My heart goes out to the French
My heart really does go out to the French. I remember that numb feeling upon realizing we were being attacked by terrorists on 9/11. Yes, the scale is smaller, but that does not lessen the pain of feeling so helpless and vulnerable in your country, some place you should feel safe.
It will take days for any sort of normalcy to be reached and it will be a new normal. No one can say what the normal will be.
It also saddens me because many more innocent lives will be lost. What these terrorists did does not do anything to improve the lives of Muslims. It will only make them worse. Countries will begin crying out how they need to close their borders to refugees and immigrants hoping for a better life. Muslim immigrants already in other countries will all be looked at with suspicion. Calls will come to deport Muslims, to round them up where they can be watched. I can easily see governments using this is a rallying cry to build concentration camps.
Honestly, at this point I do not know what to think. Thanks to the internet these Islamic extremists have a very long reach. How many parents have suddenly found that their teenage son or daughter is running off to join ISIS? How many of these parents may have a son or daughter at home who is waiting to be a local martyr? They are told to blend in, not draw attention to themselves. How can we identify them before something happens?
Big brother will be watching us more and more. More and more liberties will be curtailed, privacy will become non-existant (though honestly, anyone who thinks they can do anything on the internet and have it be private is quite delusional).
My biggest fear is that they will strike Russia. My fear there is that Russia will retaliate in the worse way imaginable. I know people joke about dropping a nuke to solve the Middle East problems, but I don't know of anyone who seriously thinks that's a good idea. My fear is that Putin is that one person out there who doesn't see ending life as we know it in the Middle East as a bad thing. Depending on what kind of attack would be delivered, I don't know that even the oil would be enough to keep him from acting.
Sadly there is no answer to this dilemma of Islamic extremists that allows us to continue living free and democratic lives. They exploit that freedom, the freedom cross borders, to make purchases in cash that aren't traceable, the freedom of expression. What we need is a concerted voice from Muslims everywhere to denounce this, to turn over to the authorities any extremist that they know of. There can be no more hiding in the sand and lip service of 'Islam is a religion of peace'. Do not hide or cover up for those who go against those words. As long as local mosques are used as recruiting stations for extremists, it will be difficult for anyone to trust any Muslim.
It will take days for any sort of normalcy to be reached and it will be a new normal. No one can say what the normal will be.
It also saddens me because many more innocent lives will be lost. What these terrorists did does not do anything to improve the lives of Muslims. It will only make them worse. Countries will begin crying out how they need to close their borders to refugees and immigrants hoping for a better life. Muslim immigrants already in other countries will all be looked at with suspicion. Calls will come to deport Muslims, to round them up where they can be watched. I can easily see governments using this is a rallying cry to build concentration camps.
Honestly, at this point I do not know what to think. Thanks to the internet these Islamic extremists have a very long reach. How many parents have suddenly found that their teenage son or daughter is running off to join ISIS? How many of these parents may have a son or daughter at home who is waiting to be a local martyr? They are told to blend in, not draw attention to themselves. How can we identify them before something happens?
Big brother will be watching us more and more. More and more liberties will be curtailed, privacy will become non-existant (though honestly, anyone who thinks they can do anything on the internet and have it be private is quite delusional).
My biggest fear is that they will strike Russia. My fear there is that Russia will retaliate in the worse way imaginable. I know people joke about dropping a nuke to solve the Middle East problems, but I don't know of anyone who seriously thinks that's a good idea. My fear is that Putin is that one person out there who doesn't see ending life as we know it in the Middle East as a bad thing. Depending on what kind of attack would be delivered, I don't know that even the oil would be enough to keep him from acting.
Sadly there is no answer to this dilemma of Islamic extremists that allows us to continue living free and democratic lives. They exploit that freedom, the freedom cross borders, to make purchases in cash that aren't traceable, the freedom of expression. What we need is a concerted voice from Muslims everywhere to denounce this, to turn over to the authorities any extremist that they know of. There can be no more hiding in the sand and lip service of 'Islam is a religion of peace'. Do not hide or cover up for those who go against those words. As long as local mosques are used as recruiting stations for extremists, it will be difficult for anyone to trust any Muslim.