Technology and Violence

Views on Joel Simon’s article on the Charlie Hebdo attack. 

Joel Simon writes about the terrorist attack on the headquarters of the French satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. This was an attack that took place on the morning of January 7th of 2015, where two armed men burst into the offices of the newspaper and started firing their guns. The gunmen were two brothers who killed 12 people and injured 11 others. They claimed the attack as being from the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. This newspaper is known for being left-wing and making publications that mock religion. This was the apparent reason for the attack, after the newspaper mocked Islamic leaders and Muhammad. 

On this article, after a brief introduction on the attack, Joel Simon states that the “unprecedented increase in violence against the global media” is caused by technology. The author continues by explaining his point of view on the matter. He says that the Internet has changed how news are distributed. It allows the flow of information across the world, which makes it harder for it to be censored in any way. Joel suggests that not long ago, reporters were protected by their status of being part of the press because they “exercised an information monopoly” which made them useful to any party who needed the media to “communicate with the world”. However, there are violent groups who now rely on the Internet and social media to achieve the same thing. They can post videos of executions or to spread their message. They don’t need journalists anymore. The author suggests that “identifying yourself as a journalist merely makes you a target”.

He continues by saying that since there is so much technology and its getting better everyday, many people can be freelancing journalists, so they are not protected by an institution, which makes them more of a target. Joel says that technology has allowed ideas and information to be distributed more easily. This was the cause of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters. It was all because of offensive posts, which triggered a particular branch of terrorists. 

Personally, i partly agree with the point of view that Joel Simon presents in this article. I believe that technology has made it easier for people to experience violence because of the things they can post about. The free flow of information the Internet provides has allowed everyone around the world to see and say whatever they want. Since we are all different, we all have different point of views. Something you might not see as being bad, might be offensive to someone on the other side of the world. As Joel says, it can make you a target. It can be particularly dangerous if you have an audience for the things you post.

If you write a blog and you have a point of view that is not particularly accepted and you have any type of audience, it could be dangerous and you can become a target.  Since the internet has so much information, it is fairly easy to find personal information on people. This is also one of the dangers of technology. There is no anonymity anymore, you can even be tracked through the web. However i do not agree with the idea of technology causing the violence itself. Seeing something online does not make you violent. I believe that nothing can make someone become violent, rather that people can either be violent or not. They don’t need a trigger.