Will The Terrorists See Their Recent Action As A Bit Of An Own Goal?

[ToraToraTora]

Among the moving scenes in Paris and the avalanche of cartoonists doing their work, will the extremists realise that their action has increased what was a few cartoons in a fairly minor rag to a world wide phenomenon. From their point of view their "cure" must seem like 1000 times worse than the "disease".

[naomi24]

Gness, their actions aren't designed to elicit our approval. They're not interested in our ethical philosophy or in our condemnation of theirs. Our objections bring no retrospective shame or regret to them. They rejoice in disruption. The people of the west consistently fail to understand that this mindset bears no comparison whatsoever to their own. It is like no other on earth. They will be watching events in Paris today - and laughing.

[gness]

I know that, Naomi.....but I'm happy if they have helped unite people who may have been wary and mistrustful of their fellow citizens...that can't be a bad thing....
I can't see them being overjoyed at a united front against them...however dotty they are...x

[jim360]

Then let them laugh.

[naomi24]

gness, //I can't see them being overjoyed at a united front against them...however dotty they are...//

Of course you can't - because you don't understand the mind-set we're dealing with. I rest my case.

[ladybirder]

They just don't care how we see it.

[Farriercm]

Tora The Tory , get it right with your new avatar , The Pen is mighter than the sword , not the pencil, think about it .

[mushroom25]

farrier, TTT's avatar reflects the content of cartoons produced last week, many of which featured pencils.

[jim360]

If we instead reacted with effective silence, no doubt other terrorists would see that as giving them carte blanche to attack without much fear of retaliation. The fact is that any reaction would probably provide such people some excuse to be violent. This is just what they do. We can't allow our actions to be dictated by second-guessing the reactions of terrorists. More important is how we feel about it.

[venator]

There's a bit of a parallel with the IRA in Ireland.

Many Irishmen knew the IRA fighters and protected them.

Many "good" Muslims will know the radicalised people, and are protecting them

[naomi24]

Jim, unless I've missed something here, I don’t think anyone has suggested we react with silence, and I’m very pleased to see so many people marching today, but you’re exactly right - this is just what they do and we can't allow our actions to be dictated by second-guessing their reactions. They are at war with us, and we must acknowledge that.

[jim360]

I don't think anyone explicitly said that, no, but it was just the most extreme opposite to what has been done that I thought I'd use it to make the point that it doesn't matter to them what action we took on the streets.

[ToraToraTora]

have you considered getting an avatar of your own farrier?

[beso]

Their goal is to bring on the end game, Armageddon, and will see it as one step closer.

[sevenOP]

Will The Terrorists See Their Recent Action As A Bit Of An Own Goal?

The 'Terrorists' that carried out the action are dead so we cannot ask them what their intentions were.

Allied 'Terrorists' may well see the actions of those dead 'Terrorists' a resounding success for obvious reasons.