Paris Shootings

[AoWW]

I'm sure others have seen this on Facebook but for those who haven't....

 

So poignant and moving - I can't begin to imagine how I'd feel. 

 

From Isobel Bowdery, who was in Bataclan on Friday night:  

 

 

 

you never think it will happen to you. It was just a friday night at a rock show. the atmosphere was so happy and everyone was dancing and smiling. and then when the men came through the front entrance and began the shooting, we naiively believed it was all part of the show. It wasn't just a terrorist attack, it was a massacre. Dozens of people were shot right infront of me. Pools of blood filled the floor. Cries of grown men who held their girlfriends dead bodies pierced the small music venue. Futures demolished, families heartbroken. in an instant. Shocked and alone, I pretended to be dead for over an hour, lying among people who could see their loved ones motionless.. Holding my breath, trying to not move, not cry - not giving those men the fear they longed to see. I was incredibly lucky to survive. But so many didn't. The people who had been there for the exact same reasons as I - to have a fun friday night were innocent. This world is cruel. And acts like this are suppose to highlight the depravity of humans and the images of those men circuling us like vultures will haunt me for the rest of my life. The way they meticoulsy aimed at shot people around the standing area i was in the centre of without any consideration for human life. It didn't feel real. i expected any moment for someone to say it was just a nightmare. But being a survivor of this horror lets me able to shed light on the heroes. To the man who reassured me and put his life on line to try and cover my brain whilst i whimpered, to the couple whose last words of love kept me believing the good in the world, to the police who succeded in rescuing hundreds of people, to the complete strangers who picked me up from the road and consoled me during the 45 minutes I truly believed the boy i loved was dead, to the injured man who i had mistaken for him and then on my recognition that he was not Amaury, held me and told me everything was going to be fine despite being all alone and scared himself, to the woman who opened her doors to the survivors, to the friend who offered me shelter and went out to buy new clothes so i wouldnt have to wear this blood stained top, to all of you who have sent caring messages of support - you make me believe this world has the potential to be better. to never let this happen again. but most of this is to the 80 people who were murdered inside that venue, who weren't as lucky, who didnt get to wake up today and to all the pain that their friends and families are going through. I am so sorry. There's nothing that will fix the pain. I feel priviledged to be there for their last breaths. And truly beliving that I would join them, I promise that their last thoughts were not on the animals who caused all this. It was thinking of the people they loved. As i lay down in the blood of strangers and waiting for my bullet to end my mere 22 years, I envisioned every face that I have ever loved and whispered I love you. over and over again. reflecting on the highlights of my life. Wishing that those i love knew just how much, wishing that they knew that no matter what happened to me, to keep belieivng in the good in people. to not let those men win. Last night, the lives of many were forever changed and it is up to us to be better people. to live lives that the innocent victims of this tragedy dreamt about but sadly will now never be able to fulfil. RIP angels. You will never be forgotten.

[Thracian]

It was' Muslims' and you or I are more likely to be blown up by Muslims. That is a fact, doesn't mean all Muslims are bad, but after every Islamic attack, you get people trying to say their not Muslims. Great story in Dawkin's god delusion about a Muslim at a rally with a banner saying behead those who say Islam is a violent religion.It is and always has been

 

 

Religions tend to evolve over the centuries with followers recognising that what was recorded/translated/passed on in the context of one period of history would not necessarily be so well received in another.

 

It seems to depend whether you adhere to the later, less tolerant, Mohammedan message or the original, more forgiving message, as to how Muslims relate to their faith but one thing seems indisputable - that Muslims have never stopped fighting someone, or each other, since Islam was born.

 

So if Islam is quoted as a religion of peace - and so it seems to be in the essence of the message which first inspired its following - why are Muslims forever killing people including fellow Muslims?        

 

I might of course ask the same questions of Christians - and have done on many occasions.

 

Times I've mentioned the Commandment "Thou Shalt Not Kill" as an unambiguous requirement as laid out in The Bible.

 

And yet, Christians have killed relentlessly over the centuries and mostly for nothing more than their own ends rather than any genuinely perceived threat to their homelands.

 

But, while I still look occasionally, I still can't find an amendment of the Biblical Commandment to now read "Thou shalt Not Kill - unless it suits".

Yet Iraq, and now Syria, are recent and blazing examples of it "suiting".

 

No wonder so many people are turning away from religion and trying to set their own standards according to their own feelings, beliefs and instincts.

 

What does it matter if it's the religious doctrine that's "to blame" or, much more likely, man's self-serving interpretation of whatever he believed written? What matters is not following an example but setting one. 

 

Why - except for the comforting illusion of "belonging" - would anyone sincerely wish to believe in a concept (Muslim, Christian or any other) that, for whatever reasons, manifests altogether unholy flag-flying for selfishness, hypocrisy, vengeance, cruelty, disregard for the vulnerable, mental and physical manipulation, bullying, wholesale intolerance and the calculatedly terrifying slaying of often indefensible human beings all among a myriad other things that any right-thinking God would be shamed by.      

    

As I've said too often, I'll never understand people. 

 

But I'm more than at peace with my own faith which needs no written scripts and no preacher's guidance because no man can reasonably burden another with the misery and frustration of their own failings.

 

The truth is that God doesn't need to "speak" as such, but the instinctive and educated recognition of "a greater power" gives all of us the opportunity - through our brain and free choice - to fashion a concept of "goodness" or "worthiness"  for ourselves. 

 

The wars are for nothing but power, domination or self-interest. They have nothing to do with "God" and it is pathetic to suggest they are.     

