Friday, March 29, 2024 -
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Some terrorists are more equal than others

Two violent and hateful events, both within a week of each other. Charlottesville: A rally of neo-Nazis and other white supremacists spouting vile racist hatred. A car ramming. One dead. Barcelona: An Islamist terrorist. A car ramming. Fourteen dead, over 100 injured, including at least 14 critically.

One event attracts — quite rightly — the strongest possible condemnation from all walks of life, hours upon hours of media coverage, non-stop commentary across media platforms and in person. Not only condemnation of the fascist marchers, but more: demanding, again quite rightly, condemnation of the marchers and their evil ideology from those holding the highest offices in the land.

Yet the other attack elicits, from many, a shrug of acceptance — this is the world we live in now. Yes, there is a note of sympathy for the victims and others might update their social media image profile to reflect the locale of the latest attack — although, with the multiplicity of attacks, even that is uncertain. But outrage? It definitely not does not rise to the level that the events in Charlottesville elicited.

While there is condemnation of the Barcelona attack itself, where is the condemnation — from all walks of life — of the evil ideology spawning these Barcelona attackers? Where is the non-stop media coverage about how evil, radical Islam is a scourge that must be eliminated? Where are the demands — in the strongest language possible — that our leaders condemn this ideology? Where are the demands that our society and our leaders not allow — in any way at all — this ideology to flourish?

Two horrifying events juxtapose our schizophrenic reactions to ideological ills. The radio silence — in the case of Islamic terrorism — is deafening.

Copyright © 2017 by the Intermountain Jewish News




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