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AIBU?

Sorry another Tunisia thread

26 replies

nikinaki · 29/06/2015 12:37

I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned. But I am just catching up on some news headlines and have just watched a report where the gunman ' s neighbours are speaking highly of him and can't believe he's done such a thing. They even said they still don't believe he was capable of doing such a thing. They are calling him a 'poor man' and are in denial that he is dead because he is a good guy! Wtf. I'm so shocked with how the world is becoming. He kills 38 people and his neighbours are still saying he is a good guy.

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Report

ghostyslovesheep · 29/06/2015 12:38

Oh for goodness sake they are simply expressing surprise and reflecting on their experiences of him

DumbledoresKnobblyWand · 29/06/2015 12:39

well of course they're surprised, he probably was a very nice person - to them.

Heels99 · 29/06/2015 12:39

Presumably They said they thought he was a good guy Prior to this incident. Rather than they think what he has done is good. Did you misunderstand?

AuntieStella · 29/06/2015 12:40

If those who have become dangerously radicalised were easy to spot from their day to day conduct, then the job of the security services would be a heck if a lot easier.

I find it totally unsurprising that he was able to put up a convincing facade, such that his neighbours can't square his actions with the person they knew.

nikinaki · 29/06/2015 12:40

No I don't think I have misunderstood. One guy clearly says he was surprised he has done this and even now that he's dead he doesn't believe he's capable... even though it's already happened.

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nikinaki · 29/06/2015 12:42

Yes you're right auntiestella :(

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Heels99 · 29/06/2015 12:43

Ok so they are Saying it's unbelievable to,them that this has happened. I would probably say same if someone I knew and liked rampaged and killed people.

babbas · 29/06/2015 12:44

I can see why you are horrified. I felt the same last year when Israel gunned down 4 kids playing on a beach and the world effectively turned around and said Israel was being the good guy. Does your horror only kick in when the beach victims are white?

Yabu.

Sickoffrozen · 29/06/2015 12:44

I'm sure that's how someone would react if they were genuinely shocked by the behaviour of another.

nikinaki · 29/06/2015 12:46

babbas what on earth are you on about? when have I once referred to 'white'? how do you even know what race I am?

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nikinaki · 29/06/2015 12:50

I'm seeing the other perspective now. I think when I watched it there were 2 sentences which stuck out and they made it seem that he was the victim. If my neighbour killed anybody, I would say I thought they were a nice guy but they would not be the victim

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yumscrumfatbum · 29/06/2015 12:54

If I had been a neighbour or acquaintance of someone who went on to commit an atrocity like this I imagine I would question myself. Why didn't I notice? could I have done something to prevented it etc etc. I can imagine doing this kind of self talk to come to terms with not being able to see it. IYKWIM

Heels99 · 29/06/2015 12:58

Ok Well if the neighbours said the killer was the victim then Yanbu. But you didn't mention that in your op.

Sallyingforth · 29/06/2015 13:10

This often happens in such cases because the neighbours want to absolve themselves of guilt for not reporting any suspicions they may have had. Better to say they had none.

Shakshuka · 29/06/2015 15:54

Babbas

How do you manage to drag Israel into something completely unrelated?! Israel isn't responsible for ISIS atrocities.

But if you are in the contest of 'good guy' child killing on a beach, there's always Samir Kuntar who infiltrated Israel from Lebanon, kidnapped a 4 year old and her father, shot and drowned her father on the beach in front of her eyes and then smashed.her skull in with a rifle butt.

He was given honorary Palestinian citizenship and celebrated as a hero in Lebanon when he was released in a prisoner swap.

Clearly they think him a 'good guy'

EachandEveryone · 29/06/2015 16:03

xiaozhu · 29/06/2015 16:04

Is this a 'Muslims are all implicitly condoning terrorism by not condemning it strongly enough' thread?

toofytrub · 29/06/2015 16:32

And it's fairly classic when you read newspaper reports of serial murderers to see their neighbours and work colleagues saying exactly the same thing - that he (it's usually a he) seemed a nice man, quiet, kept to himself.

Unfortunately people who want to go out and commit these atrocities, whatever their backgrounds or reasons for doing so, don't go out and write it large across their foreheads - would be a lot easier if they did!

AnyoneForTennis · 29/06/2015 16:39

My neighbours are Muslim, with teen boys. I'd be horrified if they went away and were radicalised and ended up dead from doing this kind of thing. I'd also be thinking he was (once) a good lad with good parents, how has this happened? I'd be in shock too. I'd still be thinking of him as the boy next door cutting the grass/playing football etc

nikinaki · 29/06/2015 19:29

Guys I just want to clarify that I am 100% not starting this thread to cause an argument or be racist in any way. I have NOT stated what race I am. And I am not saying that they shouldn't think that he seemed a nice guy. It was the 2 comments in the news report that implied they thought he was the victim. I am trying to clue myself up on all the terrorist news etc.. and don't know enough to form any opinion, this post wasn't about that. It was simply that the neighbours thought he was the victim.

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BoyScout · 29/06/2015 19:43

I feel for his dad. From what he said, you can tell he is heartbroken for the victims.

xiaozhu · 29/06/2015 20:26

To a certain extent, I do think some of these young people who are brainwashed and radicalised into committing suicidal acts of violence like this are also victims. They often seem vulnerable and impressionable, and are used as dispensable pawns in a larger game that they probably don't fully understand.

But then, I try to see the best in all people. Perhaps they are just inherently evil.

Shakshuka · 29/06/2015 20:29

It probably end up with a far fetched conspiracy theory. That's what happens when people have a hard time internalizing that 'one of them' could commit such a senseless and barbaric act.

that's what happened after 9/11. I think the Cia/mossad/mi5 were already blamed for the Tunis museum massacre.

AuntieStella · 30/06/2015 16:38

I thought of this thread when I saw some news items today.

The BBC version, just after the attack, is that his neighbours suspected nothing:

"Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on a tourist beach leaving at least 38 people dead. But the people who knew him told the BBC he was polite, never swore, never fought and liked breakdancing.
"Rezgui was not previously known to the security services. But Islamic State (IS), which said it was behind the attack, referred to him by a nom de guerre - Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani."

But, and it's a big but, what is being reported today paints a totally different picture: news.sky.com/story/1510616/no-lone-wolf-terror-network-trained-gunman "Sky's investigation involves interviews with more than a dozen students and friends of the killer, including one who confirms that Rezgui confessed to him he was an IS member and a jihadist."

So, why on earth did none of these people report it? Or if they did, is it just the case that there are so many radicalised people that the authorities cannot out major resources into investigating every report?

Inkanta · 30/06/2015 18:34

Babbas - are you causing your trouble again!!

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