[Wymsey]

Starting to think Thracian is Mr. Corbyn.

[Tuna]

I've seen the future, brother: It is murder.

[Thracian]

Starting to think Thracian is Mr. Corbyn.

 

Starting to think Thracian is Mr. Corbyn.

 

 

Haha.....while I consider some of his ideas with interest, leadership relates to the real world.   

[foxfanazer]

I honestly don't see how the war on terror will ever really end. Not seen anybody make a seriously telling suggestion. Obviously we need to sort out the immigration problem but don't won't stop it.

Would be interesting to look forward ten years and see where we are at regarding this

[lgfualol]

Unconfirmed reports of more shooting in Paris

[Wymsey]

For goodness sake!

[Rincewind]

Re Christians, many of them dismiss the OT and just follow the NT. I know one person who started his own church because he was disillusioned with the hypocrisy on how churches were run by the leaders of them. He helps a lot of people on a personal level preferring to go out into the community. He welcomes  anyone into his church which is in the Abbey Lane area of all faiths including non-believers like myself. He does not question or argue that his god is any better than anyone elses.

He knows I am an atheist and accepts it with a smile not brimstone and fire. But as I have said to others he is a good kind person and does not need his god but it seems that when he wears the dog collar his words are more soothing to the ones that visit him. 

Don't  know much about the Q'an but I would imagine that there are many passages that say it is wrong to hate. How many different versions are there?

[sly1]

Nail that last runner basta@$

[foxfanazer]

My sister in law preached at me earlier for not changing my Facebook profile picture to have the french flag colours in it like everyone else has. What a load of bollocks! People who show no interest in politics or foreign affairs changing their profile pics for extra likes and a nice pat on the back.

Riled me up a treat

[Guest Manini]

The main issue I have with all of this is; how can you fight against a group of people who are literally sacrificing themselves to fight a cause which they are being to lead to believe Is worthy? They clearly don't care about giving their lives for the cause, so what chance does that give us?

They're a faceless organisation, you could walk past a member of ISIS on the street and be none the wiser. That's the scariest thing I think.

[AKCJ]

There would be no extremism without religion.

 

That's what people don't seem to be able to grasp.

 

 

Turns out I repped this.

 

Must have accidentally clicked when scrolling on my phone earlier on as this is up there with some of the most moronic bile i've seen splurged on this forum.

 

Have a word Kitch, your need to be edgy all of the time is beginning to become an embarrassment to us all.

[Wymsey]

Somehow, all social media postings etc need to be actively monitored - I personally believe IS has gained support via online recruitment videos and the like.

GCHQ needs to adopt a firm approach now to ensure there's no suspicious activity/planning going on between a few people.

[Larry_LCFC]

Everywhere I look on the Internet, there are people making out like they're the victims in this because they think it makes their religion look bad or because people are blaming them. As far as I'm concerned, the 129 people that were murdered are the victims and the people suffering in Paris as a result. So many people find the need take it all about them. Drives me mad.

[Lionator]

I've seen the future, brother: It is murder.

 

There's a photo going around the internet of Richey Edwards from Manic Street Preachers outside the Bataclan in 1995 and he'd graffitied those lyrics on the wall. Incredibly haunting. 

[Larry_LCFC]

There is atleast one photograph circulating online of the aftermath in the Bataclan. First of all, who the hell takes a photograph of that, and secondly, why would you then put it online? Absolutely heartbreaking to see.

[Guest Col city fan]

Turns out I repped this.

Must have accidentally clicked when scrolling on my phone earlier on as this is up there with some of the most moronic bile i've seen splurged on this forum.

Have a word Kitch, your need to be edgy all of the time is beginning to become an embarrassment to us all.

Say it how it is mate!

I do agree though. I can't believe Kitch wrote what he did.

[fleckneymike]

Why does everyone spend so much time explaining the religion X is a relgion of peace? To the best of my knowledge I can't really think of any religions which promote themselves as religions of violence.

[Larry_LCFC]

Why does everyone spend so much time explaining the religion X is a relgion of peace? To the best of my knowledge I can't really think of any religions which promote themselves as religions of violence.

I agree. A corrupted version of any religion is lethal, be it Christianity, Islam or anything else. Its why I find it so frustrating that people try to play the victim because of their religion. I must have seen 10 different facebook posts of people from the islamic faith citing how unfair it is that they are all getting the blame for these attacks. In reality, probably 1% of people blame all muslims. The 99% are mature enough to realise it is an extremely corrupted small group of muslims who are at fault and that the muslim faith as a whole doesn't promote violence.

[bovril]

Christ. Just makes me very angry.

[Larry_LCFC]

Could anyone really bare to ever step foot back in that theatre after this and watch a show etc? I certainly couldn't knowing what happened there. Just wouldn't seem right.

[StanSP]

Could anyone really bare to ever step foot back in that theatre after this and watch a show etc? I certainly couldn't knowing what happened there. Just wouldn't seem right.

 

you still get on a plane after 9/11?

 

you still get in cars after horrific car crashes on motorways etc?

[Dr The Singh]

Christ. Just makes me very angry.

What's Jesus got to do with this???

[Larry_LCFC]

you still get on a plane after 9/11?

 

you still get in cars after horrific car crashes on motorways etc?

How is that even remotely the same? I'm not talking theatres in general, I'm talking the bataclan. Having seen that picture and knowing the absolute horror that happened in there, I couldn't sit there enjoying myself. Wouldn't feel right imo.