I see we're not all Tunisians in the West today

[malaise]

I'm shocked I tell you - shocked.

[KamaAina]

1. The victims were not Tunisian, other than the attackers themselves

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141042545

[malaise]

2. Tunisians are very upset

They are in the streets demonstrating

[KamaAina]

3. Good on them!

The only country I can think of offhand where the Arab Spring did not turn into a long, hot summer.

[geek tragedy]

11. are we supposed to declare solidarity with everyone who is upset, as opposed

to those who get killed and injured?

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

4. Heard on the way out the door. Killing only tourists is a very very clever way to

cause terrorism.

We have all been getting off a tourist bus, unless we are really rich and have private tours, somewhere and you are not even thinking about such a thing.

[geek tragedy]

12. It's a good way to wipe out all tourism revenue.

No one's going to be booking trips to Tunis for a while.

[pampango]

28. "Tunisia museum attack will worsen economic woes"

Tunisians fear consequences of the museum attack on the economy and democratic transition.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, so far, politicians and security analysts say the attack was a long time coming.

"The extremist groups, especially those inspired by ISIL, have been saying they were going to do something like this, and now they have," said Youssef Cherif, a Tunisian political analyst.

He added that the attack "was clearly an assault on Tunisia's political transition and economy" and is connected to regional instability. "These groups do not accept the fact that there will be a democracy in this country."

Analysts viewed the attack as an assault on the country's nascent democratic transition process. "It's a message that the democratic transition is not immune from threats," said Issam Matoussi, an MP from Nidaa Tunis, the country's ruling party. "We know what the consequences of tourists being killed is… This is so bad for the economy," he told Al Jazeera.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/03/tunisia-museum-attack-worsen-economic-woes-150319054842805.html

Conservative, reactionary forces will not accept the emergence of democracy. They know that economic chaos often leads to a right-wing resurgence - "See things were better under the dictator".

[sabrina 1]

5. We have short memories on the 'left' it appears. We went from, eg, supporting Whistle Blowers

and Journalists throughout the Bush era to supporting Sarah Palin who is at least has been consistent in her anti-Democratic, anti-Constitutional views of Whistle Blowers and Journalists.

[Blue_Tires]

7. The "left" also used to be able to see clearly enough to tell who the bad guys were

I stopped believing in that fairy tale as well...

[sabrina 1]

10. Well, most on the Left still do know who the bad guys are, and they know the policies of

of those bad guys too when they see them.

But there are some now on the Left who support Bush/Cheney FP, Torture, etc.

Karl Rove, was rightfully identified as one of the bad guys along with his thoroughly deceptive policies against political adversaries.

However, there are some on the Left now who fully support his methods.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. I almost booked a trip to Tunisia earlier in the year.

[malaise]

14. I'm so glad you weren't there

[geek tragedy]

8. Makes sense, as the victims were foreigners. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

9. The majority of the dead were from 'the West'.

19 were killed in the initial attack, including 17 foreign tourists from Spain, Germany, Poland and Italy.

Not really sure what point you are making in mocking those who were killed and their home countries.

[malaise]

22. That is not true

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/18/tunisia-shock-gunmen-target-tourists-capital-tunis
<snip>
Four Italians, five Japanese, two Spaniards, two Colombians as well as visitors from France, Germany, Poland and Australia were among the dead. As was a Tunisian cleaner and a security officer. Around 22 other foreigners were wounded.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. And yet I said 'most of the dead' and I was accurate when saying so. What I said was true.

You, on the other hand, just claimed it was untrue and did not address that which I asked you.
Most of the dead were from nations you tend to call 'The West'. Which is what I said. Accurately.

After our discussion the other day I spent some time reading the press in your country about LGBT people. It was informative.

[cali]

13. ack. this makes NO sense whatsover. As others have pointed out to you

the victims were almost all European tourists.

This is actually a very ugly OP. You're insinuating that no one gives a shit because this happened to Muslims- only it didn't.

