Charlie Hebdo attack: Killing is not the answer

[webfact]

Killing is not the answer
Wong Chun Wai
The Star
Asia News Network
Kuala Lumpur


People attend before a rally in Rennes, western France, on Sunday, as tens of thousands of people stage rallies across France following four days of terror and twin siege dramas. AFP PHOTO / JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER

But the fact remains: mocking a sacred religious figure is dangerous, as the charlie hebdo attack has shown

KUALA LUMPUR: -- There is outrage sweeping across newsrooms throughout the world over the heinous murder of 12 people, 10 of whom were journalists, in the attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris on Wednesday.

The other two killed were policemen - one was the police guard of the editor Stephane Charbonnier, and the other, who was shot in the street during the getaway, was a Muslim officer of Moroccan descent.

Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly newspaper that pokes fun at just about everything under the sun, including revered religious figures.

We may not agree with the mocking of religious and political figures by this magazine but it is hard to justify any act of terror in retaliation to the magazine's work. It was just plain murder, but carried out in the name of religion.

These terrorists have done nothing to help non-Muslims have a better understanding and appreciation of Islam, which promotes peace and tolerance.

They have, in fact, caused serious damage and have given those who push the Islamophobia agenda an excuse to take their plans a step further.

The world's media community shares the grief of the families of these journalists who were killed while performing editorial duties.

It is important to note that Muslim leaders including prime minister Najib Razak have come out quickly to condemn this horrendous act.

"Malaysia condemns in the strongest terms all acts of violence. We stand in unity with the French people. We must fight extremism with moderation," he said in a Twitter posting on Thursday.

Likewise, our foreign ministry said, "Nothing justifies taking innocent lives. Malaysia is united with the families of the victims, the Government of France, and the French people."

But even as we condemn the killings, there is an important lesson for the world, especially the Western world, to learn from this tragedy.

There may be no sacred cows for the Western media because of their fervent belief in the freedom of expression. But the reality is that not everyone accepts nor appreciates such a principle.

And because we are so globally connected, it is no longer possible to operate just within a particular society that embraces such an approach. The media's work, from whichever part of the world, has basically become freely available to everyone.

World political leaders and entertainment figures can be lampooned without any major consequences, but like it or not, religion remains an emotionally charged issue.

The demography of many European countries, especially France, the United Kingdom and Holland, has changed drastically with a high Muslim population. In fact, there are six million Muslims in France, making it the country with the most number of Muslims in Western Europe.

While Europe expects all Muslims to accept assimilation into Western values, not everyone can accept the regular mocking of Islam and, in this case, to denigrate and desecrate a Prophet, as Dr Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just World, aptly described.

Certainly, the right of

expression does not include

the right to insult what is regarded as sacred and important to any religion and, by extension, the millions of its faithful.

The Prophet, Jesus, Buddha and the Hindu gods cannot be likened to politicians who are merely human beings who can be subjected to scrutiny, which satirical magazines can target regularly.

When it comes to matters of faith, so-called rationality is not something that can be applied nor used as argument for freedom of expression.

It is important that the Western media does not fan fears of Islam following this Paris tragedy. The reality is that many such incidents are perpetrated by evil people with their own agendas, not about their religion.

The recent incident in Sydney, for example, showed us how the authorities and the people of Sydney came together to reassure the Muslims there that although the gunman was a Muslim, the hostage crisis at the cafe was not about his religion.

There are good and bad people in every faith, as well as among those who do not believe in any religion.

There are, for example, white supremacists among Christians. Have we forgotten the 32-year-old right wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who went on a shooting spree in 2012 in Norway?

Certainly, all right-minded Christians did not condone the action of the pastor of the Christian Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida who announced he would burn 200 Quran on the 2010 anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

His stupidity caused 20 innocent people to be killed as his threat sparked protests in the Middle East and Asia. He later apologised and pledged never to burn a Quran, but that came too late as lives were already lost.

Surely, the action of this man, who calls himself a pastor, is not representative of the religion.

In every religion, there will always be extremists who interpret their holy books to suit their personal or political agendas. There will be people who want to act and sound like religious figures and, likewise, there will be religious figures who want to be political figures. When the line between religion and politics becomes blurred, it becomes dangerous.

