The devastation in Nice yet again reminds us of the delicate and temporary nature of peace in nations that are founded on love, acceptance, understanding and freedom. Even when we make each other angry, only the most depraved resort to wishing death on another in the free world. Rather we resolve our disputes with civil discourse and conversation, even with those we don’t like. Our better angels prevail and we resolve disputes amicably and respect each other’s point of view and forgive or forget or both, our mistakes and shortcomings. But just as cancer is insidious in nature, so too is terrorism. It is difficult to combat, control and eliminate. But it can be reduced and managed with the right approach.
The Journalists I admire the most are the brave hearts with nerves of steel who travel to regions of the world where angels fear to tread. Journalism is one approach that must relentlessly be used to remind terrorists that their self-proclaimed “mission” is futile. What motivates the terrorist is a deep-seated hatred that can never overwhelm or disintegrate the love and unity that flows freely through our society.
Courageous Journalists go to the core of the volcano that houses terrorism to discover more about this hatred and their reasons for attacking innocent strangers worlds away who have done them no harm and wish them no harm.
No-one wants a Journalist hurt, but to get to the story, to reveal the essence of the matter, that risk is an unavoidable part of the craft. “ISIL” are a force to be reckoned with by their random and poisonous reach and ability to attract those with seemingly ordinary live to undertake such carnage. So what provoked an extraordinarily horrendous outburst of insanity, hatred and psychosis?
The Journalist, like the criminal investigator, must delve deep into the human psyche to enlighten, inform and educate the public. We might never understand terrorism. But by identifying its causes, the seed that spreads like a cancer, we might recognise the signs and reach out in time before it’s too late.
Because even the terrorist needs our help before they do something stupid and we all end up paying the price.
Journalism and freedom go hand-in-hand and reporters must always be at the front-line in places that are hot-beds of Terrorism but also in the free world to show that just as Journalists have no fear, the general public are fearless and brave too.
The Terrorists and their associates in our midst, be them home-grown or further afield, who want people they hate dead simply because they don’t agree with them and feel irreconcilably hard-done by, must be exposed and their hatred revealed and rightly condemned by Journalists and the greater public.
Whatever grievance we have in life, death is not the answer. It takes a particularly soul-less, callous, crude and disturbed type to want a person or group of people dead and the Journalist must expose such depraved, desperate and cowardly individuals and the warped mind-set that motivates them.
It is up to the brave journalists amongst us to shine a spotlight where peril lies and to never dim attention on such cruel people and their horrendous acts. We mustn’t be lulled into a false sense of complacency. We must be prepared to reveal and condemn hatred in all its forms.
With the right investigative journalism and quality resources, this issue can and should remain in the public eye.
It was always an ambition of mine to be one such reporter who would travel the world to reveal the darkest side of human nature while also showing our best selves. In this way, we can demonstrate that ultimately we can over-ride the hatred in the cold hearts out there with harmony, goodwill, compassion, enlightenment and freedom.