Recently, two gunmen were killed in Garland, Texas, when they opened fire on security officers.
Going by the definition of a news report taught as the basic in journalism, it should contain “5 Ws and 1 H.” The five Ws are who, what, where, when and why. The H is how. These six elements are the basic pillars on which a credible report stands, of course in an ideal situation.
In the first paragraph, one of the key elements i.e. “why” is missing. The targeted officers were reportedly guarding a cartoon contest depicting the holiest figure of Islam.
Of course, we denounce such an attack, but at the same time we strongly condemn the holding of such an event as well. Strangely, the West appears to be very slow in learning lessons. The memories of a bunch of cheap cartoonists drawing blasphemous sketches and some obscure filmmaker producing a third-class movie ridiculing Islam are still fresh in our minds.
Although such mean acts will not degrade our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) nor Islam, they only depict the shallow mentality of those behind it who don’t even know the basics of Islam.
Attacks against those who dare insult our religion under the pretext of freedom of expression, are difficult to prevent because you’ll find some zealots who are always prepared to attack the wrongdoers, as they did in the case of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Jan. 7. Needless to say that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the greatest messenger because he preached Islam to save this world from evil and hatred of the type prevalent in the West in the name of freedom of expression.
The problem with the western mentality is that it has tailored this freedom of expression to suit its needs. To further compound the problem, the West wants to impose its definition of freedom on others. And they are even selective in practicing this freedom. They don’t even dare to criticize the Jewish government in occupied Palestine, nor can they even think of criticizing anything or incident related to Jews because of their fear of being branded anti-Semite.
Moreover, the contest in Texas was far away from decent art. It was purely commercial and stupid as well, because you could never draw a picture of someone whom you have never seen. This is subject to perception and imagination that are lacking in the self-hating West.
Recently, the United States witnessed riots and demonstrations in Baltimore and other cities protesting the killing of African Americans at the hands of white policemen. Another fanatic American killed three Muslims in cold blood a month ago. This is how they spread hatred at home, and by insisting on infuriating and provoking Muslims, they encourage creation of brutal organizations in the name of Islam like the self-ascribed Islamic State (IS). Sarcastically enough, they insist on this filthy behavior and they wonder, “why do others hate us?”
