Why the Paris Massacre Will Have Limited Impact

[Valin]

Middle East Forum:

Daniel Pipes

National Review Online

November 14, 2015

 

 

The murder of some 127 innocents in Paris by a jihadi gang on Friday has again shocked the French and led to another round of solidarity, soul searching, and anger. In the end, however, Islamist violence against Westerners boils down to two questions: How much will this latest atrocity turn public opinion? And how much will it further spur the Establishment to deny reality?

 

As these questions suggest, the people and the professionals are moving in opposite directions, the former to the right, the latter to the left. In the end, this clash much reduces the impact of such events on policy.

 

(Snip)

 

These cases make more Westerners worried about Islam and related topics from the building of minarets to female infibulation. Overall, a relentless march rightwards is underway. Surveys of European attitudes show 60 to 70 percent of voters expressing these concerns. Populist individuals like Geert Wilders of the Netherlands and parties like the Sweden Democrats are surging in the polls.

 

But when it comes to the Establishment – politicians, the police, the press, and the professors – the unrelenting violence has a contrary effect. Those charged with interpreting the attacks live in a bubble of public denial (what they say privately is another matter) in which they feel compelled to pretend that Islam has no role in the violence, out of concern that to recognize it would cause even more problems.

 

These 4-P professionals bald-facedly feign belief in a mysterious "violent extremist" virus that seems to afflict only Muslims, prompting them to engage in random acts of barbaric violence. Of the many preposterous statements by politicians, my all-time favorite is what Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, said about the Charlie Hebdo jihadis: "They're about as Muslim as I am."

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

From the You Never Know What You'll Find File

 

Oct 27, 2013

[righteousmomma]

Pipes makes a lot of common sense. The populous swinging farther right and the the "professionals" ( establishment, politicians, press, professors etc) farther left.

I fear the dangers of extremism on either side. I especially fear who may arise to lead, to be the savior (so to speak)

 

Surrealism reigns in this upside down world of Alice in Wonderland thinking.

 

My adult (well informed and Christian) kids and I were texting last night about the horrors of WWII in death tolls etc but we agree that the world view and perspective of so many millions has changed since then- secularism and humanism did not have the impact they do presently. Truth then was an absolute not relative. Ethics were not situational. God was the One who had revealed Himself to us in His Written Word. Whether understood or not the Cross was Central, the pivot.

 

And (liked or not) the world of order and stability and peace and individual worth were firmly based upon the foundations of Western Civilization

Bottom line as always - one's view of God determines one's world view and guides one's actions.

 

Fact - not fiction.