We'll Always Have Paris

I guess I’m what you’d consider an agnostic.  Probably a visceral agnostic would be a more accurate description.

I mention the agnostic part without pride or shame (I have no excuse for the visceral issue, I think that's just hard-wired in), but faith in a higher being is just something I have trouble mustering. Not when I look around at the current state of global affairs, and the suffering, and everything else that would seem to belie the idea that there is a peaceful and merciful God watching over those He created in His image.

Weeks like this past one certainly don’t help.

Like others I was caught up in the non-stop coverage of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris and in the ultimate deaths of nearly 20 people when all was (nearly) said and done. When a few terrorists, in the name of God, brutally and coldly, and with calculation and no remorse, turned a magazine office into the final resting place for cartoonists, office workers and police officers and turned a Jewish grocery store into the final resting place for four innocent, unlucky shoppers.

But wait, there’s more…

I’ll never wash from my mind the images of the terrorists coldly shooting an unarmed police officer to death while he begged for his life. Some images stay with you. Unfortunately that’s one of those. I’ll also have a hard time washing away the memory of one terrorist being shot dead on camera as he attempted to escape the kosher grocery store where he had taken hostages, but only after killing those four when he arrived.

His death is less a tragedy to me. But that’s the visceral agnostic in me poking through.

I have a hard time understanding the radical Islamic culture. That’s probably because I’m not a radical Muslim and I’ve never walked a day in their shoes. I’ve never been overtly or significantly oppressed, discriminated against or felt ostracized in my own country. Those are all valid issues but they are also issues that other cultures have dealt with, addressed and overcome without targeting innocent people for death and doing so in the name of religion. If this were a legitimate article instead of a rambling attempt to corral my own thoughts and feelings (the visceral thing), this is where I’d reference the Jews, Italians, Irish and the African Americans and give illustrations of their sufferings, persecutions and the methodologies they used to extract themselves from those situations (to one extent or another).

And this isn’t to say there isn’t validity to the Muslim claims of persecution in various places around the world. There is. This isn’t to say that the other groups referenced above have been warmly embraced or have an easy time rising above their own real struggles and the prejudices and hatred they faced. They have not.

What it is is a realization that appeasement and negotiation and rational discussion simply do not work with a culture that condones, embraces and promotes violence and death on all people who do not agree with their belief system or religion.

Don’t misunderstand. The people who condone, embrace and promote death and violence in the name of Muhammad or Allah are not representative of the vast, overwhelming majority of peaceful Muslims who live in relative harmony with those around them. This is not a condemnation of their religion or them as a people.

But there is a huge radical, fundamental Islamic problem all over the world today and it should be clear to all who have their eyes open that it needs to be addressed and it needs to be destroyed. 

Destruction probably isn’t very godly.  But those who revel in violence and bask in chaos and who will kill without concern or remorse have no place in society. Not our society, not French society and not Arab society. This isn’t a new phenomenon. I’ve been alive for 48 years and yet Munich, Beirut, the Luxor Massacre, 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombings and now Paris are deadly and violent bookmarks to each decade I’ve been old enough to remember. And the frequency of attacks is accelerating.

And each of those incidents drew gasps and condemnation and indignation from around the world. And in nearly all those attacks there was a response but those usually came from governments and were directed against governments who were thought to harbor terrorists, if not sanction terrorism.

It’s different now. While we may live in some dark times, we don’t live in those relative dark ages any more. Terrorism has adapted. Terrorists have embraced technology as well as a new way of doing business. Their leadership is more organized, more effective and is funded with billions of oil dollars.

On the ground their “soldiers” are better organized, more efficient, media-savvy (if not attention craving), as willing to kill as ever, and they are everywhere. The terrorist organizations are simply better than they were 30 or 40 years ago, there are more terrorists and they are more committed to the cause.

We the people, and our governments, are literally losing ground. And confidence. And freedoms. And lives. We can definitely outspend terrorists and we still have a decided edge in technology and equipment.

What we’re lacking is conviction. And maybe some nastiness.

