Fridays arriving on the 13th of a month has held some superstition since the Middle Ages, mostly due to its negative presence in the Christian Bible, and its association with Jesus's crucifixion and Good Friday. Many view such superstitions to be a matter of probability. Most people do not damn the black cat they passed by for causing them to trip. Nevertheless, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015 was a disastrous day in many parts of the world.
The Western world has mostly been focusing upon the horrific terrorist attack in Paris, France. During the culturally arousing soccer game of France vs. Germany, bombs exploded, shootings occurred and hostages were taken, resulting in the deaths of 129 people. The infamous radical Islamic group, ISIS, has claimed to have been responsible for the operation. France, along with other European countries, has been discriminatory against Muslims for years. Their adamant secularism and paranoid Islamophobia led to the implementation of a law prohibiting wearing the burqa or niqab, the facial veils characteristic of Islamic culture. Some extremist school officials have even sent home Muslim girls for wearing long skirts for violating the prohibition of religious symbols. However, since 2012, France has also taken in over 5,000 Syrian refugees, who fear the backlash they will receive as a result of the ISIS attacks Friday, since they are exactly why Syrians are seeking refuge.
However, Parisians were not the only victims yesterday. Two suicide bombings occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 41 people. One of the bombings happened near a Shia mosque, which is a minority denomination among the Islamic religion. ISIS has also claimed responsibility for this attack, which has the highest amount of deaths for Lebanon since the end of their civil war in 1990. Lebanon is the star of the Middle East when it comes to commercial success, but since its unstable neighbors are Syria and Israel, it often experiences tensions and conflicts. The two countries used Lebanon to fight a war between them, and they still exert dominance over the Lebanese today. Lebanon has been housing Syrian refugees to the point where a quarter of their population is Syrian.
There was also a bombing in Baghdad, Iraq at the funeral of a "pro-government Shi’ite Muslim fighter" for which the Islamic State also took responsibility, where 18 peopled died and 41 people were injured. The United States implemented the current Iraqi government, which the majority population of Shi'ites supported. However, Sunnis have been violently rebelling against the new regime for years. As a result, the county has been unstable and the site of air strikes from the U.S. in attempts to fight the terrorists.
Finally, two earthquakes occurred in Japan and Mexico. Japan, which is prone to earthquakes, had one of 6.7 magnitude, which caused a tsunami. This occurs two days after the anniversary of the 2011 earthquake of a 9.0 magnitude, where 15,891 peopled died; today, 2,584 people remain missing, and 230,000 are still dislocated from their homes. There is no current information on how many people died, went missing or sought refuge as this is written.
Mexico experienced an earthquake of a 4.3 magnitude, which also lacks reports of damage. This is shortly after the Category 5 Hurricane Patricia, the strongest ever recorded in the Western hemisphere, plagued the country just last month for four days.
Why has the media ignored the other disasters that occurred on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015? There were two other attacks by the same terrorist group. Although the crisis in Paris had a higher death toll, it should be asserted that all lives matter, and all massacres are significant. All of these terrorist attacks exhibit the instability of the Middle East and the weight of Islamophobia carries throughout the world.
Does the media put the spotlight on France because they are an ally of the Western developed nations, the attack acting as an abnormal interruption of their peace? Indeed, this day illustrates the power of ISIS and the possibility of terrorism happening anywhere, no matter how developed a nation is. However, the day should encourage education on the reasons radical Islamic terrorism and the instability of the Middle East is occurring. Moreover, this day should promote the aid of Syrian refugees, so we understand what they are escaping. We should not be afraid of our fellow man; we should help them, and stop those who spread fear and death among our people.
