To Our Friends

 

Solidarité

-

Members of our "community of interest" span many divides. We come from different countries, we're different ages, we speak different first languages, we practice different religions or no religion. But all of us know how it feels when another community we're a part of comes under attack or suffers a disaster or a setback. We often don't acknowledge these events here, only because if we mentioned them all, it would intrude too much on our friendlier talk; it's the reason why I don't write about every death within our community, as well—because then we'd be talking too much of death. Hurricane, forest fire, drought, plane crash, economic calamity, civil unrest or craven terrorist irruption—we might not talk about all of them but we note them with regret, and sympathize.

Our hearts go out to France; our support is with them. Remember the victims and their loved ones first. But have a thought too this morning for the plight of all the innocent and blameless Muslims within our community of friends, who are temperate and moderate and who would never wish such things done in their name, but who might now suffer threat or worse on account of the acts of others who dress like they do or come from the same places or use the same names for God. After the 9/11 attacks there were many incidents of misguided revenge in my country, and these helped nothing and proved nothing. They were crimes on their own.

If we are compassionate, now is the time for our compassion. Remember—now, when it's difficult to keep it in mind—that the worst of any group don't speak for the best of that group, no matter what the crime, no matter the claim.

We'll get back to regular programming tomorrow. I have some interesting and positive things to share with our community...all of our community.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kaemu: "As a Frenchie thanks for the kind words. My family lives in the neighborhood where the worst happened. My brother went to the Carillon many many times and my sister ate at Le Petit Cambodge on many occasions. They and their family are safe; not so for others we know. The January attacks happened in the same area. I knew some of the victims. Paris's motto is Fluctuat Nec Mergitur...it applies mote than ever."

[Fluctuat Nec Mergitur...translation: "Elle est agitée par les vagues, et ne sombre pas": "She is tossed by the waves but does not sink" (Wikipedia).  —Ed.]

Jérôme Buiret: "Merci."

Romano Giannetti: "One (former) student of mine has been killed in the attacks. So near...so young. But I think we should not even mention religion here. The religion of people doing that kind of thing has the same relevance, in my opinion, that the fact that Mengele was a medical doctor. Thank you for the mention."

Thomas Paris: "Thank you, Mike. And thanks everyone. My thoughts to those who died and to those who've suffered. I was glad, as I was walking the streets of Paris yesterday [Saturday  —Ed.], to see that there were just as many people in the streets as usual. People who looked like they just wanted to go back to their normal lives. I saw some people standing in front of two of the cafés where the shootings had happened, while others were standing on Place de la République, nearby, where a huge crowd had gathered after the Charlie Hebdo shootings, just a few months ago.

"All in all, while you could tell something terrible had happened, and people were not going to forget it easily, Parisians were telling the crazies they would not win. Thanks again everyone for your support."

Comments

[Michael]

Amen, Brother.

[Don Parsons]

Stay Strong Paris (and France.)

Thanks for posting this Mike.
It's such a beautiful city, an icon to the world that many of us photographers have visited and would love to return.

Don

[Peter]

Just a reminder that the intent of these attacks is to fulfill the prophecy of persecution of Muslims by the west through inciting repression and violence against Muslims. That is the cynical basis for terrorism, going at least as far back as the Red Brigades in Italy who articulated this strategy. Resist playing into the hands of terrorist strategy.

[jim woodard]

I think this song, written and performed by James Talley after 9/11, sums up these increasingly more common horrific events.
https://youtu.be/FpjBOgcIu-8

[Henk]

Well spoken Sir!

Thank you.
Henk

[David Hori]

Well said, Mike. Thank you.

[Will von Dauster]

Well said, Mike. Belligerent fanaticism as a response to the same only begets more death and destruction.

[ault]

I'm not a Parisian, but it has been my home for 8 years.

Like you say, you can't mention all the events. But there are so many in the world who have it so much worse than we do. Places where a 130 dead would be a quiet day. Places where there is no rule of law, only the vicissitudes of violence.

Perhaps, if we paid more attention to these places and these peoples, we wouldn't feel compelled to call for calm today.

[marek fogiel]

These kinds of acts are inexcusable when committed by isolated individuals, but when this becomes a coordinated action, it is simply an act of war. There is a dark side to humans which can result in violent madness in any part of the world. However in this case it is being fuelled by a major religion. Before I can show compassion for non violent Muslims I'd like to see the Islamic world take a stronger stance against who is converting their faith into an ideology of hate.
----
Personally, I believe humanity has outlived the age of religions, and the sooner we embrace common goals on basis of rationality, the better.

[Bryce Lee]

Note the date of the attack: Friday the 13th, a date many hide from.
The late Walt Kelly never did a Pogo cartoon on said date, it was just a blank.

In similar situations such as 9/11 the perpetrators want us to recall the date, which reminds us as to the purpose of such incidents, more even than lives lost,

[Kenneth Tanaka]

With friends visiting Paris Photo this week and weekend my heart skipped several beats when I received the news flash on my phone yesterday. (Everyone's ok. The fair has been closed. )

No words needed for my feelings.

