# Worst responses to Paris Terrorist Attacks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597 "2015-11-14T23:46:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/41 "2015-11-16T02:10:10Z")
> [@Salon](#): > > We have seen this all before; it should be oddly familiar. The reaction to the horrific January 2015 Paris attacks was equally predictable; the knee-jerk Islamophobia ignored the crucial context for the tragic attack — namely the fact that it was was the catastrophic U.S.-led war on Iraq and torture at Abu Ghraib, not Charlie Hebdo cartoons, that radicalized the shooters. Also ignored was the fact that the extremist attackers were sons of émigrés from Algeria, a country that for decades bled profusely under barbarous French colonialism, which only ended after an even bloodier war of independence in 1962 that left hundreds of thousands of Algerians dead. > > After the January Paris attacks, leaders from around the world — including officials from Western-backed extremist theocratic tyrannies like Saudi Arabia — gathered in Paris to supposedly participate in a march that turned out to actually be a carefully orchestrated and cynical photo op. Y’know, it really must be terribly frustrating for these terrorists to keep having their motives ignored by the victims of their attacks. These people go to tremendous pains to make their motives clear, and we just keep throwing everything they say back in their faces. Monty Python never came up with anything as absurd as this: \*Terrorist: We did this because we are soldiers in God’s war against the infidels and apostates. Salon: No you didn’t. Terrorist: Oh yes we fucking did! Don’t be telling us our business, you masochistic pricks. The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know. Salon: No. You’re wrong. Your religious beliefs have nothing to do with this. You’re just using them as a front to disguise your true geopolitical and economic motives. Terrorist: Why the fuck would we do that? We _want_ you to know why we’re doing this. Otherwise what’s the fucking point? Look: _list of Koranic justifications_. Salon: Nuh-uh. Terrorist: Did you even read the statement we put out? This is Jihad. This is holy war. We literally said “We divorced ourselves from the worldly life and advanced upon the enemy hoping to be killed for Allah’s sake in service to our religion.” That’s a direct quote from our statement! Salon: We don’t believe you. Terrorist: Well could you _start_ believing us? _Please?_ We really do put a lot of work into this stuff. Salon: Nope. Your actions are motivated by U.S. Foreign policy. You’re not Islamic. You have nothing to do with Islam. Terrorist: Do you have any idea how offensive that is? How dare you! Islam is literally the only thing we’re about! Stop taking all the credit! Salon: Nope. We created you. We’re very sorry. Terrorist: Well, gee, thanks so much for telling us what we think, white Western journalist on the other side of the world. Salon: Please forgive us.\* If I was in ISIS, articles like this would drive me up the fucking wall! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/42 "2015-11-16T02:16:20Z")
Heh. That was pretty funny. Not sure how TRUE it is or isnt… But funny none the less. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/43 "2015-11-16T02:20:59Z")
Religion is a factor indeed, but it is not the only one. But this was in the very quote you used **Tithonus** : > [@](#): > > After the January Paris attacks, leaders from around the world — including officials from Western-backed extremist theocratic tyrannies like Saudi Arabia — gathered in Paris to supposedly participate in a march that turned out to actually be a carefully orchestrated and cynical photo op. That indeed looks to me as indeed putting blame on the extremist theocratic tyrannies like Saudi Arabia, maybe you don’t know that Theocratic means. Their religious beliefs had something to do with this. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/44 "2015-11-16T04:01:16Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Who are you kidding? The Middle East has been a “hotbed of instability, terrorism, and general extremism” since Cain slew Abel, perhaps before. Actually, 'twas Abel who slew Cain. Yes, spin is that old. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/45 "2015-11-16T05:34:47Z")
Let’s not forget all the idiots on Twitter, complaining about how everyone is so concerned for Paris, but not for anyone at Missouri University. Yes, I’m serious. Just do a search for the hashtag #mizzou. Most of them are probably just spoiled college students or teenagers, but c’mon. Get some perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/46 "2015-11-16T14:25:46Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Saving the best for last…always a classic… > > And kids these days…shit when I went a raping back in the day I had to do it all on my own…nobody was facilitating me… Ain’t it the truth! The fuckin’ nanny state offering rape subsidies to the “needy” rapists is making them all dependent. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/47 "2015-11-16T15:57:37Z")
