This past Friday night the world found out about the deadliest attack by any person, group or nation to hit France since World War II. The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attacks which killed well over 100 people (at the time of this writing the count is 129). The attacks were carried out by what seem to be three coordinated teams and hit Paris in various places throughout the city including a soccer stadium where a game between France and Germany was being played, and at Bataclan Hall where the American band Eagles of Death Metal were playing.
It was shocking news for most, and people took to showing their support all across social media. Facebook made a filter for profile pictures and Snapchat made a geotag for it. But attacks and acts of violence like this happen consistently throughout the world. ISIS or IS has been active in the Middle East for a while now. We’ve seen endless violence in this area of the world and Palestinians, Syrians and plenty of others continue to be killed and murdered by various different groups.
So what makes this different? Because it’s in France. As much as that shouldn’t be true it is. We’re used to hearing about violence, death, and suicide bombings in the Middle East. We’re not used to it in France and the West doesn’t want to be used to it either.
But what makes it even more different is the scale of the attack. This had to have been coordinated long before it happened; it took many different people to pull it off, and it was much more complex than a one-person suicide bombing.
Worse than the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013 — although that was large scale, it killed fewer people. Hundreds were injured, but less than 10 were actually killed. Worse than the Charlie Hebdo shooting that happened this past January, also in Paris, where 12 people died. Worse than most of the attacks that have happened in the West over the past few years. In fact, this was the deadliest terrorist attack ever in French history.
The coordination, the scale and the location make this different. The West is the place in the world where attacks like this aren’t supposed to happen. The West is supposed to be immune to this kind of violence and when we see a large attack like this on the capital city of France, which President Hollande has called an “act of war,” that immunity doesn’t seem as solid.
The good: people and governments may begin to focus on these enemies a little more now that they’ve hit France so effectively. But it’s important to not remain afraid of the IS. As they seek attention, legitimacy and fear from us, we must give them the exact opposite. And of greater importance, the West must understand them in order to prevent their spread and growth. In other words, we must strive to understand their mindset.
The bad: how strong the IS has to be to pull off something like this. The most striking aspects of all of this are the seven simultaneous attacks on Paris. More than just one strike or attack, an attack like this took complex strategic planning. The bombing on October 31 that brought down a Russian flight in Egypt killed over 200 people, but the Paris attacks were on the ground, in multiple locations, terrifying the city, leading the President to declare a state of emergency and temporarily close the nation’s borders. For worse or for better, last Friday night’s events in Paris have changed the world’s perspective on the IS and what they can do.
I certainly wouldn’t call this a war — perhaps an act of war — but if we cannot understand the psychological mindset of those who are part of this group, we may keep seeing these acts of war repeated.
