So with the half term holiday in the UK now in session, it has been almost two weeks since 22 people died and 59 people were injured at the hands of an Islamic terrorist in Manchester.
News-feeds up and down the country have been inundated with grief, sadness and mournfulness from apparent social media humanitarians that are desperate to show just how much they love and care.
With enough gloominess, downheartedness and virtual prayers to feed an entire 3rd world country. But, all this outpouring of love and pleas for “No barriers, no borders, we all just need to coexist’’ seems all so very regimented.
In the event of a national tragedy in which the lives of innocent people are killed, you can be sure of a well accustomed and established routine of social media grief and apparent shock to follow it.
The reality of terrorism is not as pretty as a cute emoji.
You know the drill by now… Bomb explodes, mass hysteria, social media frenzy, countless casualties, tweets, prayers and tea lights, Islamophobia accusations, left-wing news commentators urge us not to jump to any conclusions and… ISIS takes responsibility.
It’s almost as if people sickeningly enjoy this procedure and routine of grief and tweets and showing solidarity by now.
People seemingly are benefitting in the death of innocent casualties to garner additional “likes’’ and “re-tweets” and push whatever political or social agenda that they deem to adhere by, while in the process coming across as the social media reincarnation of Jesus or Mother Teresa combined?
It seems like a win-win situation, especially if it gets them trending into the gravitational heights of the Twittersphere.
Statistics have shown that terrorist attacks increase record sales of virtue signalling pop stars.
Islamic terrorists have attacked, follow the virtue signalling drill and break out the copy and paste procedure “send out my thoughts and prayers” statues and tweets. Just “Blah-blah-blah”.
In the aftermath of the recent Manchester attack, this all feels so eerily familiar and accustomed by now, doesn’t it?
Just how many times have you changed your display photo or filtered it with a different colour in remembrance of a specific country or place that was attacked in an Islamic Terrorist attack?
Lost count? Well, let us take a walk down Islamic terrorist memory lane (be careful of the land mines).
First there was the atrocious incident in Paris in which 130 vibrant concert goers were brutally gunned down in cold blood by Islamic terrorists.
Remember how angry and upset you were? You were so outraged you could barely breathe. Your hands were literally shaking with intensity as you typed on your iPhone about just how distressed you actually were.
Sales of the French flag increased by 55% soon after the terrorist attack in 2015.
Facebook News-feeds were a sea of red, white and blue, French flags. You couldn’t click on a post without seeing a digitally altered photo of a sad and melancholy looking Eiffel Tower created by some nameless graphic designer, who was now relishing in the prospect that finally their work was going global and even viral.
Good thing they added their copyright and name to their quickly hurried masterpiece, right?
Do you remember that incident in Paris in which you were broken-hearted, inconsolable and grief-stricken?
Of course you don’t.
That incident occurred in November 2015, that’s almost 2 years ago now. That shock and sadness you once felt and expressed profusely online, soon faded away somehow.
That “life changing” experience didn’t really change much despite pledges of “change” from people and world governments that promised that this type of incident would never happen again.
Nothing says love and unity more than a French flag lighting up Jesus Christ in Brazil.
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People got on with their lives, more Islamic terrorists occurred and more “outrage” and “shock” was posted online in a frenzied flurry of tweets and hashtags.
How many “RIP” statues have you written since that awful attack in Paris? How many photos have you liked and shared condemning terrorism since those 130 young and innocent people, felt the sharp and agonizing pain of burning bullets ripping through their skin, before losing all consciousness and falling into a blooded pit of lifeless bodies in the middle of a concert hall?
You changed those French flag filtered photos back to your obnoxious pouting selfie after the initial hype and shock had died down.
And almost two years later, you completely forgot. That’s the thing with social media sympathy, one moment you can be utterly sorrowful and heartbroken and within a few minutes later writing statues about how good that performer was on the last episode of Britain’s Got Talent.
Those graphic designers are a compassionate bunch, aren’t they?
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Just like many of Britain Got Talent auditionee’s, they’re here today, but gone tomorrow. Once the “15 minutes” of fame has died down, so do to the statues, the hash tags and trending on the subject matter.
Pretty much like your “grief” and “sorrow” plastered everywhere on Social Media.
“Look at me, I’m saddened and downhearted and my heart reaches out to all the family and friends of lives that were lost”
The next day, “I can’t believe that Phil spoke to Sharon like that on EastEnders, can you!?”
That bout of spiralled inconsolable grief and heart-rendering pain is over, just as quick as the “dun dun dun” dramatic closing outro on the British soap kicks in.
And just like the fabricated TV series, it is just as fake and fictitious.
During times of loss and tragedy, sending your digital prayers may make you feel a sense of fulfilment and inner peace, it may actually make you feel good about yourself.
The former president regurgitating the same generic peace and love public announcement.
If You Only News
Writing ”RIP” statues and stating that your ”thoughts” go out to those who were killed in whatever horrendous attack that has occurred that particular week, may make you come across as some kind of a compassionate philanthropist. But holding hands, lighting tea lights, crying in the streets and clutching onto photos of Jeremy Corbyn or Hilary Clinton, will not deter Islamic Terrorism.
