Monday, December 15, 2014

#illridewithyou - Sydney

If you read Twitter, you might notice that #illridewithyou is trending.

From CNBC:

Twitter users used the hashtag #IllRideWithYou to pledge their support for Australian Muslims on Monday after an Islamic extremist held hostages in a Sydney cafe.

The hashtag had been mentioned more than 90,000 times by Monday afternoon.

The siege, which lasted for more than 15 hours, spurred fears that the incident might produce retaliatory violence against Muslims.
Why is it that whenever a Muslim extremist terrorizes innocent men, women, and children there always seems to be great concern that retaliatory violence against Muslims will take place?

Of course, no one should lash out at the innocent because of the acts of the guilty. It would be wrong to commit violence against a individual because that person shares the attacker's religious beliefs or some related version of the faith.

Nonetheless, it's inevitable that an act of Islamist terrorism results in this goofy need to distance the extremist from other Muslims.

I don't notice this predictable routine with other crimes and atrocities.

When a man rapes a woman, is there concern that there will be retaliation against men?

Are there hashtags showing solidarity with non-rapists?

Not to my knowledge.

The guilty deserve condemnation and appropriate punishment. End of story.



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