Terrorism that is personal?
Written by duckrabbitThe great Stan Banos first emailed me to alert me to a photo story doing the rounds about women who have been attacked with acid. The act is cowardly and the response from the authorities is usually non-existent.
A page of the photos by Emilio Morenatti is showing on Tampabay.com. I struggle a bit with the headline:
Terrorism that is personal
The word terrorism has become all too synonymous with Islam, so there is a suggestion that this is an Islamic problem. The problem is men.
Anyway Banos puts it much better:
I’ve previously commented on how true Christians (like the Amish who forgave and sought to console the family of the shooter who killed their children) seek to forgive- but this goes straight to my primitive reptilian, vengeance receptors. Perhaps it’s ignorant of me to say, but it seems that even children of sexual abuse can have very real hopes of recovery- and need not be reminded of it each and every minute of every single day. The cowardly subhumans who purposely mutilate women’s bodies with acid should be confined for the rest of their natural lives, and the survivors should be granted every opportunity imaginable to lead fruitful productive lives in the manner of their choosing. The latter, of course, is stating the obvious- but what words can possibly convey the depravity of such crimes, and the immensity of such suffering? And how many will, in fact, be granted that opportunity?
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (4 Comments)
It’s unfortunate that the media has appropriated terrorism to mean a certain kind of violence from a certain group of people. Frankly, I didn’t even notice the headline, since I was so taken aback by the subject matter itself. This is as heinous a form of violence as one human being can possibly inflict upon another. Terrorism is exactly what it is meant to be, and very much exactly what it is- delivered on an up close and personal level. Imagine what could be done to end this abomination if those so “resolved” to abolishing terrorism actuslly lived up to that “noble” sound bite.
I agree Stan the pictures tell the story. The problem is if people see this as a ‘muslim’ problem. Clearly its not.
it’s clearly not a ‘Muslim problem’ but the perception tends to be that it is a south Asian issue….cases from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the ones I personally have heard about most frequently.
obviously that’s wrong.
it’s a problem that is more to do with the view of some idiot men that a woman is their property. I think that sentiment may be more enduring in some societies than in others….as is the wider concept of family honour and dishonour. then again, maybe its just that they think they can get away with it with impunity by buying off the police, or maybe it’s just easier to get hold of burny acid there than it is over here.
apologies in advance for linking to the evil Daily Mail, but this has happened in the UK as well
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1221077/Katie-Piper-Acid-attack-victim-bravely-shows-face-disfigured-boyfriend-Daniel-Lynch.html
there are also examples elsewhere around the world, Ethopia being one of them sadly.
No culture, country or religion has a monopoly on idiots unfortunately
This isn’t terrorism – the word ‘terrorism’ sounds more dramatic, so it gets used, but this is simple assault. Nor is it notably associated with Islam – at the turn of the 20th century acid attacks were the specialty of the suffragettes in England and the Continent. Today they’re reasonably common in Southeast Asia (all of it, both the Buddhist and the Islamic parts), and there have been a few cases in Australia. All of which doesn’t make this sort of thing any less horrible, but please, avoid cliches.