Last week, following the terror attacks in Paris, there was, naturally, an overwhelming amount of media and internet response. I found myself trying to sort through a jumble of thoughts, opinions and emotions. Here I present a quick roundup of some of my main takeaways following this tragedy and the ensuing whirlwind of various discourses.
1. Good grief, allow people to grieve.
People deserve time to mourn. First and foremost, this was a tragedy. It seems that the minute news stories break out, Twitter explodes and people start to go at each other's throats. This ranges from attempts to minimize the significance of the event at hand, to speculation, ignorance and attempts to place blame on people. Everything in this world is politicized, and perhaps occasionally for good reason, but sometimes we should step back, if only for a moment, and recognize when a tragedy happens.
2. Challenge Eurocentrism.
"Why is no one talking about Beirut?" You may be sick of hearing this question, but it is an important one. Instances of violence and terrorism happen daily around the world, and the media rarely covers it. The attacks in Paris shocked us because they were out of the ordinary -- but why aren't we questioning why violence is the norm in other places? A human life is a life. The attacks in Paris garner more sympathy and attention from the U.S. because France is our ally. They are part of the relevant Western world, and an attack on them causes us to be more afraid of an attack on ourselves, whereas we normally feel safe and secure in our bubble. The grief surrounding Paris is without a doubt warranted, but we should extend our empathy and our efforts to preventing events like this throughout the world.
3. Inevitable Islamophobia and the issue of refugees.
Unfortunately, anti-Muslim sentiments always seem to be strengthened after events like these, and instances of Islamophobia greatly increase. Many political leaders advocated for U.S. states to close their borders to Syrian refugees (something that state governors cannot even legally do themselves), and the House of Representatives recently passed a bill approving even stricter screening processes for refugees. My jaw dropped when I saw that many political figures also wanted to only allow Christian refugees to enter the country. This is simply ridiculous. It is a terrifying example of prejudice and racism and of how America so often leans toward the wrong side of history.
4. Facebook and the French flag: Vive La France?
While many are accusing people of "slacktivism" (to which I say, chill out: any display of solidarity can mean something in the face of tragedy), I find there to be a bigger issue with changing profile pictures to the French flag: nationalism. By aligning ourselves with the French state instead of the people killed in the attacks (not all of whom were French citizens), we also associate ourselves with a violent history of French colonialism, and an array of other questionable decisions (that's an understatement) that France has made throughout its history. This political alignment is certainly not a necessary complement to praying for the lives that were lost. Not to mention the fact that this ignores the other, similar tragedies that occurred around the same time and didn't receive any tribute from Facebook.
5. Last but not least... #JeSuisChien
Arguably, the wildest thing to come out of all of this, after a police dog was killed in a raid related to the terror attacks, the hashtag #JeSuisChien ("I am dog") trended on Twitter to show support for the pup. I was in awe. Not only is this implying that the death of this dog is comparable to the victims of the attacks in Paris, Beirut and elsewhere, along with refugees and other human victims of terrorism -- but I also could have done without the throwback to the messy aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, and the replacement of actual grief and mourning for the support of hateful and inciting "satire" using the problematic-at-best hashtag #JeSuisCharlie.
Complex global events like this will always bring about thought-provoking discussion, heated debate and exasperating internet discourse. In the face of so many complicated viewpoints, the important thing is to never stop thinking critically, in an effort to make the world a better place for everybody.
