#normality ideology

We should be able to view terrorists or IS and Islam, and by extension, Islamic fundamentalism by distinguishing from one another. And we should take a long time to precisely and concretely comprehend Kouachi brothers’ life. Only this work can be the most efficient way to prevent terror from happening again.

… Jeon Sangjin, a sociologist, in his 음모론의 시대 (A Period of Conspiracy Theories), enumerates 7 universal forms that a conspiracy theory has. First, since a conspiracy theory is a desperate imaginary solution to questions, it doesn’t weigh up the evidence. It passes condemnation to others so that you can evade the responsibility for the pain and the contemptible position. It makes a complicated matter so simple that the object of condemnation is clarified. It targets what to blame and helps you protect yourself. It ignores the structure of the problem which causes the pain, and shapes the reason and cause of the pain into a person. It doesn’t accept accidents and the like, and bad happenings are considered as results set by an enemy’s intention. Lastly, it divides the world into two—good us and bad them; grants a victim position to good us; and demonizes bad them.

To shift and evade responsibility with a conspiracy theory, a fake antagonist to stigmatize is necessary. In the Charlie Hebdo terror, the stigmatized target as a fake antagonist was Islam. Although Islam was not directly related to the terror, it was criticized for being uncivilized. Islam has existed as a target to clearly denounce for the terror without understanding its complexity and historical character. While people ignored the French society, which had given pain to the terrorists, and the crises that capitalist system has, it was possible to shape the whys and wherefores of the agony into the race Muslims. Thus, referring to the Islamic misogyny, those who criticized uncivilizedness of Islam could hold a potential-victim position and racistly demonized Muslims. "The vulnerable point in the victim theory is, again, the self-reification of consciousness, the establishment of a new naively artful position. This can serve or be felt, depending on the circumstances, as a diversionary trick, as a technique of extortion, or as indirect aggression,"¹ Peter Sloterdijk points in his Critique of Cynical Reason.

Normality ideology also has been mobilized in Islam phobia. Normality ideology quickly makes into a stranger an exceptional person who deserted the morality of the mass, which is defined as normality. The impugner standing on the front of making strangers immediately drives the exceptional person into the abnormal area without detailed and meticulous considering where their exceptional characters are from. Sometimes, the small group that the exceptional person belongs to is considered as the same as an abnormal area. Thus, when an assailant has been expelled to the abnormal area, people feel relieved, thinking the normal area where they stay operates well. At this stage, the responsibility of the society is erased. The responsibility for the incident is shifted to the individual assailant or the abnormal group that they belong to.

Lee, J. (2015, March 25). 낭인낭설: 샤를리 에브도 테러에 등장한 '이슬람 미개론' (Nang in nang seol: Uncivilized Islam theory that emerged at the Charlie Hebdo terror). Fabella. http://fabella.kr/xe/blog4/283

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