Saturday 10 January 2015

Politics, Religion, and Terrorism

What a week!
This is a very muddled blog post.
My mind is all over the place......

I'm sure you're aware of the terrorist attacks and the tragic murders at Charlie Hebdo in Paris this week.
And that the two terrorists who reportedly murdered 12 people at Charlie Hebdo in Paris then went on the run, ending up at a printworks in Demmartin-en-Goele, where they took another hostage.
And also the murders at the Jewish supermarket Hypercacher in Porte de Vincennes, Paris.

The names of the terrorists as reported by the media were, brothers Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34, reportedly responsible for the Charlie Hebdo murders.
Amedy Coulibaly, 32, and his girlfriend Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, were reportedly responsible for the terrorist attack in the Kosher supermarket in Vincennes.

I didn't really want to write their names, because that's what they want isn't it? To be remembered. To go down in history...
But as their names have already been stated all over the newspapers, TV news, and social networking websites including twitter and facebook, me mentioning them again is hardly going to make a difference.

There is so much I want to say, so much I feel like writing about the devastating attacks that horrified the World, or at least decent people all over the World were, and are completely horrified and saddened by them, but I'm not going to.
I'm not going to because having been glued to the TV news as events unfolded, for more hours than I care to remember, and reading, writing, and retweeting tweets on twitter, I am exhausted.
Exhausted from raw emotion at the evil in the World.

I can't begin to imagine how the families, friends, and loved ones, of all of the innocent people who were murdered in cold blood must be feeling.
It's too terrible to even think about.
My heart goes out to them, and I truly hope they can manage to cope with their lives without spiralling into hatred.

Having spent a lot of time on twitter during the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, I read so many sensible, well-written tweets, expressing support for those murdered.
Unfortunately I also read quite a lot of crap, from various people using this tragedy to piggyback and spout nonsense about other topics.
Even sadder I saw tweets from several politicians who were also using the Paris murders for political gain. They should be ashamed of themselves, but as we all know, they have no shame.

I am not for one minute condoning what the terrorists did, but it's not surprising is it?
I mean I was shocked when I first heard the news, but not surprised.
The West, by which I really mean, is the politicians are responsible for a lot of the trouble there is in the World today.
They interfere in foreign countries, either for money, oil, or power, and often for all three, and then they sit back in the safety of their cosseted lives and leave us, the people, to deal with the consequences of their idiotic actions.

I often wonder how politicians sleep at night, but then I realise they probably sleep very well, because the sad truth is they just do not care about us, about any of us. All they care about is themselves, their rich pals, and making sure they're all happy, rich, and fat.

My initial reaction whenever something bad like the events of the last few days in France happens is to blame the politicians. They say one thing, about fighting terrorism etc. and yet they are as guilty - their hands are hardly clean - are they?
And then once I've thought some more, I know that ultimately the blame is solely with the person who pulls the trigger, that's the person who made the decision to go out and take another life. No matter what they think, there is never a good reason to murder innocent people, or guilty people for that matter, but that's another topic...

If your religion is worth killing for - start with yourself...........                One of my favourite #quote #JeSuisCharlie #CharlieHebdo #ParisShooting #FreedomOfSpeech
If your religion is worth killing for - start with yourself...
One of my favourite quotes - and something to break-up my rambling.......


Ah, yes, so, despite saying I wasn't going to write anything about any of the terrorist attacks that hit France this week, I have written quite a lot. But actually, I haven't written any of the things that I wanted to write. I've just ranted a bit about terrorists, murder, politicians etc.
Oh crap! I've just had another thought, with the amount of times I've written 'terrorist' 'murder' 'politician' this blog post will probably be flagged by the powers-that-be. Crap!
Oh well, maybe it'll help raise my visitor numbers?
Joking!
Not that this is a time for jokes.
The threat of terror is always with us, and until our politicians, (crap there I go again using that word), wake-up and realise that this is in part down to them, and start living in the real World I doubt things will change for the better.
How likely is that to happen? Our 'leaders' admitting that they are part of the problem, and putting our needs, and our safety before money, oil, and power?
Yep, very unlikely. We can only live in hope...........

RIP the innocent people murdered at Charlie Hebdo by evil terrorists -

  • Stephane Charbonnier, editor, 47 
  • Jean Cabut, cartoonist, 76 
  • Georges Wolinski, cartoonist, 80 
  • Bernard Verlhac, cartoonist, 57 
  • Philippe Honore, cartoonist, 73 
  • Bernard Maris, economist, 68 
  • Elsa Cayat, psychoanalyst and columnist, 54 
  • Mustapha Ourrad, copy editor 
  • Michel Renaud, visitor 
  • Frederic Boisseau, caretaker, 42 
  • Ahmed Merabet, policeman, 42 
  • Brigadier Franck Brinsolaro, police bodyguard, 49
RIP the innocent people murdered at the Jewish supermarket in Vincennes -
I'm not sure of their names yet.

I know it's wishful thinking, but I truly do wish we could all just live in peace.
We're all pretty much the same deep down; we want to be happy, healthy, have enough food to eat, somewhere decent to live, a good life.
Let's stop killing each other!

We should only condemn the extremists, of any faith, or of no faith, not hate one particular religion because of the actions of a minority of followers of that religion.

I think deep down, we realise it's not really about a cartoon per se. It's about a couple of psychos who murdered in cold blood. The fact they're Muslim should not be main focus.
That's what will result in decent law abiding Muslims being attacked. The people who attack them are no better than the people they say they hate.
I read yesterday that a young women, was attacked as she walked in Paris.
According to the news two men tried to rip off her hijab, then when she told them she was pregnant, she was kicked in the stomach. This poor lady later lost her baby, she had a miscarriage.
Violence doesn't stop violence.

It's obvious that the two men who carried out the attack at Charlie Hebdo didn't know what they were doing. I mean they intended to kill the people they killed, but I don't think they'd thought it through much further than that. It looked to me like they weren't expecting to get out of there alive. That's why they had to rob a petrol station later on that day... They were probably brainwashed and clearly not thinking for themselves, I mean one of their victims was a Muslim, the police officer they shot Ahmed Merabet. I would not want to be a Muslim in France right now.
Frightening times for everyone, whatever their religion...........

Yes, we all have differing opinions and thoughts about things, but why can't we just be nice?
Why can't we treat each other with compassion?
If you don't like something you see, for example a cartoon, look away, it's not complicated.
If you disagree with a particular TV programme, don't watch it.
We should all be able to express ourselves, say what we think, write what we feel, draw what we want... without worrying that we'll be attacked for upsetting someone else.
We should all be able to live in peace.

There was a time when Christians, Jews, and Muslims all lived in peace...........

If you are secure in your faith, whatever that may be, then you shouldn't concern yourself with what other people are thinking, even if their opinion and faith is not the same as yours.

I saw a good quote on twitter, 'The definition of a civilised human is one who may feel offended by me, but will not attack me physically.......' or something like that.

More Love.
Less Hate.
Or better still - No Hate.

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