The terrorists have literally taken this to the streets and we’re still playing by Marquess of Queensbury rules, figuratively getting punched in the face, watching our cops literally get knifed at landmarks and butchered on the sidewalks of major cities. The radicals have declared war a hundred times over and we seemingly greet each act of war with some tisk-tisking and hand wringing. And the hand-wringing is while wearing kids gloves. Then we hope it goes away and never comes back.

Instead we’re hopeful of appealing to the sensibilities of people who would rather kill us than reason with us and praying/wishing/thinking that, despite 2,500 years of savagery, hatred, intolerance and brutality in the name of God, that they’ll suddenly wake up one day and embrace the fact that there are societies out there that want to live differently than they do.

I’d say that’s highly unlikely.

So, as you would do with a cancer, you need to start eradicating the tumor. For those who speak only PC: the soldiers of this evil cult need to be removed from the battlefield. And no, I don't think it's 'playing God' to consider it. I'd prefer we not kill. I'd prefer we not have to incarcerate. But that preference is outweighed heavily by my preference for not being killed for publishing this post or upsetting these radicals on Facebook. And our current approach is lacking in the all important results category. 

So what most of us would prefer not to do appears to be the only way to go. Sometimes you have to out-brutal the brutal and outslug the sluggers if that’s all they understand. You always extend an olive branch and keep lines of communication open, but you do your negotiating from a solid position of strength. That means it needs to be done on a macro and micro level. No holds barred. You overwhelm the nations that foster and harbor these people through military operations and with all tools at your disposal. You use your intelligence networks and your military and your elite forces on that macro level. You ultimately tear down regimes that spread fear and hatred and allow nations to rebuild with people who value peace and getting along.

The infrastructure for that macro approach is already in place. It’s the micro-level where it gets dicey and where the biggest challenges exist. There’s simply not much at all, if anything, standing between some radicalized asshole with an automatic weapon walking into a McDonald’s or a school or a crowded stadium and destroying himself and countless others if he’s hell-bent on doing so. You’re not going to stop it.

But we need to make it tougher. We need to stop more of these lone wolves and small cells before they get that chance. And that requires a paradigm shift in how we relate to these people and how local citizens and law enforcement approach the issue.

Local law enforcement needs to be trained in counter-terrorism techniques and intelligence, if they’re not already. Maybe do it on a county level in less populated areas, but there needs to be a better understanding of terrorist techniques, communications, organizations, etc. on that micro level. Local LEO need to develop and cultivate and maintain their own relationships and networks so that chatter and activities may enable them to cut off the terrorists before they can act. There needs to be a task force at local levels that share this information and pass it upward as necessary. Correction officers and sheriff’s deputies need to be trained what to listen for and watch for in correctional facilities. There are a lot of terrorist connections made in prison and there is a lot of information passed between those bars. LEO needs to hear, understand and disseminate more of it, even when it’s not at the federal level.

While I understand the aversion to certain interrogation techniques, I don’t give a shit what kind of methods are used on terrorists. I have zero concern about their human rights. Not because I have no decency, scruples or morals, but BECAUSE I have decency, scruples and morals. It’s easy to not watch the ISIS beheading videos and to not watch Daniel Pearl’s head fall from his neck. It’s easy to turn the channels or not click the link to see a Paris police officer executed while pleading for his life on the sidewalk. It’s easy to say that these videos and these torture techniques (and let’s not call them something else) are barbaric and offensive, because they are. But keep ignoring that growing tumor. Keep ignoring the fact that the world’s greatest and safest cities are no longer safe. Keep telling yourself it’s just an isolated incident or that the Repubs or Dems and their failed policies are at fault. If you want to catch and kill a snake you’re going to get dirty. If it goes against your religious beliefs to get that dirty, take a few minutes to understand the bastardized religious beliefs of the people who would prefer you dead.

You can’t kill these people with kindness. You can’t negotiate with people who will not compromise at all on their demands. You can’t appease these people with concessions and capitulation. They will gladly accept your offers such as No Go Zones and censorship of cartoonists and journalists. And then a couple disgruntled kids from the No Go Zone will shoot a defenseless cop in the head. A lot is not enough for the people who want all of it.

