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On the Paris Attacks and American Ignorance

by Nov 17, 2015Articles, Foreign Policy0 comments

The terrorist attacks in Paris, France, have served to manufacture even further consent for the US's disastrous policy in Syria.

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The US government implements a policy of prolonging and escalating the violence in Syria, backing armed rebels seeking to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad, with most of the arms delivered by the CIA by the end of 2012 having fallen into the hands of extremists and despite an assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency that this policy would help foster the establishment of what became known as the Islamic State (aka, ISIS).

Once that prediction proves accurate, the US further escalates the violence with direct airstrikes on Syria, a policy in which it is joined by Western partners in crime, including France, despite the recognized risk of blowback, of a heightened threat of terrorism, particularly for the US’s European partners.

Western interventionist policies throughout the Middle East, as well as the broader region, from Libya to Afghanistan, create the worst refugee crisis the world has seen since WWII. European governments decry the inflow of asylum seekers to their soil, an attitude of indifference that gains even more traction after coordinated terrorist attacks in the heart of Paris attributed to the Islamic State.

On Facebook, Americans impose the French flag over their profile photos in an expression of solidarity with the people of France. Meanwhile, a major terrorist attack in Lebanon also attributed to the Islamic State goes largely unnoticed; the New York Times initially describes the civilian target as a Hezbollah holdout, thus implying that it was a legitimate attack on a military position; to Americans, it is just more Middle East violence, something they have grown numb to; there are no Lebanese flags superimposed over profile photos on Facebook.

The attacks in Paris serve to manufacture even further consent among Americans for their government’s policy, with a poll showing that a majority want the US to escalate the violence even further in response to the attack in France. To hell with the consequences — particularly for the people of the Middle East and broader region who don’t share the same culture, religion, skin color, etc. but who must bear the brunt of the burden the policies of Western governments have inflicted on this part of the world.

Barack Obama responds to the Paris attacks by describing it as an attack “on the civilized world”. Meanwhile, the US goes on destroying the nations of what must presumably be considered “the uncivilized world”, which to most Americans isn’t deserving of any sympathies — just more bombs, death, and destruction; a lesson from “the civilized world”, with its far more sophisticated means of inflicting massive violence, to the barbarians of the Middle East.

“I think it would be a good idea.” — Mohandas Ghandi, in reply to the question, “What do you think of Western civilization.”

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