Member-only story
Unbelievable How People Feast on the Stigma of Mental Illness
A convenient truth after a stabbing spree
On 3 January French police shot dead a man near Paris after he went on a rampage with a knife in a park, killing one person and wounding two more.
Before I move on to the main theme of this story, I want to ask — what were your first thoughts on reading that paragraph?
My immediate reaction was the perpetrator was a terrorist.
Was that yours too?
The media reinforce prejudice
I cannot deny that ISIS came to mind. Though I attest I do not equate Islam with terrorism.
We’ve dined on that narrative too often for it not to infiltrate our cognitive bias. I’m no innocent.
“Religious documents including a copy of the Koran were found among the man’s belongings, but there was no evidence he had been influenced by radical Islamists.”
That statement clears the air yet I question if it was necessary.
What if he were carrying a Bible or the Torah or Vedic scriptures? Does the reporter include that information or discard it as irrelevant?