Religion can be so easily manipulated because the ordinary adherents of the faith are, by nature, fearful of challenging any religious authority, especially those who dress up to look religiously pious.

I remain a believer that the Sedition Act should be kept intact simply because there should be zero tolerance for anyone whose actions or words can lead to security concerns. But there should be a golden rule - please exercise the powers fairly. We cannot scream for certain individuals to be hauled up for sedition charges and in the same breath call for its abolition. We need to be consistent.

Let no Malaysian have the perception that some individuals or organisations have special protection that allows them to get away with offensive remarks or actions. Nor should the Sedition Act be used to shut up a political opponent or, worse, an academic who cites a case study in an article or gives a view to a newspaper.

But more importantly, the one lesson from Paris for the rest of the world is that we must never let extremists have their way. Moderation must always prevail. And let's not forget that we must not let evil defeat us but instead conquer evil with good.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Killing-is-not-the-answer-30251707.html


-- The Nation 2015-01-12

[mikehock]

Quote

Certainly, all right-minded Christians did not condone the action of the pastor of the Christian Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida who announced he would burn 200 Quran on the 2010 anniversary of the September 11 attacks.His stupidity caused 20 innocent people to be killed as his threat sparked protests in the Middle East and Asia. He later apologised and pledged never to burn a Quran, but that came too late as lives were already lost.Surely, the action of this man, who calls himself a pastor, is not representative of the religion..... (.end quote)

And this is where the line is crossed....how can you blame the preacher..no matter how misguided his intention of burning the quran...for the deaths of 20 innocent people in the Mideast and Asia. The muslim world has to learn to react in a civilised manner to any lampooning or criticism and imams have to preah nonviolent behavior to a seemingly violent religion

Only then will we avoid these horrific incidents

Edited January 12, 2015 by mikehock

[Tep]

We see here the exposition of some of the 'Asian Values' that Mahathir talked about. Some of these 'values' are clearly informing the Journalist's views I think. Western liberal ideals are clearly not universal. I wonder how to tell when countries or cultures are mature enough for such ideals?

[dragonfly94]

'But the fact remains: mocking a sacred religious figure is dangerous, as the charlie hebdo attack has shown'

It's also a fact that being gay, or Jewish or an apostate as well as being a female is dangerous where Islam is concerned. Does this mean we should be giving Islam special treatment by treating it differently, I thought all cultures were meant to be equal in this multicultural world of heavenly diversity.

[arfurcrown]

Dragonfly 94 post # 4

But the fact remains: mocking a sacred religious figure is dangerous, as the charlie hebdo attack has shown'

It's also a fact that being gay, or Jewish or an apostate as well as being a female is dangerous where Islam is concerned. Does this mean we should be giving Islam special treatment by treating it differently, I thought all cultures were meant to be equal in this multicultural world of heavenly diversity.

But this god geezer says all people were made in his image , makes Charles Manson and Hilter jJoey Stalin MaoTse Tung and so no seem totally lucid and sound decent blokes I don't think.

Wonder what the pothead was on when he made them geezers.

god a con man of the first level like it products

[uptheos]

"These terrorists have done nothing to help non-Muslims have a better understanding and appreciation of Islam, which promotes peace and tolerance".

How long must we listen to this broken record BS?

[Pattaya46]

Hi.

Huge demonstrations in France yesterday

Not far than 2 millions people in Paris, 4 millions in France

All for "Je suis Charlie" & "Terrorism, never that again !"

[Naam]

Hi.

Huge demonstrations in France yesterday

Not far than 2 millions people in Paris, 4 millions in France

All for "Je suis Charlie" & "Terrorism, never that again !"

demonstrations will not resurrect those who were killed and neither will they prevent future additional killings caused by derogatory treatment of a major faith.

i wonder what would have happened in a devout Buddhist country if a revered person was depicted as was prophet Mohamed depicted in this carricature published by "Charlie Hebdo" with the comment "a star is born".

