Ive read several posts and critiques on the events of Monday throughout the week. Some of which I respectfully agree and disagree with. I value free speech and the transmission of emancipated thought as much as the next person. Which is why Ill be putting forward my own comments regarding the tragedy, and its subsequent reactions below. Im sure a lot of you will extend the same courtesy as youve shown others: The idea that Australia needs to prove its plurality and tolerance is as wrongheaded as it is silly, and the #illridewithyou campaign was a miscalculated gesture to an event that put forward an entirely different narrative. I completely understand the lurch for an empathetic embrace, in fact such a sentiment is welcomed. But it ignored and demeaned the harsh reality. The repugnant insinuation that conventional Australians would satiate in an Islamophobic backlash smacked of pathetic self-loathing — with the awful inference that the heinous actions of a terrorist were somehow linked to our bigotry. Martin Place, the morning in the aftermath of the tragedy was full of non Muslims and Muslims mingling in the crowds sharing their concerns and their tears along with fellow citizens. The mountains of flowers that have adorned the scene of the attack only strengthen such a statement. This is who we are. People of all walks of life have come together out of this tragedy. No hashtag required. The crucial premise of which the Twitterati campaign was rested upon was that such an adverse reaction would be instigated. This profoundly didnt, and was never going to come into fruition. We would all like to live in a society where cultural reason and the fundamental goodness always prevails. Yet the idealistic approach by those who not only dismiss this form of extremist attack but wish to peddle a despicable slander against our nations good character denies reality and can lead to dangerous complacency. And any attempt to skew the events of Monday in a vacuum to proliferate ones own moral sense of precedence gets no retweets from me.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 09:37:41 +0000
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