Thinking like a villain: In ‘The Dark Knight’, The Joker said, ‘If a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics because it’s all part of the plan’. But if a schoolbus is blown up, then it is not only about the carnage but the sense of fear, insecurity and anxiety it planted in society.
AFTER the Christchurch terrorist attack, apart from the shock and horror, an immediate reaction by many is to point out that it is not only Muslims who are terrorists.
In a way, such reminders are necessary given that Islamophobia is a real and concrete problem. But at the same time, it also speaks of the sad state of prejudice and historical illiteracy we are in because anyone with a modicum of understanding of history would know that Islam, or any other religion, is far from being the only signifier appropriated for acts of systemic or random violence.