Worst response: “OMG how can we even THINK about taking in 10,000 of THEM?” Holy fuck, there are hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their country because they’re caught in the crossfire of a war that only started because of Bush’s meddling in Iraq and we can’t help any of them because some of our people are fucking scared of a religion? You poor stupid cowardly racist xenophobic asshole bastards. Second worst response: “If only more people had guns in that concert…” Oh yeah, this is the PERFECT time to engage in your NRA masturbatory fantasies. Honorable mention: “We have to declare war on ISIS”. ISIS isn’t a country, has no capital, and can never surrender. You treat it like organized crime, disrupt their financial networks, cripple their facilities, kill their agents when you can, but it isn’t like your grandfathers’ wars so get your head out of the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/48 "2015-11-16T16:25:41Z")
Well, yes and no on that last point. For ISIS to be a fully realized caliphate in the strictest sense of the word, they must function as a government (of sorts). That is why they are so eager to be seen as providing the functions of government, pick up the garbage, etc. That sort of mundane priority is not the usual stance of a revolutionary movement, but their cramped theology doesn’t permit anything else. So, then, they must form a “government” but are forbidden to undertake many of the practical efforts of a government. For instance, they cannot have “borders” as we understand them, because the caliphate is _already_ the world government, its just that the world has yet to realize it. And the kicker is that they fully realize that their goals are impractical and wildly unrealistic. They fully expect to sacrifice thousands, if not millions of innocent Muslim lives. And to lose, and lose, until in their darkest hour, Allah rides to the rescue! If that isn’t nuts, it will do until real nuts gets here. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/49 "2015-11-16T16:54:04Z")
> [@DoggyDunnit](#): > > Said liberal is correct. It ain’t something Westerners like to admit, but the Middle East wouldn’t be the hotbed of instability, terrorism, and general extremism it is today if it wasn’t for Western powers jacking around with the region. And abusive husbands wouldn’t beat their wives if the wives would just fucking listen! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/50 "2015-11-16T17:09:53Z")
> [@bup](#): > > And abusive husbands wouldn’t beat their wives if the wives would just fucking listen! Historically, the Islamic world has always known sectarian violence, but it wasn’t nearly this bad before Western powers started colonizing it and otherwise meddling in it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/51 "2015-11-16T17:27:12Z")
> [@Tithonus](#): > > Y’know, it really must be terribly frustrating for these terrorists to keep having their motives ignored by the victims of their attacks. These people go to tremendous pains to make their motives clear […] I’m not terribly bothered about any “frustration” experienced by terrorist murderers, tbh. Also, when it comes to understanding why terrorist murderers do what they do, I’m not sufficiently impressed with their trustworthiness and the clarity of their thought processes to just swallow whatever line they choose to hand out concerning their motives. As I’ve said before, Islamophobes are frequently so assiduous in agreeing with and disseminating what violent radical Islamist extremists say about Islam that they might as well be on the extremists’ payroll. I don’t understand why you think that violent radical Islamist extremists are such a credible body of witnesses. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/52 "2015-11-16T18:06:33Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The Cliche Award: [Hillary Clinton](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-clinton-statement-on-paris-attacks). > All our prayers are with the people of France tonight. We must stand side-by-side every step of the way with France and our allies around the world to wage and win the struggle against terrorism and violent extremism. Even in this darkest night, Paris remains the City of Light. No terrorist attack will ever dim the spirit of the French people or our common commitment to the democratic values we share. Why is this in here in a thread about “worst” responses? This is a perfect thing to say, the proper thing, and in fact one of the only things we can say given we still know so little at the time of the post. Sometimes cliches are there for a good reason ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/53 "2015-11-16T18:08:16Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Why is this in here in a thread about “worst” responses? This is a perfect thing to say, the proper thing, and in fact one of the only things we can say given we still know so little at the time of the post. Aw, let him have it. He’s just sore because he couldn’t think of a way to blame the attacks on Obamacare. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/54 "2015-11-16T18:23:26Z")
