JE SUIS Charlie has become a rallying cry for freedom of speech following last week's senseless killing of 14 people in Paris.
The attacks, most notably that on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, shocked not just France but people around the globe. They have been called attacks on liberty and freedom of speech.
For all the media's bleating and politicians posturing they weren't though. They were murderous attacks carried out by a handful of deluded and twisted individuals. They were an attempt to show power which ultimately just demonstrated weakness.
Attacks on free speech and democracy are taking place all the time. They take place when governments ban ideas and when people allow those ideas to be banned. Freedom of speech ends when people no longer stand up and shout. It doesn't end by the barrel of a gun and a bullet. It ends by quiet degrees of apathy.
The journalists who died last week knew this. They knew that free speech only ends when the people speaking allow it to. The surviving journalists from Charlie Hebdo have gone out of their way to demonstrate that this week. Refusing to be cowed by the brutality of events surrounding them they have brought out a new edition, and one which makes their views very clear. It demonstrates once again that terrorism is 100% ineffective.
In a very oversimplified way terrorists are by their nature carrying out a negative sum game. Individuals or cells will face the reality of negative consequences against themselves if they believe that their opponents will suffer even greater losses.
As a stand alone game this appears completely irrational. Why cause harm to yourself only to cause harm to another individual? The key lies in the terrorist's rational irrationality, they believe that they are carrying out actions which will form part of a greater equation. In a sense they are taking part in a game within a game. Their negative sum outcome may they believe lead to a positive sum, in this case changing the entire mentality, moral and legal system of the Western world, outcome for the larger game.
Another way of thinking about it is that the terrorists in this instance are pawns prepared to be sacrificed for a greater tactical advantage.
What they have forgotten is a crucial exogenous part of the equation, human feeling. Terrorism isn't a failure because it doesn't meet its objective. Of course it does. Terrorist acts make people feel afraid and vulnerable, public beheadings sicken and shock us, grief numbs us and fear cripples us. After the initial shock though one of two things tends to happen, solidarity or hatred. The outpouring of support for the families and survivors of the Charlie Hebdo massacre demonstrate the first. The pegida marches in Germany represent the other.
Back to the theory and gradually a pattern emerges. When we react with hate to a terrorist attack it leads to more fear. Already 10,000 troops have been deployed in France and tough new antiterror legislation in Britain threatens to do more damage to free speech than any number of bullets. In essence we allow the terrorists to achieve their aims. A negative reaction creates a negative sum.
Defeating them isn't easy, nothing worth fighting for is though. It involves taking the path of peace. Of standing tall and showing that their actions cannot diminish us. We will not stoop to their level of hate and animosity. Creating a positive sum is hard but if we are to win the game then it is the only logical and rational approach to take.
No comments:
Post a Comment