It has already started – the talk of a clash of civilisations. After the horrific Paris attack in which 12 people were killed, there is a palpable sense of a Europe on the edge, teetering between righteous anger and tense restraint. Many of the subsequent reactions have fallen along the predictable lines of reasserting the difference between “us” and “them”.
.... Whether it is Islamic State (Isis), al-Qaida or lone actors, they will use religiously focused grievances as a vehicle for political, personal and mental maladies. Don’t buy it. The way to honour the dead and find a way out of what seems like a depressingly inevitable downward spiral would be to resist the polar narrative altogether. It will not only heal painful rifts, it might even save lives.
[TOP RATED COMMENT 1184 votes] "It is, however, important to not keep repeating the same mistakes, trying to trace the perpetrators to some certain origin. They have none. They belong to no single community or country or mosque."
They belong to no single community? Really? Incredible.
[SECOND 1070] "anti-Muslim demonstrations in Germany."
Nice warping of words - it was actually anti-Islamisation not anti-Muslim.
[THIRD 974] "It is certainly not the time to issue rallying cries, and to ventriloquise on behalf of terrorists that speak for no one."
Yeah, time to just roll over and take it as usual.
Europe is done with this BS tolerance. What you are seeing is the reaction of people who have been force-fed crap like this article for a very, very long time now.
[FOURTH 928] They belong to the Muslim community so I don't know why this writer is pussy-footing around the fact that yes, they all do belong to one community.
Here are the first links that pop up when you run a search for the Guardian publishing articles containing the words "Muslim community".
So clearly they believe it can be talked about as a single community. See here, here and here
[FIFTH 876] ... between this and the Owen Jones hand-wringing nonsense, it's difficult to tell one disgraceful Guardian commentary after the other....but they sure are coming thick and fast today!
[SIXTH 640] You don't really provide evidence that the reaction has generally been an "us and them" sort of reaction. I'm not sure it has. Not what I've seen, anyway.
In terms of asserting our own identity and values and large numbers of people coming together to tell these murderers that we don't share their values, I struggle to see how that's a bad thing. We can't refuse to condemn brutality, and refuse to celebrate freedom of speech, because it might upset some people
[SIXTH 511] Doing nothing is not an option - Arresting those responsible and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law is a start. The Muslim community needs to speak more loudly in favour of tolerance, at the moment it is being drowned out by its intolerant murderous side.
Islam needs a reformation, but I cannot see where it will come from. [8 Jan. Guardian Cif, Nesrine Malik, 1243 comments] Read more