[Chauncey DeVega writes:](http://www.salon.com/2015/11/16/after_paris_right_wing_media_launches_new_war_on_reason_reality/) > [@](#): > > Last Friday, [I wrote this Salon essay about the barbaric terrorist attacks on Paris, France.](http://www.salon.com/2015/11/14/and_so_the_hate_speech_begins_let_paris_be_the_end_of_the_rights_violent_language_toward_activists/) I made a very basic and clear argument: Terrorism is a form of political violence that kills and injures people. For decades, America’s right-wing media and other opinion leaders have routinely used violent language—including the word “terrorist”—to describe liberals, Democrats, progressives and others with whom they disagree. > > In recent weeks and months, Fox News, as well as Republican candidates such as Ben Carson and Chris Christie, have used violent and eliminationist language to talk about Black Lives Matter and the student activists at Yale and Missouri. Both groups are working to create a more just and fair United States that treats people of color with dignity, and respects their full and equal human rights. Neither Black Lives Matter nor the student activists at Yale and Missouri are “terrorists.” They are not killing people. They have not strapped explosives to their bodies. They have not used assault rifles to shoot people. > > I concluded with the following basic suggestion. In the face of real terrorism in the streets of Paris and elsewhere, with broken and bloodied bodies, families in mourning, and a country in a state of emotional and psychic shock, perhaps America’s right-wing media, and conservatives en masse, should seriously reconsider their casual use of violent rhetoric. > > The right-wing media and its supplicants responded with apoplectic rage. > > Right-wing websites such as Breitbart, Twitchy, The Blaze, and NewsBusters featured headlines denouncing Salon and my essay on the Paris terror attacks. > > Right-wing thugs threatened to kill me and blow up the offices of Salon. Beyond their violent rhetoric, the right-wing cretins who were outraged by my essay also showed themselves to be profoundly delusional. Some of these confused souls even believe that I am an ISIS “sympathizer” or “agent” (quite odd given that I have long advocated for a far more robust and aggressive military policy than has been taken by the Obama administration). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/55 "2015-11-16T18:33:45Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > As I’ve said before, Islamophobes are frequently so assiduous in agreeing with and disseminating what violent radical Islamist extremists say about Islam that they might as well be on the extremists’ payroll. I don’t understand why you think that violent radical Islamist extremists are such a credible body of witnesses. Probably for the same reasons they think Putin is such a great role model. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/56 "2015-11-16T19:04:11Z")
Does Chauncey DeVaga give an example of the violent language Christie used against BLM, or is not meeting with BLM in the White House the equivalent of calling for their summary execution? > [@](#): > > Right-wing thugs threatened to kill me and blow up the offices of Salon. And left-wingers call into a radio station and call for lynching white people and cops. And of course, booing people who say “all lives matter” isn’t “eliminationist” at all. Of course not. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/57 "2015-11-16T20:20:44Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I’m not terribly bothered about any “frustration” experienced by terrorist murderers, tbh. I’m not terribly bothered about it either. If you think that was the point of my post, then you comprehensively missed it. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Also, when it comes to understanding why terrorist murderers do what they do, I’m not sufficiently impressed with their trustworthiness and the clarity of their thought processes to just swallow whatever line they choose to hand out concerning their motives. This is downright ridiculous. Here is ISIS’s statement on the Paris attacks in full: \*In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficent, Allah (ta’ala) said, They thought that their fortresses would protect them from Allah but **Allah came upon them from where they had not expected,** and **He** cast terror into their hearts so they destroyed their houses by their own hands and the hands of the believers. So take warning, O people of vision [Al-Hashr:2]. In a blessed battle whose causes of success were **enabled by Allah** , a group of believers from the **soldiers of the Caliphate** (may Allah strengthen and support it) set out targeting the **capital of prostitution and vice** , the lead **carrier of the cross** in Europe — Paris. This group of **believers** were youth \*\*who divorced the worldly life and advanced towards their enemy hoping to be killed for Allah’s sake, doing so in support of His religion, His Prophet (blessing and peace be upon him), and His allies.\*\*They did so in spite of His enemies. **Thus, they were truthful with Allah — we consider them so** — and **Allah granted victory** upon their hands and cast terror into the hearts of the crusaders in their very own homeland. And so eight brothers equipped with explosive belts and assault rifles attacked precisely chosen targets in the center of the capital of France. These targets included the Stade de France stadium during a soccer match — between the teams of Germany and France, both of which are **crusader nations** — attended by the imbecile of France (Francois Hollande). The targets included the Bataclan theatre for exhibitions, where hundreds of **pagans** gathered for a concert of \*\*prostitution and vice. \*\* There were also simultaneous attacks on other targets in the tenth, eleventh, and eighteenth districts, and elsewhere. Paris was thereby shaken beneath the crusaders’ feet, who were constricted by its streets. The result of the attacks was the deaths of no less than two hundred crusaders and the wounding of even more. **All praise, grace, and favor belong to Allah.