But there needs to be nation building too. You can’t claim an open and free nation and keep down the minorities who come to live freely. It doesn’t work here, in France or anywhere else. You can’t have a line of demarcation within your “free country” and no opportunities for people inside that line to assimilate into mainstream society. That fosters hatred and contempt and feelings of persecution. You’re all-in or you’re not. That “Give me your tired, your poor… the wretched refuse of your teeming shore” thing is just a bunch of bullshit if those people flee their teeming shores only to be treated like second class citizens in that “free” country. Those found guilty of hate crimes, abuse of power (LEO or politicians) or discrimination via the justice system should suffer harsh consequences too. They're a big part of the problem

And the “moderate” Muslims? Those “moderate” imams and caliphates? Why not walk with a rabbi or a priest to their synagogue or church and stand with them? Those “moderate” priests and rabbis? Why not extend a hand and visit a mosque? Why not walk that walk while you talk that talk? How about some inter-faith gestures of goodwill in big cities and smaller towns?

So for those who can’t keep back their love of humanity and their godly nature, you can work on that part of the equation.

And no more censorship from the media either. Show the cartoons. Show the bodies. Show the mayhem and the murderous results. Show it all and do it for a couple reasons.

Show it first and foremost because people need to see it. They need to see it whether they want to see it or not, because they’re not understanding how prevalent or awful it is right now. If half the 24-hour news cycle consists of what looks like the beach scene from ‘Saving Private Ryan’, then so be it. Hit people in the face with it. And plaster it across the newspapers as well. Put it out there everywhere in all its ugly and horrific reality and maybe people will soon understand that there are serious issues and that you can't ignore it anymore than you escape it. Not to mention it’s not up to the media to hide these things from us or determine what’s appropriate for me or mine to see. The initial media narrative was all about the execution of expression and freedom and yet they blur out the ugliness? Hypocrites.

And do it secondly so it does lose its shock value. That’s what these fundamentalists want. They want the ‘wow’ factor. They want the fear the event produces. You take that away and you illustrate the breadth of their violent ways by showing all the details of more of these attacks. Don’t spare us from a damn thing. In fact, if you want to get a jump on things, every newspaper and television show SHOULD show those stupid, antagonistic and insensitive cartoons. The whole point of freedom speech and expression is so that exactly those types of things are permitted to be published. Should those that publish such insensitive images or articles face repercussions? Hell yes. Don’t read them. Admonish them publicly for their insensitivity. Have a discourse about how it portrays a class of people or a religion. STOP BUYING IT, subscribing to it and supporting it and the market will take of the rest.

And before I forget, call this what it is even if our President and presidents before him won’t. Our Fourth Estate is supposed to ours. A journalist, a newspaper or a TV News entity should not be a goddamn channel-based, agenda-based propaganda machine for the administration.

Barack Obama wouldn’t call the Paris attacks a terrorist act. I have no idea why (though I have a guess). Any idiot who stumbled onto the coverage knew exactly what it was in 30 seconds. But it’s not just an Obama thing. You remember the Beltway Sniper incident in 2002? John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo traveled the DC area and killed ten people out of their truck. Bush2 and the media didn’t call that a terrorist attack either, despite a ridiculous amount of information that showed that’s precisely what it was.

Why? Appeasing Islamic leaders here in the states (which is what my guess as to Obama’s reluctance would be). That's a problem.

Call it what it is and show us all of it. Bring all of it to light. Acknowledge the issue. Start working on it now from the top down and from the grassroots up. World leaders and you and me. We'll meet in the middle.

These killers and these extremists long for the ways things were 2,000 years ago. They’d like to take us all back there with them and they won’t stop killing until they’ve succeeded or been exterminated. If we don’t wake up and get hit in the face with the reality of the situation, if we don’t soon see the light and change the way we treat those who would do us harm as well as change the way we treat each other, then the radicals may be closer to their goals than anyone realizes.