Juan Cole: Sharpening Contradictions: Why al-Qaeda attacked Satirists in Paris

[ananda]

5. This article is so insightful!

What Popper learned in 1919 and Cole speaks of as following that 1919 precedent should be a cautionary lesson for us all. If the Norwegians could retain their humanity and tolerance in the face of terrorism, a tolerance which worked for the better by the way, then perhaps the rest of the west can do the same.

For as Cole points out, tolerance is really the only way to defeat extremism; but if the extreme rightwing is allowed to flourish and take over in the spirit of intolerance and a "war on terror," we are all lost.