{"id":10511,"date":"2017-08-19T18:15:22","date_gmt":"2017-08-19T18:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=10511"},"modified":"2017-08-26T13:35:04","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T13:35:04","slug":"the-attacks-in-catalonia-blind-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/the-attacks-in-catalonia-blind-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Attacks in Catalonia: “Blind” Violence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cross-posted <\/a>on the Corner.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis on last year\u2019s Nice attack (via<\/a> the National Catholic Register<\/em>):<\/p>\n

Pope Francis condemned the attack on Bastille Day Celebrations in France, calling it an act of \u201cblind violence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the man who drove a truck into the 14th July crowds in Nice last year, was undoubtedly\u00a0unstable, had not shown much interest in religion and lacked any formal affiliation with ISIS, it seems fairly clear what pushed him over the edge.<\/p>\n

GQ:<\/a><\/p>\n

In the final two weeks of his life, however, and perhaps for the first time, [Bouhlel]\u00a0appeared to develop an interest in Islam, the religion into which he had been born. He played recitations of the Koran in his car; he criticized a friend for listening to music; he began to grow a beard. Online, he researched the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a killing carried out in the name of the Islamic State.<\/p>\n

Also in evidence on [his]\u00a0computer was his apparent fascination with the crowds drawn each summer to the Promenade des Anglais, on Nice\u2019s tranquil coastline, where on July 14 the city\u2019s Bastille Day fireworks can be watched unobstructed, reflected in the black mirror of the sea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These things\u00a0were not\u00a0known by the time that the Pope diagnosed the slaughter as \u201cblind violence\u201d, but, given what\u2019s happened in Europe in recent years, for Francis to describe the killings in the way that he did was as much of a rush to judgment as\u00a0(in this case)\u00a0immediately pinning\u00a0the blame on Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis yesterday on the Barcelona attacks (via<\/a> America<\/em> magazine):<\/p>\n

Pope Francis has condemned \u201cthe blind violence\u201d of \u201cthe cruel terrorist attack\u201d in Barcelona\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Washington Post:<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0BARCELONA \u2014 Spain was seized Friday with the realization that it had incubated a large-scale terrorist plot, as authorities across Europe mounted a manhunt following the deadliest attacks to strike the country in more than a decade: two vehicle assaults in Barcelona and a Catalan coastal town.<\/p>\n

Investigators believe that at least eight people plotted the attacks, putting them at a level of sophistication comparable to major strikes in Paris and Brussels in recent years. Other more recent attacks in London, Berlin and the southern French city of Nice were perpetrated by individuals operating largely on their own.<\/p>\n

Spanish counterterrorism officers were scrambling to untangle the terrorist network, which involved at least four Moroccan citizens under age 25, according to intelligence officials. In addition to those four, authorities have detained three Moroccan men and a Spaniard.<\/p>\n

In a sign that the attack could have been significantly worse, police said they believed the assailants were planning to use propane and butane canisters in an explosive assault against civilians. Instead, the gas ignited prematurely, destroying a house in Alcanar, about 100 miles southwest of Barcelona that was being used by the suspects. The explosion killed at least two people and injured 16, including police officers and firefighters investigating the site\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blind violence. Really? The temptation, of course, is to dismiss the Pope\u2019s remarks as simple foolishness, but that would be a mistake. To misquote part of an old line, he has eyes and he sees. The question is what he wants everyone else to see or, more accurately, not<\/em> to see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted on the Corner. Pope Francis on last year\u2019s Nice attack (via the National Catholic Register): Pope Francis condemned the attack on Bastille Day Celebrations in France, calling it an act of \u201cblind violence.\u201d While Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the man … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[1206,998,403,684],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10512,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511\/revisions\/10512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}