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Turkey

In Turkey, Prayers For Muslim Killers Not Muslim Victims

Anti-Charlie Hebdo protester carrying a sign reading "We are all Said Kouachi" in Instanbul on Jan. 16
Anti-Charlie Hebdo protester carrying a sign reading "We are all Said Kouachi" in Instanbul on Jan. 16
Ahmet Hagan

-OpEd-

ISTANBUL — The Turkish authorities all condemned the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet for publishing selections from Charlie Hebdo. From the president to the prime minister, from ministers to parliamentary deputies, the government was united in condemning the Turkish newspaper. Insulting the sacred is unacceptable, they said.

Meanwhile, al-Qaeda led demonstrations at mosques around the country, where the terrorists who killed the cartoonists and others in Paris were praised. There were more threats, with some saying that the same kind of attack will be repeated here in Turkey.

The government was, once again, united — in its silence. From the president to the prime minister, from ministers to parliamentary deputies, not a word. Not a single government official stepped forward to say, "Insulting the sacred is unacceptable, but so too is praising a crime or the criminal."

If the people running a nation's government condemn insults against a sacred prophet but are silent when murderers are lauded and encouraged, their message is clear. It's as good as telling would-be jihadists who might copy the murderers that it's justifiable to kill anyone they believe is insulting the prophet. It tells them, in other words, that the government would be on their side.

In Istanbul, a symbolic funeral was held in absentia for the two French brothers who murdered the Charlie Hebdocartoonists, two police officers and several others. I have some questions for those who prayed for killers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

Why don't you hold a funeral prayer in absentia for the 2,000 Muslims that Boko Haram massacred in Nigeria in a single day?

The Shia are murdering the Sunni, and the Sunni are murdering the Shia in Iraq. Why don't you hold funeral prayers in absentia for them?

The number of Muslims killed by the Islamist terror group ISIS is even higher than the number killed by Israel. Where are their funeral prayers in absentia?

In short, you say it is a must for you to hold funeral prayers in absentia for the murderous Muslims killed by French police — because they were killed by Westerners. What? The lives of Muslims killed by Muslims don't count?

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Ideas

Look At This Crap! The "Enshittification" Theory Of Why The Internet Is Broken

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the fatal drift of major Internet platforms: if they were ever useful and user-friendly, they will inevitably end up being odious.

A photo of hands holding onto a smartphone

A person holding their smartphone

Gilles Lambert/ZUMA
Manuel Ligero

-Analysis-

The universe tends toward chaos. Ultimately, everything degenerates. These immutable laws are even more true of the Internet.

In the case of media platforms, everything you once thought was a good service will, sooner or later, disgust you. This trend has been given a name: enshittification. The term was coined by Canadian blogger and journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the inevitable drift of technological giants toward... well.

The explanation is in line with the most basic tenets of Marxism. All digital companies have investors (essentially the bourgeoisie, people who don't perform any work and take the lion's share of the profits), and these investors want to see the percentage of their gains grow year after year. This pushes companies to make decisions that affect the service they provide to their customers. Although they don't do it unwillingly, quite the opposite.

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Annoying customers is just another part of the business plan. Look at Netflix, for example. The streaming giant has long been riddling how to monetize shared Netflix accounts. Option 1: adding a premium option to its regular price. Next, it asked for verification through text messages. After that, it considered raising the total subscription price. It also mulled adding advertising to the mix, and so on. These endless maneuvers irritated its audience, even as the company has been unable to decide which way it wants to go. So, slowly but surely, we see it drifting toward enshittification.

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