Born in Israel, last year I looked out from my grandparents’ third floor apartment in a quiet Tel Aviv neighbourhood. I saw the all-too-familiar flashes of light piercing the dark sky. I heard the boom, boom. It’s not only angels who fall from the heavens—flying rockets reach the ground just as easily.
I panicked, I was scared, but I turned on the television to hear what the Israeli spokesperson had to say. “Don’t be afraid,” he said in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles. “Explosions only sound like they’re near.”
Paris, the city of lights and love, has never been the city of fear. It won’t start now.
Because if hate can thrive only on panic, it’s more than simply warming to see the widespread support from almost the entire world beating together as one. ISIS claims it wages war because France supports moderate rebels in Syria, even though many other nations alongside Canada support them just as defiantly.
Even to call the terrorism committed in Paris an attack betrays what it was. There was no specific motive released, no military target chosen. It was an act of terror against civilians for the sole purpose of scaring us. Us, the West—those who believe in liberty, democracy, and good governance unimpeded by theological rule. From our mosques to football stadiums we preach women as equals, the division of church and state, faiths practicing in common dwellings. These concepts don’t just scare ISIS, they terrify them.
It’s easy to think our world is becoming more violent. ISIS sure wants us to think so. Easy to just fall into the trap of only looking at Ukraine, and Syria, and Nigeria, and Paris.
Yet, at the end of the day, we need to remember one fact. Our world is becoming more peaceful. In 2015, we fight fewer battles and wage fewer wars. Deaths due to not only military conflict but even murder are falling with the closing of each decade.
Rape, assault, robbery—by virtually every metric, violence is down. Statistics can deceive but they can never lie. Dare the naysayers to follow the falling trendline from a generation ago. No wonder Harvard professor Steven Pinker calls our modern world the “most peaceable era in the existence of our species.”
During the 1950s, there were approximately 250 war-related deaths per million people. Now, according to the 2013 Human Security Report, there’s less than 10 per million. Though we still have a way to go, look at how far we’ve gone.
These numbers belittle ISIS’s message. They reinforce the notion our world is becoming safer, and murdering civilians isn’t compatible with the 21st century. Before any attempt to kidnap a faith, extremists must first deceive.
We no longer fight massive pitched battles. Gone are the days when tanks ruled over cities. Korea and Vietnam have been over for decades. Gaddafi invaded Chad. Gaddafi sponsored terrorism. Gaddafi is no more. Since the 1970s, few dictators remain across Latin America and Eastern Europe.
The deaths in Paris are a tragedy. Full stop. But don’t for a moment believe ISIS’s lies that our world is breaking apart. If anything, it’s leading to greener pastures and bluer skies, no matter what and no matter who dares to take the side of the sabre over the common shield.
Explosions, the television said, only sound near.
