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As the horrific news about 12 dead in an attack by Islamic terrorists on the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo unfolds, another story is getting less attention. ISIS in Syria beheaded a popular street magician for doing magic:
A street artist was beheaded by Islamic State [IS] militants for entertaining crowds with his magic tricks in the terror group’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, Syria.
After his detention, the illusionist was beheaded by militants in one of the city’s public squares because his magic tricks were deemed an insult to Islam as they created “illusions and falsehood”, according to the outlet.
A local activist who fled the city for Turkey told the Daily Mirror that the magician’s murder was an example of “barbarism and butchery”.
The activist said: “The magician was a popular man who entertained people with little tricks on the street like making coins or phones disappear.
“He was just called ‘sorcerer’ by people and children loved him. He was doing nothing anti-Islamic but he paid for it with his life.”
“This is the reality of life in Raqqa, murdered in the name of Allah for performing a few tricks.”
FOOTNOTE: I’m reading John Toland’s “Hiter: The Definitive Biography” and what is glaring is that the Nazis and Hitler tried to hide some of their brutality and inhumanity. In particular, the “Final Solution” to the Jews (the murder of millions of men, woman, children and infants) wasn’t really even admitted to many higher ups in the party or military until 1942-43. But terrorists who are murdering opponents, journalists, cartoonists, and (from articles on the Internet) children and infants barely hide or tout their murderers — which gets them more recruits. So the last transparent figleaf on murder disguised by religious or ideological has now dropped off.
It’s murder of innocents, pure and simple, and the You Tubes and videos make some feel as vicarious victims and others as wanting to be lividing and doing the kind of brutality they read about or watched in the movies or video. How could there be second thoughts when it’s trumped by joy or an adrenalin rush? Yes, the Nazis killed many more in their gas chambers and with execution bullets. But it wasn’t something they touted or advertised. The killers we see now trying to pretend they’re something else are concerned with how to get the message out on the body kill and how their vitictms were killed to all and sundry. Video and social media make it easy.
A BOOK THAT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
ALSO: be sure to read my take on where we are now on terrorism HERE.
graphic via shutterstock.com
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.