Ed West Ed West

Terrorism does divide society – but not in the way some might think

What does Isis want? As Douglas Murray writes in this week’s cover piece, jihadis are quite clear on the subject – but we just aren’t listening. The question that never seems to be asked, however, is: what do we want? That is the core of my objection when our politicians tell us to continue as normal and that terrorism is just ‘part and parcel of living in a big city’. It really shouldn’t be and it isn’t – in Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Tokyo or a number of first-world cities. In the words of the writer Ben Sixsmith:

Jihadism was not inevitable. It has been imported. Cosmopolitans see this as the bad part of a trade-off for a more open, equal and diverse society. Nationalists believe it is a self-inflicted wound. It is a nice sentiment when Brendan Cox – husband of Jo, the MP who was murdered last year – says terrorists will not divide us but we are divided and events like this will only widen those divisions.

One of the curious responses to terrorist atrocities is the level of hatred exhibited towards people who make inappropriate or offensive remarks afterwards; I’m no fan of Katie Hopkins, and I can’t possibly believe she doesn’t understand the hugely loaded term ‘final solution’ which certainly merits her departure from LBC, but there’s something Freudian about the way people seek to direct their anger following these events.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in