[malaise]

15. A Tunisian police officer was also killed

Tunisians are very upset that this happened in their peaceful country

[cali]

16. I'm sure they are. that hardly justifies your op calling people out for not

responding precisely as they did over the Charlie incident. There are obvious reasons why people aren't: The Charlie Hedbo thing was about something quite specific. They were murdered for speech, so people identifying with the "I am Charlie" line, were saying that they refused to be silenced by threats of violence and violent acts. Pretty different than today's tragedy in Tunisia. In any case, it remains true that the vast majority of victims were Europeans and it looks as if they were the targets in any case.

If I were you, I'd just self-delete this.

[malaise]

19. Well you aren't me

and I made an observation about the silence in the West - not DU

[cali]

21. you made an observation that makes no sense and is just a slam without foundation. period.

[NuclearDem]

17. OFFS

[uppityperson]

18. Thank you for starting a thread for those affected by this mass murder

I do not understand how people can be so awful to each other.

[malaise]

20. Same here

This is one more awful slaughter

[Kurska]

23. Immensely stupid thread.

Last edited Thu Mar 19, 2015, 07:51 AM - Edit history (1)

Most of the dead were westerns themselves, it is wrong to imply the reason that there isn't mass outcry is that only Muslims dead. Only 2 Muslims died out of 19

Oh and most ironically

"The hashtags #JeSuisBardo and #JeSuisTunisien were trending on Twitter"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/11481978/Tunisians-rally-in-JeSuisBardo-protests-against-museum-shootings.html

So your basic premise is wrong.

[romanic]

24. What was the point of this thread?

.

[e-cigdub]

25. wait so

muslim extremists murdered a majority of NON muslims.. and your upset because we dont care about tunisians? Dear lord is anybody EVER blaming the muslim extremists who are doing the killing or are we westerners after our blood is spilled supposed to continue blaming OUR SELFS for being murdered.

the french satarists were killed because they offended muhammed.. and apparently thats punishable by death in some circles. WHAT DID THESE innocent tourists do besides give there money to tunisians? besides wanting to be guests of the country and learn about the tunisians and there rich history? besides JUST being tourists..

NO IM NOT TUNISIAN TODAY.. im and will always be with innocent people everywhere.. wether thats a dead palastanian child in gaza, or a murdered civilian in israel.. a iraqi family who was wiped out by a suicide bombing or innocent children who have been killed by our drone strikes.. im with the innocent french that died and im with the innocent westerners AND tunisians that died today. Im with them and i blame the terrorists who did the killing.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

26. I don't think that's as hypocritical as you make out.

Yes, you're quite right, the murders in Tunis have not generated the same level of attention as the Charlie Hebdo murders (which I guess is what you're referencing?)

On the other hand, nor have any of the vast number of other murders between, before or since.

What made the Charlie Hebdo murders unusual, and arguably* worthy of the level of special attention the received, was not just the murder but the attempt to silence - as well as attacking innocent people (which happens a lot, sadly), Al Quaeda in Yemen were attacking free speech in the West (which is much rarer). The appropriate response to the murders was "punish the culprits; let the victim's loved ones grieve in peace", but arguably a large public response to the intended threat was appropriate.

The attack in Tunisia was clearly terrorism too, but I haven't yet seen any indication (although I mean that literally - "I haven't looked", rather than "I have looked and there isn't one) that it was so specific in target.

Of course, that's a rationalisation - the main reason it's not receiving so much attention is probably actually the fact that it happened abroad, and doesn't have the "it could be me" factor.


*By which I mean "I don't actually agree with this line of reasoning, but I don't think it's absurd, and so I present it for consideration".

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. Internestingly, the original target appears to have been the Tunisian parliament

At the time of the attack, deputies in the neighbouring parliament building were discussing anti-terrorism legislation.

Sayida Ounissi, an MP, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the security services had said the gunmen had originally planned to attack parliament.

A statement released by a jihadist media outlet gave a similar account, saying the gunmen began killing tourists after being repelled by police at the parliament. The statement did not say which group carried out the attack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31958890

It's part of the same complex: