist - but Islam was still there. This is the ideology of a few which has been spread through recruitment and media promotion.
I also keep seeing posts about how we should close our borders, and stop immigrants from coming over here and bringing the problem with them. Taking our jobs, increasing the crime rate etc.
Absolute b*llsh**!
First of all who do you think they are running from? Take a minute and google images of Syria. Would you want to stay there?
Granted I do believe we should have stricter controls regarding Immigration because there will always be the minority who are out to abuse the system, but the majority of Immigrants bring something to society - often working harder for less money than we do. Some have 2 or 3 jobs, and many work in the service sector - for minimum wage doing jobs that the English are too lazy to do - or feel is beneath them.
If we removed Immigrants would we be better off? No. Not at all. What would happen to the NHS for a start?
This problem is not caused by Immigration, or Religion. It is caused by individuals who's ideology is to cause carnage and mayhem, and who have excellent powers of persuasion over others. It is caused by a lack of Leadership across all nations, and mistakes by past governments.
If we are going to overcome this problem and make the world a safer place we need to work together, not segregate ourselves further pointing the blame at people who's faith may be slightly different to our own, and we need to stop glorifying it in the Media.
