After Paris, Time to Drop the "T" Word

Tired of seeing the portraits of the three murderers of Paris -- let's see portraits of those killed. The innocent folks killed in the kosher supermarket just because they were Jewish - now the world can see the true identity of Al Qaeda-allied terror. It's not just about "Zionists"-- their targets are all Jews and opponents to their self-styled regimes. But as Haffner described about Hitler -- it's hate and murderous anti-Semitism at the dark heart of their actions, not defense of some imaginary realm or leader.

 Tired of hearing the words "terror" and "terrorists"-- Jean Baudrillard long ago, after 9/11 discussed the new forms of this word that gain strength by playing on the use of violent gestures magnified by the global media spectacle as political tools. "Terror" implies that we in democracies are afraid or terrorized. We are disturbed and outraged, angered and hurt, as humans and humanists, as democratically free peoples who choose to live under the rule of law and justice, not under the whip and the beheading and medieval codes of violence. So let's dial down on use of the words terror and terrorists that have already become almost meaningless labels and descriptors that reflect more on the presumed impact of these actions on us, democratically free peoples in whose societies these criminals are sadly able to operate with greater freedom. Let's just recognize all of these villains as the criminals, law breakers,  kidnappers and murderers that they are.

Though it will take time, they will no doubt eventually be destroyed as was Hitler and in turn will destroy themselves. But democratic nations must be resolute and never surrender to the evil of theocratic extremists. 

 

Sure, #JeSuisCharlie, #JeSuisAhmed. But also let's never forget "#JeSuisJuif". And while we are at it, JeSuisDemocracy, indeed.

--Anthony Napoli

Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn