The Parisian Void
With BRIC-countries meeting with petrodollar communities for G20 I am hopeful that there could be a genuine move towards a more peaceful and harmonious society for all of us who would like to live in peace and without prejudice.
Many people will probably wonder why I have not temporarily changed my Facebook profile picture to a semi-opaque French flag. There are a number of reasons for this but primarily I would like to say that I am a pacifist and do not condone ANY acts of war or terror and, like the majority of you, I am truly saddened of the atrocities in Paris and those of you who follow my blog or have engaged in any debate with me will realise that I am a true supporter of peace and equality. I also follow political stories and cross reference these sources to avoid making irresponsible claims that in themselves may fuel any hatred. By critically researching this information, I have very often predicted with some accuracy events before they have happened (and long before the information hits mainstream media). When you critically and rationally debate information presented to you, you develop a sense of smell as to if there is a genuine cause for alarm. I can only describe this sixth sense as intuition and some of us exercise it more than others but no I don't see dead people or wear a tin hat.
About three or four weeks ago, I felt that somewhere in Western Europe was going to be attacked but as I found no hard evidence for it, just intuition... well, I kept quiet. I feel that to claim fear in an otherwise (semi-)peaceful environment would be irresponsible. Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm genuinely pleased that this didn't happen closer to home; - I felt it could have been. Either way, when it comes to such atrocities and loss of any life, I don't know if any word(/s) exist that can express the true nature of the voids that remain.
If you've ever been angry, you'll probably realise that it's because you feel you have been treat unfairly and therefore I believe that the choice of target comes down to localised discrimination. The French nation has, unfortunately for them, produced a history rich in discrimination and particularly xenophobia; the list of peaceful people, protesters or activists who have been persecuted with deportation and worse just for expecting basic human rights is high. I have also personally witnessed discrimination against minorities in Paris whilst travelling. The French Census shows that 9% of their population are immigrants although only 2/3 of these were born outside of France (ie. they consider the other third still immigrants even though they've always been French). Also it should be remembered that much of North Africa, Middle East and Canada was colonised by the French meaning that a large number of children born within the last century have one parent who was not born in France but who is considered a national, or has a French passport. The children of this generation have regularly been persecuted against for not being 'French', and this discrimination is likely to have sparked such events as the 2005 riots (which coincidently were exactly 10 years ago). Due to the country's history, French Muslim is the second largest religion.
The point of what I'm getting at is that we need to stop distinguishing between people for ANY reason and start to live as one. Violence cannot be the answer to find peace. Religion is often used to justify global strategies that wish to evoke violence and hatred but, generally, the cause is political and not because any 'good' book said it must be so. Extremism has been produced for political gain and this is done by psychologically manipulating those who believe in a greater spiritual place. If you discriminate, if you suffer with Islamophobia, if you are unaccepting of others; it is YOU that is actually a founding threat to society. I'm not saying you're going to go in and pull a trigger or murder someone but that isn't always where the fighting starts. If you are guilty of discrimination then your miseducation, misinformation and small-mindedness allows those weak of mind but high in passion to have their extremist views fuelled further and you also wave us about like a target.
By all means, be a patriot, and defend your country but discrimination is not going to be the answer. If it was, I believe France could have secured it's safety ten years ago. Peace to all.
Many people will probably wonder why I have not temporarily changed my Facebook profile picture to a semi-opaque French flag. There are a number of reasons for this but primarily I would like to say that I am a pacifist and do not condone ANY acts of war or terror and, like the majority of you, I am truly saddened of the atrocities in Paris and those of you who follow my blog or have engaged in any debate with me will realise that I am a true supporter of peace and equality. I also follow political stories and cross reference these sources to avoid making irresponsible claims that in themselves may fuel any hatred. By critically researching this information, I have very often predicted with some accuracy events before they have happened (and long before the information hits mainstream media). When you critically and rationally debate information presented to you, you develop a sense of smell as to if there is a genuine cause for alarm. I can only describe this sixth sense as intuition and some of us exercise it more than others but no I don't see dead people or wear a tin hat.
About three or four weeks ago, I felt that somewhere in Western Europe was going to be attacked but as I found no hard evidence for it, just intuition... well, I kept quiet. I feel that to claim fear in an otherwise (semi-)peaceful environment would be irresponsible. Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm genuinely pleased that this didn't happen closer to home; - I felt it could have been. Either way, when it comes to such atrocities and loss of any life, I don't know if any word(/s) exist that can express the true nature of the voids that remain.
If you've ever been angry, you'll probably realise that it's because you feel you have been treat unfairly and therefore I believe that the choice of target comes down to localised discrimination. The French nation has, unfortunately for them, produced a history rich in discrimination and particularly xenophobia; the list of peaceful people, protesters or activists who have been persecuted with deportation and worse just for expecting basic human rights is high. I have also personally witnessed discrimination against minorities in Paris whilst travelling. The French Census shows that 9% of their population are immigrants although only 2/3 of these were born outside of France (ie. they consider the other third still immigrants even though they've always been French). Also it should be remembered that much of North Africa, Middle East and Canada was colonised by the French meaning that a large number of children born within the last century have one parent who was not born in France but who is considered a national, or has a French passport. The children of this generation have regularly been persecuted against for not being 'French', and this discrimination is likely to have sparked such events as the 2005 riots (which coincidently were exactly 10 years ago). Due to the country's history, French Muslim is the second largest religion.
The point of what I'm getting at is that we need to stop distinguishing between people for ANY reason and start to live as one. Violence cannot be the answer to find peace. Religion is often used to justify global strategies that wish to evoke violence and hatred but, generally, the cause is political and not because any 'good' book said it must be so. Extremism has been produced for political gain and this is done by psychologically manipulating those who believe in a greater spiritual place. If you discriminate, if you suffer with Islamophobia, if you are unaccepting of others; it is YOU that is actually a founding threat to society. I'm not saying you're going to go in and pull a trigger or murder someone but that isn't always where the fighting starts. If you are guilty of discrimination then your miseducation, misinformation and small-mindedness allows those weak of mind but high in passion to have their extremist views fuelled further and you also wave us about like a target.
By all means, be a patriot, and defend your country but discrimination is not going to be the answer. If it was, I believe France could have secured it's safety ten years ago. Peace to all.
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