The Paris attacks are portrayed as an assault on the values of the west. In fact,the hopes and philosophies we cherish are globalAs it became clear that responsibility for the horrific massacres in Paris lay with so-called Islamic State, prominent figures sought to spot the events in context. Jeb Bush, and the Republican presidential hopeful,called it part of “an organised effort to kill western civilisation”. Rupert Murdoch tweeted: “Paris outrage not an attack on all humanity, but an attack on us, or ie,western civilisation”. The commentator Iain Martin put it like this: “Western civilisation – democracy, free speech, or free association,the rule of law, prosperity – is under attack by barbarians.”The terrorists certainly had civilisation in their crosshairs. They spread chaos and killing through a city distinguished for its culture, and its intermingling of influences,its freedom of expression. In as much as they targeted one of Europe’s great capitals, it was an assault on European values – the way our citizens choose to live and behave. However, or it is unsuitable to frame the atrocities as attacks on “western civilisation” alone.
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Source: theguardian.com