by lil bit » Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:32 am
The picture is of an ordinary young guy whose personal image is much the same as many others of his generation on the same wave length, though he's rather better looking than most.
That's why it's so shocking: It's a picture of a nice looking , ordinary young guy. He doesn't look like a monster. He looks like a ten a penny stoner.
It's only too easy to shrug him off, label him a terrorist and try to shove him in the same box as Al Qaeda and other Jihadist organisations, but he doesn't fit in it.
He wasn't particularly religious; though it appears he was angered by people who equated Islam with terrorism and more tellingly believed some terrorist acts were justified because of America's foreign policy. There must be thousands of them, though. It's not an unusual point of view and not one restricted to Muslims.
It only takes two of them to get together and spur each other on to turn vague feelings of wanting to do something into a plan - and then carry it out - which is what happened in London a short while ago.
That is scary, not only because it could happen, but that it makes us more and more afraid of Islam - and more and more young Muslims become angry and disenfranchised, so it becomes more likely to happen.
I don't think there's any way of stopping it unless the media stop demonising Islam at every opportunity. That kind of stuff sells, so it's very unlikely.
I'm not sure whether Rolling Stone were genuinely trying to get people to think, or whether it was a cynical , and irresponsible, stunt to court publicity without costing much.
I tried to read the article online, but it was so boring, I gave up. If there was a point to it, the author took too long to get there. Maybe he was paid by the word?
'She couldn't help wondering what use Carl had for a double bed in his bachelor establishment' - Rafferty's Legacy -Jane Corrie