It did not deter them the many other times before and it certainly won’t do it the next time either. And, you can be rest assured that there will most certainly be a next time, there always is, as is evidenced by the most recent terror attack at Resorts World in Manila, Philippines, where a lone ISIS connected gunman shot and killed at least 36 people.
The Social Media generation we current live in is like some sort of alternative universe. It’s a fourth dimension that exists somewhere between Twitter and Snap Chat.
A fickle and superficial exterior where emotion is all but a brief and digital moment, lost in space and time.
Orlando, London, Brussels, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, Nice and Germany have all felt the heightened outpouring of tweets and emotions that Manchester is now receiving.
Most sentiments are meant well but ultimately do nothing to prevent the next terrorist attack occurring.
Let’s not forget the countless other “non-western” countries that garner no attention or trending hashtags what so ever, like the recent Phillipines terror attack for example, where’s their sympathetic hashtags, tweets and social media prayers of solidarity?
Furthermore, where are the Baghdad flag filtered profiles in tribute to the recent attack occurring in an ice cream parlour packed with women and children celebrating Ramadan, where at least 27 innocent people died and 100 casualties were left critically injured in a planned car bombing by the hands of ISIS?
27 people confirmed dead, that’s 5 more than the Manchester attack. Don’t they deserve a special star-studded Ariana Grande benefit concert too?
I guess Baghdad is not high up enough on the social media economic map to warrant such pomp and circumstance.
So, just how many more times will people change their Facebook photo in ”tribute” to the many murdered and killed in the name of Islam, before they finally wake up from this alternative reality?
Syria flag option is still in development.
Teenage girls are mutilated and massacred in the name of Islam and yet we are told to “keep clam, tweet and carry on exactly as before”.
Why are these attacks successful? Simple: because the media has deliberately made even talking about solving the problem unmentionable.
Unless it is a tweet or statues of sorrow and melancholy despair, that’s not getting posted here.
The media has made it a criminal act within itself to dare question, disapprove or criticise Islamic extremism. Remember Islam is the religion of peace, right?
Condolences, tweets and emojis mean absolutely nothing. Hashtags and vigils do not strike fear and terror into the hearts of those who wish to wage jihad on our soils. And, if you didn’t already notice, this is already happening.
Sales of Ariana Grande records benefited as a result of the extra publicity.
What we need now is public anger, education and a change, not another candle lit vigil, singing Ariana Grande songs.
Just how many more times will you change your Facebook photo in ”tribute” to the many murdered and killed in the name of Islam, before you finally wake up from your disillusioned digital despair?
22,000 potential terrorists and ISIS fighters are currently back from Syria and are lurking in the UK under the guise of “human rights”, “religious equality” and “political correctness”.
These Islamic terrorists are being allowed to roam freely on the streets of Britain, because they don’t pose an “immediate” threat just yet. What sort of logic is that?!
One of these suspects who did not pose an “immediate” threat was Salman Abedi. Salman Abedi was known to authorities prior to committing his horrific act. The local community had raised their suspicions of the man in question, but all the reported warnings of this man, fell on def ears.
Salman Abedi murdered 22 people, mostly young teenage girls while critically injuring 59 people, many with life altering disfigurements and incurable traumas.
Salman Abedi (pictured) was well-known to authorises before the terror attack.
The News-feed scroll went from absolute saddening, distraught and humanitarian, to people complaining that the sun is too hot and contemplating whatever they should wear shorts or not, for their half term week.
Those young girls laying in intensive care, some still wearing their Ariana Grande t-shirts from the night of the concert, wounded, suffering and in pain, will not be able to venture out into the crowded parks and feel the warmth of the sun on their soft and delicate cheeks, but instead they are forced to the cold confines of an NHS hospital ward, as they embark on months of rehabilitation and slowly beginning the healing process and learning to cope with the trauma of what has actually happened to them.
Queen Elizabeth II (pictured) actually visited victims of the Manchester attack in hospital while virtue signalling celebrities preferred to send their love via Tweets.
22 of those once youthful and fresh-faced innocent children and teenagers, and the once proud and protective parents that dotted over them, slaughtered at that concert, will never be able to see the shine of the sun, ever again.
While those that were “grieving” on Facebook now plan their half term break to the best of what British weather has to offer, the families and loved ones of those that were killed are planning the funerals of their families and offspring, and are set to contemplate the rest of their empty existence, without the one’s they no longer have the privilege of sharing the warmth of the sun with. Think about that for a moment, before you make further trendy solidarity social media posts, praying for the most recent terror attack, whilst not even daring to call out Islamic Extremist Ideologies of terror and killing non-believers.
Yes, the violent verses and scriptures in the Quran are the cause of terrorism. Until this is openly discussed and condemned in our societies, then terrorism will always remain and continue.
Until that day comes, pack your homemade ham and cucumber sandwiches and bottles of orange juice for the week-long activities ahead. But, don’t forget to pack your sudden “grief” and praying hand emoji’s, also. Since you never know when you’ll need to turn that smile… to an emoji frown.
Story by Michael Lee
Featured Photo Credit – YouTube
