A late post about the Charlie Hebdo shootings.

All that I can really remember from the reports of the Charlie Hebdo incident is that 12 people were killed, and what is seemingly more important, that the attackers were Islamic or Muslim. Now, personally, I think that information has been the focus of too many reports. It's not the religion or ethnicity of the attackers that is important, it's the fact that 3 men went to Charlie Hebdo and mercilessly killed 12 people. Whether they were Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Buddhist (very unlikely that they would be Buddhist, I know) it shouldn't matter. They were men, they were human and the murdered 12 people. People are now ruthlessly using their religious status to attack innocent Muslims in "retaliation". 

There were dozens and dozens of killing sprees in America in 2014, with an average of 5-10 victims per attack, most of which were committed by white men, ranging from the age of 18 - middle age. Now that doesn't mean that everybody in America walks the streets in fear of every single white, middle aged man that they see. It doesn't mean that on the subway you sit nervously next to the white, middle aged man with his briefcase. It doesn't mean that to revenge the victims of the attack you go and start attacking, killing and destroying all white middle aged men and the things that they believe in. It just doesn't happen.

The focus on the fact that these men were possibly Muslim is being used as an excuse to attack a population for nothing other than because people are scared of things that they do not understand and will use any reason or excuse to jump on a chance to attack those people. Muslim people across Europe are now having to undergo the horrible experience of VALIDATING their religion as one that shouldn't be attacked and defending their beliefs. All this just because 3 extremists went out of control. Hundreds of Muslims are probably having to convince people not to hate them for their religious beliefs, a thing that many people take comfort from, just because 3 people who they do not know and have no relation to have committed a terrible crime. 

I think it's disgusting. If they had been 3 Christian men I don't even think their religion would've been mentioned, anywhere. I think the men that committed the attack should be sent to prison for life, with no mercy, but I hate the fact that so many people are now having to pay the price for a crime they didn't commit, solely because they believe in the same God.