I notice how quickly the story of the Sri Lankan church bombings turned into a story about what people were saying about the bombings — whether “Easter worshippers” was some sort of politically correct euphemism to avoid saying Christians, and now the Washington Post tells us that “the attacks, which targeted a religious minority in a predominantly Buddhist country, also resonated abroad — especially in Europe. To some, it was further proof that Christians in many parts of the world are under attack.” The “some” in that vague sentence are apparently “far right” figures around the world.
Remember when the news was about things happening, instead of what people were saying about the things that were happening?
You know what else is going on in the world today? A general in Libya has turned against the government and is trying to overthrow the current rulers right now. Ukraine just elected a comedian as president. Egypt is voting on a referendum that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in office until 2030. This weekend ISIS terrorists attacked the Afghanistan Interior Ministry, and were killed after a three-hour gun battle with soldiers and police. Iran is threatening to blockade the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the latest U.S. restrictions on Iranian oil exports.
These all seem like pretty significant events, more significant that what Frank Gaffney said about Sri Lanka on his radio show, no offense to Gaffney.
Deep in the article, there’s a sentence that suggests what the intended takeaway is: “Although Christian minorities are targeted around the world, analysts say that the vast majority of terrorism victims globally are Muslims.” Yes, because as the linked CSIS study concludes, “the overwhelming majority of extremist and violent terrorist incidents do occur in largely Muslim states” and consist of extremist Muslims blowing up non-extremist Muslims (or whoever else is within the blast radius) in pursuit of their goals.