12:45 Update (GMT +1, Paris)
• 6 simultaneous attacks happened in Paris during the night (Friday 13th).
• At least 128 killed. 8 terrorists killed.
• President Hollande closes borders, declares state of emergency.
• National mourning for 3 days.
It's a crazy world.
But I was wrong. I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths. But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness. But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago. So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, "Well, I've had it with humanity."
He has said many good things such as: "like white blood cells attacking a virus." For reference here is what the concert venue looked like. (lol a Limp Bizkit concert in June 2015.) While I understand the self-preservation instinct, what I do not get is why people did not rush them when they were reloading apparently many times. We have thrown the old cooperation with highjackers theory right out the window and we have seen that it has been helpful a few times eg. when people rushed the guy with the AK on a Parisian bound train a couple of months ago. (BTW the one guy on the train that helped tackle the attacker was apparently a college student in Oregon who left classes to go on Dancing with the Stars or he would have been in class perhaps during the Umpqua Community College shooting.)
My guess would be shock. When I was robbed I didn't think to attack the guy and in fact wasn't even going to call the cops. I staggered home and started cancelling credit cards because that was all I could think to do after throwing up an angry Facebook status warning people to stay off that path. And there were police phones that I walked past on the way to my place. Literally had no idea what to do.
The guy that tackled the Parisian AK train guy had military training. Extensive attempts to break the thought process and create action. Willful disregard of your self is not innate in all but a few. I think a lot of military guys secretly hope to be there when shit goes down because they know what they would do and how surprising it would be to the other side.
Four people attacked that guy and the first and one other did not have military backgrounds. I do not believe the guys on Flight 93 that attacked the highjackers had any training either. Nor did that child that tackled a suicide bomber outside of his school. So I would think that surely there must have been someone that would react like that. <Insert silly French retreating joke here>
My heart goes out to the friends and families of the deceased, and also to the European Muslims (not to mentions Sikhs, and pretty much anyone else wearing a turban or looking too brown) who are going to get a lot more hate than usual in the upcoming weeks. I have my suspicions that this has less to do with IS proper and more to do with people who want to show the millions fleeing Africa and the middle east that Europe is no safer. That there is no escape from their tormentors. Psychological warfare.
Perhaps, but in the context that from their POV Western Liberalism + Capitalism is similar, and we are willing to kill to spread it. The difference is that Western Liberalism allows for a much larger degree of cultural plurality, so it's less oppressive, but not unoppressive.
This was my second thought after hearing the news yesterday. For me, and many others, specially the refugees that are new to Germany. 9/11 vol. 2, europe edition. More "random" checks at airports and train stations. More racism, more right winged power. I thought, by moving to Europe that I would be spared of what is happening in Israel. I can be just another mixed background guy doing his science, but the wave is coming to Europe and it is not going to be pretty...
I could be proved wrong but my suspicion is that this was some Al Qaeda sympathizers/members that moved over to ISIL now that AQ is not cool/powerful anymore. Coordinated terrorist attacks are a hallmark of AQ and not ISIL. Or maybe ISIL is adopting that model but I do not believe they have done that out side of their core area to date. Who knows WTF is going on.
Reuters: At least 30 dead in Paris shootings: French media Der Spiegel: Explosionen und Schüsse in Paris - Dutzende Tote Reddit live news thread Two helpful reddit comments gathering news Two helpful reddit comments gathering news Info in the /r/soccer match thread and postmatch thread Info in the /r/soccer match thread and postmatch thread Map of events so far Reuters: Hostage taking under way at the Paris Bataclan concert place
:( I hit reddit in bed this morning to see what the masses were talking about. I saw talks of Nukes. More war. More surveillance. It's ironic coming from a crowd that is simultaneously licking Snowdens balls. I don't know what the solution is but it's not going to be pretty.
What is it in the modern zeitgeist that we cannot accept that bad things happen? The actual number of people hurt/killed per year by this kind of event is a mosquito bite in comparison to real public health issues, but this is going to be the catalyst for some crazy deep destruction of any facade of privacy any European once had, and I suspect a massive increase in frances' national debt. And hell, probably ours too because nobody starts shooting without some US involvement these days.
My heart breaks for Paris (as well as Beirut and Baghdad). I will never understand why people resort to such vicious violence. And as a young Muslim living in Europe, I am overwhelmed with fear. I'm gonna have to do a lot of apologizing to people for things that I have no affiliation with whatsoever. And I suspect I'll be reading a lot of vitriol online that will take pains to point out that I am incompatible with the West and Western values (even though I'm an American that heavily identifies with the West). I suspect that Western Muslims like myself hate terrorists more than most. They continually humiliate us to the point where even mentioning my faith to people makes me deeply uncomfortable and ashamed.
I get what you're saying. I believe the only people who would take the crimes of a few extremists and project them on many millions of people are those who were looking for an excuse to do so anyway. You shouldn't have to apologize to anyone any more than I need to apologize for killing people with predator drones.
I read a good comment on reddit the other day that compared asking Muslim community leaders to apologise for these attacks to asking the Pope to apologise for the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church. I hope that you don't experience any backlash as a result, although I fear that this tragic event coupled with the refugee crisis will make life more difficult for the existing Muslims in Europe.
I was actually hanging out with a few friends some of which happened to be Muslim when this was going down. After the first initial level of shock wore off, the sheer dread on their faces was painful. One of them said something along the lines, "Well, let's see how they paint Muslims now"
This won't be good for racial tensions in France. Every time you see news like this you can't help but shake your head. There is no agenda to be pushed by the mass killing of innocent people, on any side of this conflict.
Make that six shooting sites. This is a tragedy.He said that terrorists had struck six sites: Stade de France; Rue de Charonne, where 18 died; Boulevard Voltaire, where one died; Rue Fontaine le Roi, where five died; Rue Alibert, where 14 died; and The Bataclan, a live music venue.
NYT thread
The borders are closed. They won't be less closed because they are a Schengen member.