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/102747491/mahomet-etoile.jpg

[hard124get]

'But the fact remains: mocking a sacred religious figure is dangerous, as the charlie hebdo attack has shown'

It's also a fact that being gay, or Jewish or an apostate as well as being a female is dangerous where Islam is concerned. Does this mean we should be giving Islam special treatment by treating it differently, I thought all cultures were meant to be equal in this multicultural world of heavenly diversity.

Being Jewish is certainly different., just ask cartoonist Maurice Sinet, who was sacked by Charles Hedbro for suggesting Sarkozy's son converted to Judaism for money.

[Naam]

Quote

Certainly, all right-minded Christians did not condone the action of the pastor of the Christian Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida who announced he would burn 200 Quran on the 2010 anniversary of the September 11 attacks.His stupidity caused 20 innocent people to be killed as his threat sparked protests in the Middle East and Asia. He later apologised and pledged never to burn a Quran, but that came too late as lives were already lost.Surely, the action of this man, who calls himself a pastor, is not representative of the religion..... (.end quote)

And this is where the line is crossed....how can you blame the preacher..no matter how misguided his intention of burning the quran...for the deaths of 20 innocent people in the Mideast and Asia. The muslim world has to learn to react in a civilised manner to any lampooning or criticism and imams have to preah nonviolent behavior to a seemingly violent religion

Only then will we avoid these horrific incidents

The muslim world has to learn

the "muslim world" is a generalising and misleading expression. no terrorist attacks were carried out by the "muslim world" and neither were the deaths of innocent people caused by the "muslim world" after the outrageous announcement to burn a Qr'an.

[Berkshire]

"There may be no sacred cows for the Western media because of their fervent belief in the freedom of expression. But the reality is that not everyone accepts nor appreciates such a principle."

This comment from the article is thought-provoking. Unfortunately, I fear that even if all magazines and newspapers of the world complied, the terrorists will find other reasons to kill.

[zydeco]

Hmm. No mention of the four Jews killed in the kosher market. Must have not happened as far as Malaysia is concerned.

[Chicog]

"Killing is not the answer", eh?

I can guarantee you that the Kouachi brothers will not be planning any more terrorist attacks.

[orosee]

Hmm. No mention of the four Jews killed in the kosher market. Must have not happened as far as Malaysia is concerned.

Not just Malaysia, in fact the lack of inclusion of the 4 Jews is so noticeable that some newspapers have articles just about this.

[CapeCobra]

Countries with Lese Majeste laws most likely will not participate in any "Je suis Charlie"-type campaign. I understand. Watching such events may be unpalatable for some.

[orosee]

Certainly, the right of expression does not include the right to insult what is regarded as sacred and important to any religion and, by extension, the millions of its faithful.

I can hardly express how wrong I think this statement is (which is echoed by some Western writers as well)!

I wouldn't go as far as saying that theres a "duty" to attack the sacred, holy and untouchable at all times, but to the contrary, not only does the right of expression include the right to insult the above, I believe it was created expressly for this purpose.

Basically, the Nation is blaming the victims here. <deleted>.

[orosee]

LOL. If your name is "Frodo Underhill" or you're member of the "French Union", the censorship robot will make it impossible for you to use your initials <deleted>.

[Ulysses G.]

i wonder what would have happened in a devout Buddhist country if a revered person was depicted as was prophet Mohamed depicted in this carricature published by "Charlie Hebdo" with the comment "a star is born".

There is some possibility that the artist would be harmed, but Buddhists would not kill a whole bunch of innocent people along with him. That is typical of radical Islam.

[soalbundy]

It is in Thailand

[soalbundy]

i wonder what would have happened in a devout Buddhist country if a revered person was depicted as was prophet Mohamed depicted in this carricature published by "Charlie Hebdo" with the comment "a star is born".

There is some possibility that the artist would be harmed, but Buddhists would not kill a whole bunch of innocent people along with him. That is typical of radical Islam.

They did in Tak Bai

[MobileContent]

Killing for a cartoon is just plain simply wrong and it doesn't matter what religion is involved.

Islam goes a bit further by going after all kinds of sorts that was suppose to be mentioned in the Qur'an. I was once a Muslim for 19 years but I left because many issues could not debated any more either at mosques or with fellow Muslims.

