Feelgoodism is alive and well in Australia. In the midst of a hostage-taking perpetrated by someone who at the very least identifies with ISIS, some Australians are on a Twitter campaign , #illridewithyou, offering to ride public transportation with Muslims who are wearing Islamic attire. This is a proactive campaign since there have been no confirmed incidents reported of any kind of violence against Muslims or any type of backlash whatsoever.
The campaign started when a Sydney train rider, Rachel Jacobs, saw another passenger, a Muslim woman, sheepishly remove her hijab. Whether or not something happened to provoke this is unclear. Jacobs posted on Facebook that she ran after the woman at the train station (apparently not concerned this action might be construed as intimidating) and told the woman to put her hijab back on. Jacobs then offered to walk with her. There was crying and hugging.
Then a TV editor latched on to this incident and created the #illridewithyou hashtag which has now gone viral.
OK, if that’s what some people feel they need to do. Tweeting I mean. I’d like to know how many of these people will actually do anything for real. What I’d also like to know is what Muslim has created a viral hashtag denouncing acts of violence committed by Islamic terrorists. Protests are always against Islamophobia not against psychotic Islamic killers.
Australians Use #IllRideWithYou Hashtag in Solidarity With Muslims During Sydney Siege –A bid to prevent an anti-Muslim backlash
Even as tensions remained high in the midst of a hostage siege in Sydney on Monday, some Australians were taking to social media to ensure local Muslims feel safe from potential backlash.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the motive was of a gunman who took hostages in a local cafe, but a black and white Arabic flag could be seen, leading to speculation that an Islamist terrorist was the culprit.
Gee, some Muslims take off their hats because they’re worried. Innocent people in a Sydney cafe were probably worried they’re heads might be taken off. Didn’t notice any of the #illridewithyou sympathizers offered to accompany them.
Now the hostage siege is over. #illridewithyou is waiting for a new trip.
What if woman removed her hijab because she was afraid of Sharia police beating her for being outside the home without a male family member? And maybe she was on the train because she doesn’t have a driver’s license because her male family members won’t let her drive. How about a hashtag campaign, #noshariaamour.
Beautifully put, Pat. Thank you for being the voice of sanity on this. I saw this unfold last night on Twitter as people seemed more concerned about real or imagined “Islamophobia” than they were about witnessing an ongoing act of Islamic terrorism. They posted bizarre statistics about how few Muslims belonged to the Taliban and al Qaeda and trashed the Daily Telegraph for a headline about the “Death Cult” hostage situation. Now that we know the killer was an Iranian Islamic State follower whose repertoire included sexual assault and murder of his wife (who I’m sure was a stain on his Honor), I won’t hold my breath for the left to retract their statements.
Tammy has often made the point that the manifestation of narcissism is the delusion that everything is about you. #illridewithyou is narcissistic in that it takes the focus away from the obvious and fundamental issue of Islamic terrorism and brings it onto ME. Which would be well and good if the #illridewithyou people were doing anything that was actually connected to the problem. Does anyone seriously believe these feelgood campaigns are other than, first and foremost, a distraction from the actual life-and-death threats?
I’m flashing back to the firestorm of media opprobrium directed at the Tea Party in general and Sarah Palin in particular in the wake of the shooting of Gabby Giffords. Our rational gripes, peacefully expressed and played by the rules, earn us filthy epithets that emanate from the very top of the political and media food chain. But every incident of Islamic barbarism is a basis for another orgy of apologies. What a mad world!
There’s another matter besides the western compulsion to ingratiate ourselves with Muslims.
Social media invites people to feel they are participating in big events but it is more like voyeurism.
Twitter came close to being a modern day version of the Roman Coliseum during the Iranian protest of 2009. Remember the green avatars and the frenzied cheering for the protesters? The Twitter excitement faded before the blood on Tehran streets dried. The avatars changed back to mundane silliness and the tweets turned to other causes and issues. Meanwhile, many protesters lives were lost or forever ruined.
Some people called that Iranian uprising the Twitter Revolution. Not true.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/09/iran-twitter-revolution-protests
Iran’s ‘Twitter revolution’ was exaggerated, says editor
YouTube was more important because it made a visual record of events.
For emotional voyeurs, social media has turned real life into a choose-your-own-adventure entertainment.
Today’s Taranto column in the WSJ (now behind a pay wall) is titled ” ‘He must have loved ones too’ “. It’s worth reading if you can get to it. It cites a Sydney Morning Herald (the Aussie New York Times-class of newspaper) editorial, “Martin Place siege response tests our humanity”. In particular…
Taranto comments:
Pathological altruism on display, for all those with open eyes to see it.