The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

[Janik]

Once again, that would be other residents in Muslim countries.
80+ dead schoolkids and counting. There aren't strong enough words to convey what utter, utter bastards the Taliban are.

[Etienne]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

Yes, absolutely heart-breaking.

Now the death toll has risen above 80, it's now the Guardian top story, when it was only 20 it was third behind Sydney and the Rouble.

Nice to have a precise weighting of how newsworthy Muslim children's deaths are compared to white Westerners.

[Mr Beast]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

You're right of course, these people are utter cunts and there are attacks on buses, markets, schools, cafes etc day after day after day. Every single day. Tragically the genie is out of the bottle now and I don't think he's ever going back in.

[Calvert]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

Women.
There's your answer.

These Stone Age motherfuckers are terrified of womens' potential and the thought of over one half of humanity being educated and emancipated.
They're not afraid to wrap pounds of high explosives around their waists and blow themselves to pieces. They'll gladly wade through the blood of millions for Allah, but the can't handle the idea of a girl being allowed to think.

I hope they choke on their beards.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

What Calvert said.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

Etienne wrote: Nice to have a precise weighting of how newsworthy Muslim children's deaths are compared to white Westerners.

It's a bit much to call racism on this. As Janik says, attacks are a regular occurrence in Pakistan and some other countries - part of something being newsworthy has to be that it's surprising, so of course the threshold of what's surprising in Pakistan is higher than Australia.

Also, many of the hostages in Sydney weren't white.

And it's hardly unreasonable that a UK ally who has followed a similar foreign policy course to the UK being targeted by politically motivated violence, will be more newsworthy here because it's a reminder (as if any is needed) that sooner or later something like this happening in London is more or less inevitable.

This is now the top story on the BBC, Guardian and Mail. Absolutely sickening, of course, and I echo Janik that there aren't words strong enough to describe how despicable the perpetrators are.

[MsD]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

Agree, any hesitancy was probably due to gathering the correct info and "where the fuck do we start" on the commentary.

I can't see anyone to blame except the Taliban. Nothing prepared us for this, none of the critiques and theories of late capitalism / legacies of colonialism begin to explain it, not Israel, not the triumphalism of the West. They're a bunch of nasty fucking cunts, end of.

Yeh, I know. It's difficult to think anything when they're slaughtering children and justifying it as "reprisal".

[Satchmo Distel]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

I would like to believe that "though nobody can say when, they will go the way of the dodo", but I fear there will always be movements who believe that their religion permits mass murder. How else do you explain someone being willing to point a gun at a defenceless child they've never met and fire?

The Taliban are the organisational equivalent of the lone religious nutcase with a gun. Conversely someone must be selling them those guns, so the circle of evil is wider than just the religious nutjobs who do the killing.

[steveeeeeeeee]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

Utter scum that committed this atrocity, but I think the reasons for its execution are less to do with resistance to western style education and more to do with the authority running the school.

[Guy Profumo]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

and in response, Pakistan reverts to barbarianism:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/17/pakistan-school-massacre-taliban-nawaz-sharif-lift-death-penalty-ban

Pakistan school massacre prompts prime minister to lift death penalty ban

Nawaz Sharif lifts moratorium in place since 2008 in response to Taliban atrocity that left 132 children and nine teachers dead

[Bored Of Education]

The people most affected by Islamic fundamentalism

Janik hits the nail on the head with his title and opening post. As a Muslim father of one of the dead children said, there is nothing in the Qu'ran to justify any of this. Not that there is a whole load to justify much of what they do but this is above and beyond again.