{"id":4702,"date":"2016-06-13T01:15:58","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T07:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=4702"},"modified":"2016-06-13T10:32:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T16:32:59","slug":"the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html","title":{"rendered":"The Orlando attack and the starfish story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So here\u2019s the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk around some, then came home for dinner and aimlessly watched TV until I crashed and sent the kids, who\u2019d gotten their second wind, to bed. \u00a0I\u2019d checked twitter a bit via my phone, but hadn\u2019t logged in on the computer, which I now have.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ve read a bit of the CNN reporting on Orlando. \u00a050 people dead, though their \u201ctimeline<\/a>\u201d doesn\u2019t \u00a0really provide much explanation; it describes the situation as being perceived of as a hostage situation, with the police waiting several hours to position themselves; then, ultimately, they announce the death toll. \u00a0Did the gunman kill these people during this wait time, or in a final firefight? \u00a0It\u2019s not clear to me.<\/p>\n

Also according to my twitter feed, there was a fight brewing with the Left focusing on a gun control angle and the Right tweeting anger that the Left was denying the role of ISIS and Muslim hate of homosexuality. \u00a0But maybe that was just a matter of a few fools being retweeted repeatedly, as this morning CNN doesn\u2019t hesitate to call it \u201can act of hate\u201d and feature as their top article, the ISIS War on Homosexuality<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the problem:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m in London right now. \u00a0We took the Tube into the city from the airport; it was economical and not much trouble. \u00a0Now, the last (and only other) time I\u2019d been in London was in 1992, and at the time there were still all manner of warnings about unattended items, given the ongoing risk of IRA bombings.<\/p>\n

With the IRA, the answer to the question \u201cwhat do they want?\u201d was pretty clear: \u00a0independence for Northern Ireland. \u00a0And the government, while neither directly negotiating with the IRA nor making concessions to them, did nonetheless develop a political reconcilation process and more autonomy in government that, from what I understand, has greatly improved the situation (though, again, to my understanding, the IRA is still around, but seen as more a criminal gang than anything else).<\/p>\n

With extremist Islam?<\/p>\n

There were suggestions, e.g., after the Bataclan attack, that ISIS was strategically trying to get the French in particular and the West in general, to cease their intervention in Iraq and Syria. \u00a0There were even assertions after Brussels that these attacks were the dying gasp of a weakened ISIS.<\/p>\n

But I think it\u2019s safe to say that the fundamental reason why the killers in Bataclan, Brussels, San Bernadino, and now Orlando killed, was nothing strategic, but \u201cmerely\u201d in order to kill Westerners.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Starfish story, in reverse. \u00a0Here\u2019s its telling, from Goodreads<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.<\/p>\n

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.<\/p>\n

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.<\/p>\n

He came closer still and called out \u201cGood morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

The young man paused, looked up, and replied \u201cThrowing starfish into the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?\u201d asked the somewhat startled wise man.<\/p>\n

To this, the young man replied, \u201cThe sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don\u2019t throw them in, they\u2019ll die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, \u201cBut, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can\u2019t possibly make a difference!\u201d<\/p>\n

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said,
\n\u201cIt made a difference for that one.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the objective of extremist Islam is simply to \u201cfight the West,\u201d if it\u2019s irrelevant to them whether harming or killing any individual Westerner makes a difference on a global, strategic scale, because it \u201cmade a difference for that one,\u201d than this is a far more difficult situation to fix.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: \u00a0Well, turns out there is a significant divide. \u00a0My left-wing friends are sharing on facebook articles and memes with two messages: \u00a0first, that it\u2019s all about the need for more gun control, and, second, insofar as this was an attack on gay men, it still has nothing to do with Muslims, but with an anti-gay animus of which Christians and Muslims are guilty in equal measure.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So here\u2019s the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk around some, then came home for dinner and aimlessly watched TV until I crashed and sent the kids, who\u2019d gotten their second wind, to bed. \u00a0I\u2019d checked twitter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[413,197],"class_list":["post-4702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-orlando","tag-radical-islam"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Orlando attack and the starfish story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So here's the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Orlando attack and the starfish story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So here's the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-13T07:15:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-13T16:32:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html\",\"name\":\"The Orlando attack and the starfish story\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-13T07:15:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-13T16:32:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"So here's the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Orlando attack and the starfish story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Orlando attack and the starfish story","description":"So here's the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Orlando attack and the starfish story","og_description":"So here's the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2016-06-13T07:15:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-13T16:32:59+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html","name":"The Orlando attack and the starfish story","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-13T07:15:58+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-13T16:32:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"So here's the deal: \u00a0I spent all of Saturday travelling; Sunday noontime (UK time) we arrived at our destination, tried to fight back jet lag to walk","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/06\/the-orlando-attack-and-the-starfish-story.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Orlando attack and the starfish story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}