The deaths in Paris take place at a time when some divisions in society are increasing — yes, between peoples of different faiths (and none), but also between richer and poorer, between the older and the younger, between indigenous populations and newer migrants composed of a variety of colours, languages and creeds. Europe finds itself in a tinderbox — the last week has seen demonstrations by Pegida, killings by people claiming to act for Islam, bombings and burning of mosques, and much else.
The principles of the French Republic are summarised in the slogan — Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. There has been much talk about the first two, but what Europe and the wider world need now is an emphasis on the third; we must as humans (whether we consider ourselves creations of one God (or many), or the rational conclusions of a blind evolutionary process) show humanity, and rise to be worthy of the acclaim we have granted ourselves.
We have been asked to show solidarity with those who died this week. Let us extend this idea further — let us show solidarity, and with it benevolence and restraint, to all participants in society. Society can become stronger, but it will be tested before it becomes so; and for it to do so, it needs effort. Or we can allow society to erode and fracture; and that requires good people to do nothing at all.
There will be a clamour from some portions of society to show strength and solidarity in a particular way — by publishing offensive imagery and cartoons. I urge journalists and editors not to do so. There is no doubt that we live in a society in which there is freedom of expression, but that does not mean there is a necessity for expression. We are already in a cycle of despair and hatred; we do not need to accelerate it artificially and deliberately.
For those journalists and editors who are inclined to publish cartoons (of any subject matter), I urge them to engage in dialogue with those affected by their publishing and understand what the effects are. Of course, dialogue requires a common language; hence those with whom such a dialogue will be undertaken need to seek out not the roughnecks, but the calm, quiet voices of wisdom, which exist in every community. To heal, we need to understand; to heal we must restrain our hate; to heal we must be human.
Mobasher Choudhary
What is a Semite?
I hear all the time news reports about people being anti-Semitic, meaning “anti-Jewish”. The latest was on Thursday in a French press conference about the Charlie Hebdo attack. The definition of Semite covers all the tribes in the Levant: tribes being the key word, because this is all about tribal, not national, identity.
A simple search will show that the word Semite includes both Israelites and various Arab tribes in the region. They are all the same people.
Bernie Hodges
France created this
Without trying to sound racist, I would like to say that what happened in Paris was a self-created situation. For years the French have been demanding France for the French, as the Germans were demanding Germany for Germans, etc. But everyone was paranoid about being politically correct and apologetic every time someone said something. It wouldn’t look good in front of the world to be called a bigoted nation. The chickens have come home to roost. One must pay the piper his due.
Cha Dam Yen
Pens aren’t so mighty
In the aftermath of the horrific slaying of police and Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists in Paris, many journalistic commentators around the world have been quick to point out that the “pen is mightier than the sword”, and in the end it will prevail and freedom of speech will triumph.
How we might wish that this were true, but unfortunately it is just rhetoric. As Gen Douglas MacArthur said: “Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.”
David Brown
West won’t change
France is a democratic republic offering great benefits and the freedoms allowed by democratic principles. To live there, as in other Western European countries, one must accept the democratic system of government with all its long-established principles, which have evolved over centuries.
France is the latest democratic country to suffer the violence of Islam, with 12 people gunned down in the office of a satirical newspaper. These murderers decided freedom of expression is unacceptable when applied satirically to their beliefs. Those submitting to a 7th century political ideology, unchanged since its inception, must be made to realise they cannot displace democratic values with their totalitarian values and certainly not by force of arms.
Muslims are choosing to migrate from their own countries, where sharia law is enforced, to democratically run countries. Why is this massive migration taking place? They are foregoing the very principles they claim to stand for only to live under a system of government to which they violently oppose.
The answer must be that they see opportunities to exploit the benefits and freedoms they like while taking offence at others which they consider their right to change. The principles of democratic government cannot be cherry-picked and the laws of a country apply to all. Sharia law and democracy cannot be blended; they are diametrically opposed. People have a choice; they must accept one or the other.
JC Wilcox
Why no Israel anger?
As abhorrent as the attacks in Paris are, I would like to ask people to keep things in perspective and weigh these atrocities against those committed in Gaza in July of last year. I doubt it is a sentiment shared by many, all of whom are jumping on the vainglorious anti-Islamic bandwagon, using the widest brush possible to paint all Muslims as terrorists.
To have armed, murderous extremists running around the streets shooting people in cold blood is indeed deplorable, but please don’t get all uppity simply because it’s getting too close to home.
Please don’t forget that not so long ago there were Israeli extremists running around Gazan streets shooting people in cold blood, too. Houses and apartment blocks were bombed at random, schools were shelled, hospitals full of patients with UN safe haven status raised to the ground. Thousands were killed. Please let that sink in — thousands — mostly women and children.