What happened in Paris is depressing and I am worried more and more of those attacks will happened in the near future.

I fully support the freedom of expression but that those government leaders went all for a march yesterday is compelling and pure propaganda by those Western leaders.

Western countries need to also reset their foreign policies. You can't keep bombing Mideastern countries or Muslim countries in general and think this issue will not get back to your home turf. Islamic fanatics think as a Ummah which means one community of all Muslim's in the world. If a foreign government kills a Muslim overseas by either bombing or through political actions certain cells might be activated in those foreign countries to go after soft targets.

With ISIS a lot of foreign fighters are still based in Iraq and Syria so the Western Intelligence services have to do more homework to track those people's down as they will be a far bigger threat then those terrorists that hit Paris last week.

RIP for all of those that died. I love Kosher food - Shalom.

[Thai at Heart]

We see here the exposition of some of the 'Asian Values' that Mahathir talked about. Some of these 'values' are clearly informing the Journalist's views I think. Western liberal ideals are clearly not universal. I wonder how to tell when countries or cultures are mature enough for such ideals?

All of which can be countered by the question "why?".

Why is a god inviolable? Why must a follower act out defence and retribution? Why can't a devotee accept the criticism and walk on by?

Why why why. Why are gods above criticism. Because I tell u very often things happen in the world that make a curious mind ask, is there even a god.

So, people must die because of criticising a faith? Well, now we are the crux of the mattern. The right of someone to kill another over a belief

Sorry to bring Godwin into it, but this idea is pure facism and is extremely dangerous and must be stopped. Its no more relevant than tribalism ending in violence at football matches.

I believe my team to be better than your team so let's fight about it. Absolute idiocy.

[MobileContent]

i wonder what would have happened in a devout Buddhist country if a revered person was depicted as was prophet Mohamed depicted in this carricature published by "Charlie Hebdo" with the comment "a star is born".

There is some possibility that the artist would be harmed, but Buddhists would not kill a whole bunch of innocent people along with him. That is typical of radical Islam.

They did in Tak Bai

Yes but it was the Thai Army and not individuals. The only Buddhists that kill are mainly to be found in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

[EnglishJohn]

The authorities are trying their hardest to distance these murders from the religion of Islam and I can understand why. It can easily lead to the rise of extreme right-wing movements and it is these environments where people like Hitler can find their first rung on the ladder to power.

But the fact remains that Muslims are the most racist people I have ever worked with (at least in the UK). English people would be sacked immediately if they behaved in the same way. In one office (of software engineers), they wanted to catch the one guy who was friendly to us in the car park and beat him up. They had an impolite nickname for him which meant 'friend of white men'.

These people are brainwashed from birth. There is no way to change something so ingrained. IMHO they should all be hooked up to a lie detector then asked "Do you think it is right that someone should be killed for drawing the prophet Mohammed". If their answer is yes, they should be deported to keep goats for the rest of their lives in a Muslim country.

I think the % of people who would say 'Yes' to the above question would be quite a shock.

[soalbundy]

i wonder what would have happened in a devout Buddhist country if a revered person was depicted as was prophet Mohamed depicted in this carricature published by "Charlie Hebdo" with the comment "a star is born".

There is some possibility that the artist would be harmed, but Buddhists would not kill a whole bunch of innocent people along with him. That is typical of radical Islam.

They did in Tak Bai

Yes but it was the Thai Army and not individuals. The only Buddhists that kill are mainly to be found in Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Thai soldiers aren't Buddhists ?

[squarethecircle]

"These people are brainwashed from birth. There is no way to change something so ingrained. IMHO they should all be hooked up to a lie detector then asked "Do you think it is right that someone should be killed for drawing the prophet Mohammed". If their answer is yes, they should be deported to keep goats for the rest of their lives in a Muslim country.

I think the % of people who would say 'Yes' to the above question would be quite a shock."

85% of British Muslims think insulting their (pedophile with a penchant for merciless killing) non-prophet should be a crime. Yet the obnoxious liberals insist that objections to this are founded in bigotry and racism.

[Morch]

Hi.

