Quick Reflections on Paris, Beirut, and ISIS

This post is written by Tara Van Ho, who couldn't post it due to internet issues 

I’ve been off the page for a variety of reasons, starting with being knocked off my feet from food poisoning. But, I want to address the terrorist attacks last night in Paris.

I’m not going to recap what we know – the BBC, CNN, and others are better placed for that. But, last night as friends checked in one after the other on Facebook, I couldn’t help but reflect on how differently the situation played out from that which followed the bombings in Beirut this week.

In case you missed the Beirut story – as several of my friends did – on Thursday, IS claimed at least 43 lives in Lebanon’s capital. More than 200 others were injured.

One of the attacks involved a suicide bomber at the gates of a school.

At a mosque, Adel Termos threw himself on a suicide bomber in an attempt to stop the attack.

IS wants these attacks to be a sign of its strength. They are not. If you are blowing yourself up to kill children, concert-goers, people heading to prayer, or others who cannot defend themselves against you, you are a coward and no amount of shouting allegiance to anyone – or to God – changes that.

You are simply a fucking coward.

Unfortunately, those cowards have been able to inflict a lot of carnage, and too frequently that damage occurs in places the Western media isn’t covering. And that is a serious problem.

The problem is not the western-centric nature of the news. I understand why an attack in Paris gets significant coverage.  There are iconic symbols there, and it’s quite a distance from the conflict in Syria. It’s easy to believe the bombings are “more shocking” than what happened in Beirut. 

At least, if you’re not Lebanese or living in Lebanon or with friends in Beirut.

Keep in mind that the last terrorist attack in Paris was more recent than the last terrorist attack in Beirut.

Following Beirut, none of my friends in Lebanon were able to ‘check in’ on Facebook.  There was approximately 1 story per news organization.  And several of my friends didn’t know Lebanon had even happened until after the devastation in Paris.

This is a problem because the failure of Western media to cover attacks like those in Beirut at the same level, with the same focus and concern for the disruption of people’s normal lives, is that it feeds the damning narrative that these attacks stem from Islam or multiculturalism. If the only attacks the media focuses on involve brown-skinned attackers and white victims, it creates a fear of those who look different and reinforces a belief, that all Muslims (or other brown-skinned people) are silent, at fault, or complicit in these attacks, when really most are victims.

But, if we covered attacks like Beirut with the same level of concern as we see Paris being covered now, we would have a clearer picture that the situation is not about Islam or Middle Easterners. It is not Muslim versus European. Rather, it is a matter of the world vs. ISIS.

Since the year 2000, including the 8 identified last night, 41 Muslims have been implicated in terrorist attacks in the EU.  That includes individual stabbings and shootings.  It also includes those identified as providing assistance to the attackers. 

41.  Out of more than 19 million Muslims in the EU.

Google tells me that means less than 0.000002% of the Muslim population in Europe have been implicated in terrorist attacks.

And I realize there are some who have been involved but haven’t been identified.  Consequently, the number doesn’t include those responsible for the Madrid attacks.  But even if you have 5 unidentified people for every 1 we know, you’re looking at less than 250 people since 2000. And that’s still only 0.000013% of the Muslims in Europe.

This is so miniscule because the problem isn’t Islam. And it’s not multiculturalism.

The problem is a limited number of small-minded men who want to feel big about themselves.

If we let their hatred lead us, we will be following a dark and dangerous path, one not worthy of our collective humanity.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said two things that stick with me in times like this: “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”  And “The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.” 

I believe that arc bends only because of the people standing on it, pushing it towards something better.

Be one of those people.  Stand on the moral arc.  Fight IS and its idolatry of self (because that’s really what it worships). Don’t fight those who are already victims, like the millions of Muslim refugees who are dying – quite literally – to get away from the Islamic State.