[Manuel]

Mike, I subscribe every word you wrote.
I just want to add that Europe is going through a severe migration crisis. Thousands of people flee from Syria and Iraq everyday, hoping for Europe to protect them from the horrors of ISIS, and this has been triggering an adverse reaction from the xenophobes; I fear these attacks will strengthen them and reinforce their hatred- and prejudice-laden arguments.
It is known, at the time I'm writing, that at least one of the perpetrators was a French citizen, though of Muslim faith (can we employ this word when discussing such disturbed minds?). He thus had nothing to do with the migrants. Even if he did, though, it would be wrong to measure all those people who escape the tyranny of ISIS by that man's (and the other eight perpetrators') deed. As you rightly say, "the worst of any group don't speak for the best of that group."
Je veux expresser ma solidarité et compassion a tous les français; aujourd'hui je suis français aussi.

[Hugh Smith]

We watched as much of this unfolded before our eyes from our apartment in the 11th district.
It was surreal.
Thank you Mike for reminding us of the solidarity between France and America.
We would not exist if not for France.
We are saddened by the deaths of so many and reminded of our own frailties at the hands of such gutless and cowardice people.
Je suis Paris!!!

[Jon Porter]

I doubt most Muslims support the Islamic State any more than most Catholics support the Irish Republic Army or most Protestants support the Ku Klux Klan. But all three know how to get headlines and attract emotionally conflicted young men into their ranks.

[Dillan]

Thanks for putting it so well, Mike. I feel as you do.

[s.wolters]

This is the hell that all the Middle East refugees going to Europe are trying to escape.

[David Bennett]

We too also must stand, as well with France in their Tim elf need, as with the poor Russian families who lost their loved onesie the air disaster and with the Syrian displaced people. All atrocious acts of inhumanity.

[Eolake]

"Remember—now, when it's difficult to keep it in mind—that the worst of any group don't speak for the best of that group, no matter what the crime, no matter the claim."

Exactly. Hate in itself is counterproductive enough, but hate against whole groups, no matter the 'reason', is what makes the world hellish.

*Any* group has it bad eggs and black spots in place or in time. Love and forgiveness heals, hate or anger does not.

[Pierre Charbonneau]

Bien vu, bien dit.

Pierre

[Kivi Shaps]

Do not agree, Mike. Islam is at war with the West. Wake up!! This is not going away. Concentrate on defeating it not coddling so called innocents.

[Mishka]

I suppose there was nothing said here when 224 people died after the Russian plane was downed in Egypt because you did know how it says in Russian?
Солидарность.
Here. You can go ahead now and post it.

[Your accusation is unfair. I explained in this post why I don't talk about every disaster, act of terrorism, U.S. school shooting (of which there have been more than 15 since Sandy Hook), and on and on. But especially that one...a morass of unanswered questions, conflicting motives, and ambiguity. Great regret and sympathy for those who lost their lives or loved ones, yes, of course, but this is not the place for the debate deepening around that event. Nor will we post daily updates about the events in Paris. No one has even determined that cause of that crash, which could be anything from equipment failure (accident) to involvement by a government (conspiracy). --Mike]

[Pete F]

Thank you Mike for voicing the thoughts of many of us so well. My thoughts and prayers are with the French tonight as well as with our Muslim friends who too are victimized by these acts of violence.

[Peter Barnes]

Thanks Mike

[David Lee]

"we are not like them"

Vaclav Havel

[Marc]

I concur, and am as horrified as anybody else for what happened in Paris. Problem is that the day before, 43 died on an attack by the same killlers in Beirut. Day before that, 21 were killed in Bagdad. 15 were killed in Egypt at the beginning of November, and accepting your suggestion, I won't mention the Russian plane. On November 9th, they shot 200 kids in Syria. On October 10th, DAESH bombed Ankara, killing 102. On the 16th they blew a Mosque in Nigeria, murdering 30. That's far from an exhaustive recount. Just a few incidents. And I'm not including those killed by "our" side (Last French bombing killed 14 civilians, US drones have caused almost 1,000 civilian victims, including 200 children, the Israeli army has killed 40 unarmed Palestinian and Israeli civilians in four weeks, and a long etc.). Since all murders of innocents deserve the same treatment and produce the same horror, if you start expressing condolences you'll have to stop writing about photography and devote your blog entirely to that. It would be a full time job considering the world is a horrible place where hundreds, if not thousands, of humans are murdered every day by political violence.

[That last is the very point I made in the post. --Mike]

[Robin Parmar]

I did not see you post the Lebanese flag for the killings in Beirut the day before. I have not seen you post the Syrian flag for all the deaths in that country, many of which have been caused by the USA, UK, France, Germany, and Russia, five of the six top arms dealers of the world.

People who wrap themselves in the French flag as a knee-jerk reaction to tragedy should really think twice. Why reinforce the divide between people based on their nationality? The answer to death and hatred is not more flag-waving and nationalism. The answer is to tear down these edifices of control and fear, to make them accountable to principles of empathy and care.

If you have lost a loved one, post THEIR picture. It is a human tragedy. Make it human.

[I didn't create nationalism and I'm not in a position to dispel it.

I have lots of readers in France; few in Beirut or Syria. --Mike]