Huge demonstrations in France yesterday

Not far than 2 millions people in Paris, 4 millions in France

All for "Je suis Charlie" & "Terrorism, never that again !"

demonstrations will not resurrect those who were killed and neither will they prevent future additional killings caused by derogatory treatment of a major faith.

i wonder what would have happened in a devout Buddhist country if a revered person was depicted as was prophet Mohamed depicted in this carricature published by "Charlie Hebdo" with the comment "a star is born".

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/102747491/mahomet-etoile.jpg

Could be in for a long wait.

Buddhism is, apparently, less of an inspiration as far as political cartoonists go. Wonder why.

Is today Straw Man Day?

Edited January 12, 2015 by Morch

[Mudcrab]

The authorities are trying their hardest to distance these murders from the religion of Islam and I can understand why. It can easily lead to the rise of extreme right-wing movements and it is these environments where people like Hitler can find their first rung on the ladder to power.

But the fact remains that Muslims are the most racist people I have ever worked with (at least in the UK). English people would be sacked immediately if they behaved in the same way. In one office (of software engineers), they wanted to catch the one guy who was friendly to us in the car park and beat him up. They had an impolite nickname for him which meant 'friend of white men'.

These people are brainwashed from birth. There is no way to change something so ingrained. IMHO they should all be hooked up to a lie detector then asked "Do you think it is right that someone should be killed for drawing the prophet Mohammed". If their answer is yes, they should be deported to keep goats for the rest of their lives in a Muslim country.

I think the % of people who would say 'Yes' to the above question would be quite a shock.

Sad to say I think that it will be inevitable, over time, for something along these lines to happen.

The choice will be simple.

Do you want to be muslim or not?

I don't believe there will be any other choices. It will be either convert or fight.

I know this sounds a little far fetched at the moment but give it a few years.

The muslims have been against "us" for 1400 years, simply because we are not muslim.

Muslims are slaughtering muslims by the thousands in Syria/Iraq. But this is the fault of the west.

Muslims conveniently forget that NATO fought against the ethnic cleansing of the muslims by the christians in Europe in the 1990's.

The discovery of oil in the middle east last century has finally given them cash to develop themselves, and the multicultural policies of the west has allowed them to spread across the western world.

The high birth rate is now at the point of no return - the numbers are increasing faster than the indigenous population who are, rather ironically, paying for this through social security etc.

Many people point out that it is the very small minority of muslims who cause the trouble - but it is the tacit, silent, approval of the majority of muslims that allow this to go on unchecked.

The majority of Germans weren't Nazi's but their lack of action allowed Nazism to rise to power. Similarly with the rise of Communism in Russia and China.

The leaders of the muslim world could easily issue a fatwa or similar to order the terrorists to stop.

But they haven't.

As I said in my first sentence I think a rise in extreme right wing/ fascism is inevitable over time.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Mudcrab

[tigermonkey]

"These people are brainwashed from birth. There is no way to change something so ingrained. IMHO they should all be hooked up to a lie detector then asked "Do you think it is right that someone should be killed for drawing the prophet Mohammed". If their answer is yes, they should be deported to keep goats for the rest of their lives in a Muslim country.

I think the % of people who would say 'Yes' to the above question would be quite a shock."

85% of British Muslims think insulting their (pedophile with a penchant for merciless killing) non-prophet should be a crime. Yet the obnoxious liberals insist that objections to this are founded in bigotry and racism.

One of the less talked about tenets of faith of Islam is the principle of ghiba. Ghiba stated simply means that if you say or do something against another, and that other is offended by what you have said you have committed ghiba. It does not matter whether what was said is true or not -- we are not talking about slander -- it only matters whether the other is offended by your actions. If what you say is offensive to the other party, you have committed the sin of ghiba, which can not be forgiven by the Prophet or even by Allah. Only the offended party can forgive this grave sin.

If this sounds just like Thailand's libel laws, you are right. If you offend the Prophet, you have by extension offended every Muslim on the face of the earth. You can only be redeemed from this horrible sin, by the personal forgiveness of every Muslim.

Each and every devout Muslim believes in this principle or they are not a devout Muslim.

[i claudius]

What I cannot understand is why do they have to kill in the name of their God,if he is so powerful and wants to get revenge,why not do it himself?