Editor’s note: The police officers who were shot trying to protect the public should not be forgotten. I didn’t mean to exclude them by focusing on the journalists who were also murdered.
The attack on the Paris newspaper office Charlie Hebdo this week left me with conflicted feelings. The first, of course, was outrage at the murder of editors and journalists, who’s primary job is to communicate. As a former reporter and current writer, I felt the horrific sting of bullying — “Don’t write what we don’t want you to, or else you’ll die!” Can there be any more extreme form of bullying than threatening someone’s life if he/she doesn’t act the way you want them to?
And murdering journalists, for crying out loud! Yes, they often write what you don’t want to hear, but they don’t use bombs or Kalashnikovs to get their points across. And, yes, words are powerful. Words can hurt deeply, in ways that weapons can’t. But we have a choice in how we respond to those words. We can ignore them, refute them, or even agree with them. Bombs and guns leave no room for argument. That’s why they are the weapon of choice for terrorists, who have no true words to back themselves up.
My second thought was that if people respond to these attacks with more hatred, the attackers will have succeeded. I’ve noticed that when you are up against someone filled with hate and disgust, sometimes the only way to “deflate” them is to do the complete opposite of what they’d expect.
I’m not saying we don’t condemn these horrible attacks or not defend ourselves. I’m saying rather than let terrorists infect us with their abominable ideas, we respond with the antidote. What’s the antidote to hate? Loving each other. What’s the antidote to malicious violence? Defending ourselves wisely and with purpose, rather than responding in fear and vengeance. Opposite of disgust? Pride — at how far we’ve come in spreading rights like freedom of speech and equal rights for all people, regardless of their beliefs and backgrounds.
Maybe we can all do something to counter-attack terrorism. If you’re in a country where you are able to speak freely, spread the word about what you’re grateful for in an open society. If you’re not able to speak freely, perhaps you can share what brings people you know closer together — love? Telling stories? Good food? Nature? Beautiful art?
Instead of newspapers and news websites republishing the controversial cartoons — an understandable reaction to being threatened – I believe they should fill their pages with the opposite of terror. The ideals that the terrorists are fighting against — community, love, and freedom from oppression.
It’s easy to strike back against something hard and sharp. It’s a lot harder to fight something that’s moving and fluid and filled with an energy that can’t be harnessed.
Southern Bend Books 
You say exactly what I’ve been thinking but put it much better than I could’ve done! The press in UK – especially the vile tabloids, are dancing to what is in fact, a far right tune (in the form of UKIP). They’re blaming the actions of a very small minority on a whole group of people we welcomed, at one point, into our country and are as much British as I am now. I think problems like alienation can create people who are angry and want vengeance. Yet this is what we are doing, by making them ‘outsiders’ in their own country.
Yes, thank you, Ruth. I agree — the press over here has been, in my opinion, flinging around the words “Islamic Extremists” very freely. In fact, the terms “murderers” or “terrorists” would be more accurate and responsible!
Also, I should have mentioned above that police officers were also killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The killers didn’t care about their backgrounds or religion.
Hi Louisa, not sure if I’m leaving this comment in the right place but just to say how much I agree with what you (and Ruth) say here. What an excellent, articulate heartfelt post!
Thank you, Marianne! I think when something like those attacks happens, it just gets you thinking… And even if I don’t always have the right words, at least I’m making an attempt, in my own mind, to create some order out of it. I don’t know if that does any good or not, to tell the truth!