War, war never changes. But the way we conduct it has. Even before reports came out of the Paris attacks, we knew what it was. This has become the new normal, the way we conduct business. Multiple sides screaming in righteous anger, but the story remains the same.
One group claims responsibility -- this time ISIS -- citing this as a retaliation against France’s recent foreign policy, which would involve airstrikes in Syria. Another group, comprising the so-called “moderate” Muslims, will wax poetic about how this does not represent true Islam, the ever-present religion of “peace.”
Then there are the Facebook vigilantes who will change their profile pictures to the French flag, pledging solidarity with the Parisian people.
Then, as a reaction, the counter-vigilantes who will comment on how no one is mentioning the Beirut attacks, cry havoc at Facebook’s lack of a Lebanese version of a “safety check” and a flag photo filter.
Yes, one shouldn’t forget Lebanon. But Paris: That is a whole different ball game. Does that mean white lives matter more? Indubitably, if political and media insinuations are anything to go by. With so many Middle Eastern bodies being felled, what is 40 more?
But French lives: Those really, really matter. These are people who live in developed nations, nations we, the third world majority, would kill to live in, with their cleaner streets, better behaviour, more advanced technology, oftentimes socialist healthcare, superior infrastructure, internationally practised and learnt languages, and so much more.
Inside all of us, there is a Parisian screaming to be recognised as such, or perhaps an American, a Brit, an Aussie, or maybe a general European, or maybe even, to a lesser degree, a New Zealander?
After all, why have so many people jumped ship, risked life and limb, braved the mighty waves of a limitless sea, trekked hazardous terrains, to reach the borders of these nations?
These people are presumably running away from the same thing that the West fears so much: Radicalisation, violence, death, oppression, the taking away of their human rights. They are victims of the same things, the same ideals, which the West seems to think it has monopoly on.
One wouldn’t be too surprised if there is even more opposition brewing against the influx of Syrian and other refugees, with an online petition in the UK already making the rounds, stating: “Stop all immigration and close the UK borders until ISIS is defeated.”
The chasm between ideologies is on a daily increase, as these attacks continue, and it is indubitably a matter of course before even the liberal, left-wing, tree-hugging, vegan cuisine connoisseurs of the West too become fed up of the Islamic invasion, which, ironically enough, has almost always contradicted their own beliefs.
They too might give in to the culture of fear that the terrorists have continued to brew; they too might say: “You know what? Better safe than sorry. Better alive than effing dead.”
Or, or, or: Maybe this will blow over like all the others have since the landscape changed after 9/11. Or maybe the landscape was always the same, and people were just less aware, or we weren’t old enough, or people didn’t have such room to spread their own opinions and, conversely, have it so easily, so forcefully, be rejected and contradicted.
What all this capital letter screaming and shouting really means is that people are frustrated and wish to be understood, or they wish us to understand the situation, in just the perfect, nuanced, all-sides-considered, all-prejudices-filtered kind of way.
And one can’t blame them. There are too many things to talk about and not enough words, or maybe not the right kind of words.
Everything requires a caveat, everything requires us to consider something else.
If we were on the hunt for the right way of going about tackling this mess, we would fail, because this mess isn’t constricted to a few restaurants and a concert venue in Paris or Beirut. It’s enveloped the world.
Yes, what happened in Paris was terrible. And yes, so was what happened in Beirut. And Africa, does anyone care about that? Does it matter if it’s not ISIS? And yes, what continues to happen in the Middle East is a perennial tragedy on a cruel loop.
And no, France’s vows of vengeance will achieve nothing. Also, too, to the question of white lives versus brown/black/yellow/red lives because yes, politically speaking, they matter more.
Yes, social media activism is the new “doing something” and this the only way we seem to be able to convey sorrow and grievance and empathy and tell the world that we matter and that we too are part of something big, but also yes: All of it is futile. We are having a conversation no one is listening to.
Yes, also, to the question which asks: “Do these people really care?” But also no. These verbose words plastered as html text or hashtags, these Nous Sommes Parisiens (Are we Parisians though? Or do we just really, really wish we were?) spin-offs, they matter little, and change nothing.
Who started this fight? Should we start with the most obvious choice, the terrorists, who do the actual killing and hostage taking?
Or should we blame the Muslim community, who have often not wholly condemned terrorist attacks, but also inevitably be stigmatised for their non-role in the continued attacks, even if they had?
Or the cultural dichotomy within the West itself? Or should we blame the Iraqi invasion? Or, before that, to 9/11? To Iraq under George Sr? The Cold War? The creation of Israel? World War II? The British Mandate for Palestine? World War I? Muhammad? Jesus? The creation of religion itself?
Do we go back to go forwards? Or forward to go backwards?
How do we know who to blame when all cultures have simultaneously been complicit in the creation of the environment we find ourselves in.
Perhaps we were all just trying to survive but this game of cause and effect is a tennis match that has been going on since the dawn of time. Someone does something, and someone else reacts. And so on and so forth the cycle continues. How many died and who killed them, and numbers and figures and statistics carved in such a way as to propagate a certain agenda, none of these matter.
All one can really do is hope that these are the desperate, last-minute brouhahas of a dying breed. And that most people will see through the facade and give in to the ideals of liberty, equality, and brotherhood, which the French are so famous for.
While Paris burns, maybe the world will pray for its citizens and carry a pail of tears to throw at it. While Beirut, and the less relevant rest of the world does, maybe some will remember it at least and honour it with a goodnight kiss.