** **Allah blessed our brothers and granted them what they desired.** They detonated their explosive belts in the masses of the **disbelievers** after finishing all their ammunition. **We ask Allah to accept them amongst the martyrs** and to allow us to follow them. Let France and all nations following its path know that they will continue to be at the top of the target list for the **Islamic** State and that the scent of death will not leave their nostrils as long as they partake in the **crusader campaign** , as long as they **dare to curse our Prophet** (blessings and peace be upon him), and as long as they boast about their **war against Islam** in France and their strikes against Muslims in the lands of the Caliphate with their jets, which were of no avail to them in the **filthy** streets and alleys of Paris. Indeed, this is just the beginning. It is also a warning for any who wish to take heed. **Allah is the greatest.** (And to Allah belongs all honor, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know) [Al-Munafiqun: 8].\* If you can read all that and _still_ conclude that these people weren’t motivated by their religious beliefs then you really ought to consult a neurologist. At this point, saying these people weren’t motivated by faith is as ridiculous as saying they were actually atheists. Let me ask you, if statements like this _don’t_ suffice as evidence that ISIS are motivated by their faith, what _would_ suffice? Give me an example. What would a terrorist genuinely spurred by religious grievances actually have to say or do to convince you that he was sincere about his motivations? > [@](#): > > As I’ve said before, Islamophobes are frequently so assiduous in agreeing with and disseminating what violent radical Islamist extremists say about Islam that they might as well be on the extremists’ payroll. I don’t understand why you think that violent radical Islamist extremists are such a credible body of witnesses. Whether you like it or not, what these people actually _believe_ is important. If the first rule of war is know your enemy, then the lunatic denialism of people like you who obstinately refuse to believe - despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary - that these people are motivated by their religious beliefs is one of the biggest parts of the problem. From where I’m sitting, it looks much more as though people like you are on their payroll. You can argue that these people are wrong about their religion, but the one thing you can’t do, is say that their religious beliefs are unconnected to their actions. At this stage, it’s as crazy as flat-eartherism or holocaust denial. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/58 "2015-11-16T20:54:51Z")
> [@Tithonus](#): > > If you can read all that and _still_ conclude that these people weren’t motivated by their religious beliefs then you really ought to consult a neurologist. At this point, saying these people weren’t motivated by faith is as ridiculous as saying they were actually atheists. You’re confusing a whole bunch of related but different issues here. **They are using their faith to articulate a justification for their crimes:** Yes, obviously. **They sincerely believe that their faith justifies their crimes:** Yes, probably, although we’d need that neurologist you speak of to know for certain. **Their faith is the sole and independent motivation of their crimes and we don’t need anything more than their statement of their faith to fully understand their crimes:** _HAHAHAHHHAAHAHA BULLLLLLLLLSHIIIIT._ 😛 [QUOTE=Tithonus] Whether you like it or not, what these people actually _believe_ is important. [/quote] Nobody’s saying that what they believe isn’t important. But you’re trying to assess and analyze their religious faith in a vacuum, as though it could be functionally separated from all other context. Nothing could be more naive. [QUOTE=Tithonus] You can argue that these people are wrong about their religion, but the one thing you can’t do, is say that their religious beliefs are unconnected to their actions. [/QUOTE] Show me where anybody actually claimed that their religious beliefs are _unconnected_ to their actions. Again, you’re completely confused about the different issues here involving religious belief. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/59 "2015-11-16T21:07:52Z")
The CP china uses extensive reference to the Marxist works and has a Red songs campaign, this must mean they believe deeply and purely in the marxism, and this is the sole motivation. It says so in their propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597/60 "2015-11-16T22:01:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > And of course, booing people who say “all lives matter” isn’t “eliminationist” at all. Of course not. Indeed it is not. No one is trying to eliminate those idiots, the booing is for their intellectually dishonest muddying of the topic. All lives **matter,** but black lives in America are the ones having a special **problem** with police brutality, and that is what BLM is about. All of which you know very well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-responses-to-paris-terrorist-attacks/737597.md?page=4)