And did we and the world media get uppity about that? I never saw anyone changing their profile pics to “I am Ahed Bakr (aged 10), Zakaria Bakr (aged 10), Mohammed Bakr (aged 11) or Ismail Bakr (aged 9)” when Israel blew four brothers, playing football on a Gaza beach, to bits. Why not? Why are French journalists considered more important?
In no way am I an ISIS apologist, and the events in Paris are truly despicable. Extremist violence of any shade or creed, Islamic or Jewish, is deplorable, but it seems only one tribe is being vilified by world media whilst the other gets an increase in funding, a new mega contract with Halliburton and arranges another veto at the UN seeking an independent, free Palestine.
Guilt Gland
India has enough kids
An article in the Bangkok Post on Jan 8 reported a lawmaker from India’s ruling party calling for Hindu women to have at least four children to protect their religion. As about 80% of India’s more than 1 billion population are Hindu, the mind boggles at this ridiculous encouragement to raise even more babies in a country that is already over-populated and can barely feed its people. If more politicians encouraged couples to have fewer children, especially in developing countries, then surely this would go a long way to stamping out food and related natural shortages in a world that can barely cope with the number of existing children?
Martin R
Brits drop Koh Tao ball
We were told on Tuesday there would be an official British inquest in September regarding the backpackers who were murdered at Koh Tao. Now, we’re told that inquest is moved to October or possibly later.
British officials are paid by taxpayers. Their duty is to serve the general public. If the coroner withholds useful information (which could assist in nailing the real perpetrators of the crime), then those perps are still out in the public domain, ready to strike again, any time. In other words, by withholding pertinent info, the coroner could be said to be endangering the general public. There has already been the Frenchman who was murdered a few days ago (with conspiracy theories he may have been a crime witness). Who will be next? Will they be innocents, like David and Hannah, or will they be people who may have useful info toward solving the crime? Or both?
We already know the Thai police are not doing their jobs, but that does not excuse British authorities from doing theirs. There are strong indications that murderers and rapists are still roaming free around Koh Tao, mixing with young naive backpackers. I acknowledge the Brits are not supposed to be crime solvers in Thailand, but at least they can try to contribute to the safety of backpackers there — some of whom are Britons.
British officialdom is dropping the ball. They can try hiding behind official strictures, but it doesn’t fool most of us. It looks like British officials are kow-towing to Thai officialdom, which doesn’t want any revelations regarding who the real criminals are.
Kip Keino
NRC gets phones right
Bravo to the NRC for attempting to force five service providers to make their mobile tariffs per second on a permanent basis and not just as a promotional deal. Now if the NRC and the Consumer Protection Bureau would move against the two monopoly landline companies as well, ToT and TT&T, that would be something.
David James Wong
Stiffen road penalties
According to local media, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is not satisfied with the high number of traffic deaths and accidents. Dear prime minister, the answer is rather simple. A dead person is exempt from the law, but others who drink and drive are not.
Yet their penalties are just a slap on the wrist in comparison to other countries where jail and a heavy fine (not 500 baht or so) are mandatory punishments for conviction. In many countries confiscation of one’s vehicle, revocation of driver’s licence and a year’s ban on driving are also par for the course.
As long as people walk away without losing anything but a few baht, they really don’t care, do they?
Golani
Blame for AirAsia
Re: “Weather clears as divers descend Java Sea for bodies”, (BP, Jan 7).
Indonesia’s transport ministry blamed and suspended Indonesia AirAsia. As a basic rule, all operators of aircraft are required to file flight plans of their aircraft with ample time to the controller of the departing airport for departure clearance. The controller was a part of the transport ministry at this time. Why did the controller on duty on this day not clarify QZ8501’s departure, which was not on published operating schedules, and would be a violation of the agreement between the ministry and the operator?
RH Suga
Murderer gets it easy
I had the unhappy duty to inform an old friend in the UK of the news concerning his relatives’ murderer.
Police officer Somchai Wisetsingh was the man who shot to death two innocent UK tourists in Kanchanaburi 10 years ago. Initially, he was sentenced to death, but that was later changed to 50 years and then 32 years.
Apparently, he has now been transferred from top security in Bangkok to his hometown prison in Kanchanaburi. Please, all of you look up the details of his murderous actions and decide if he should receive any accommodations or preferential treatment. Are farangs worth less than Thais?
Charlie Frost
More details, please
Why does the Ministry of Transport not establish a data bank where anybody can check the details of all highway and other public projects. We should be able to see why the cheapest bidder wasn’t awarded a contract.
The media have reported about the feasibility study for expressways along the Chao Phraya River, but nobody knows any more about that project. Has the ministry given the contract to some relatives or good friends? A good answer to this question would clear up whether the government is on the right track to wipe out corruption within one year.
Otto Helmut Jaekle
Another empty law
When all the smoke and mirrors and good intentions regarding the release of lanterns and the launching of home-made fireworks have subsided and presumably their use becomes illegal by law, I have one question: Who will actually enforce the new law? Or will it simply be ignored like many other safety-related laws?
Brian Stocks
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