One can see the incongruity of AP's headline by simple word substitution. Say there were three rapes in a City in the past week and AP ran a headline "Why Women incite such lust in Men by Angela Charlton." It is, of course, absurd victim blaming. So why was AP doing that?
It is remotely possible that there are so few editors left that someone did not understand the difference between "incite" and "suffers" or "experiences". A possible explanation except that the piece itself makes clear the author's position is that France is getting what it deserves for past and present sins. An almost unfathomable position by a rational being.
It is of note that AP has stealthily changed its headline to an only slight improved "Why France Sparks Such Anger In Muslim World". France is still the causal agent. Fortunately the stealth edit is betrayed by the URL which contains the original headline.
On the same day as the AP article, we have a suspiciously synchronized piece the The New York Times. Same victim blaming. Is France Fueling Muslim Terrorism by Trying to Prevent It? by Vincent Geisser. Not quite as blatant as AP, but close.
Geisser twists himself into pretzel-logic to come to the conclusion that France is to blame for the series of terror attacks it has suffered over the past decade.
The questions associated with this issue are legitimate. Why is France of all countries so plagued with such recurrent Islam-inspired terror attacks? Is it poor or uncoordinated policing? Is it the large minority Arab/Muslim immigrant population? Is it a cultural reluctance for immigrant groups to integrate? Probably elements of those causes and others.
But Geisser and Charlton are asking a different question. "What is it that France is doing to cause itself to be the target of such terror attacks?" There is some relevance to the question but it is essentially an excuse for victim-blaming. The conclusions are disgusting and the apparent coordination in publication is alarming.
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