Cortney covered the horrific terrorist attack in Manchester, UK after an Ariana Grande concert, which left 22 people dead, including an eight-year-old girl, and at least 50 people wounded. It’s the worst terror attack the United Kingdom has experienced since the London July 7 bombings in 2005. Twelve of the 22 fatalities were under the age of 16. The UK authorities are treating this as a terrorist attack. The perpetrator of this suicide bombing was 23-year-old Salman Abedi, who detonated his explosive near the box office of the Manchester Arena. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Responses have been that of shock, horror, disgust, and sadness. Social media responses are mostly an outpouring of support, though some have been quite vile. Over here, one Democratic congressional candidate in Massachusetts, Brianna Wu, decided to blame sexism instead of terrorism.
When a man straps on a bomb of nails, goes to woman's concert to kill an audience of women and girls - IT'S A SAFE BET SEXISM IS INVOLVED.
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) May 23, 2017
What in the fresh hell is this? People are dead. Families are grieving. A nation is shocked, and we have this nonsense pouring into the mix. It’s unseemly. It’s uncalled for—and it’s wrong. This is an act of terrorism. We really don’t need a social justice warrior 101 analysis of this attack.
UPDATE: Wu deleted the tweet, but then decided to give us a lecture in five parts. Also, no one is saying misogyny doesn’t exist. And yes, thank you for pointing out radical Islamic groups aren’t—you know—down with feminism. Women get stoned in these regions; get acid gets thrown at them, and are subjected to genital mutilation. There is no outcry from the feminist Left. None. Where were you ladies with the lectures about fading misogyny when migrants went on a sexual assault rampage in Cologne, Germany on New Years Eve in 2015? Just a rule of thumb: gender and national security studies don’t mix. Also, Osama bin Laden didn’t attack us because of sexism/misogyny. His war with us started because we propped up the apostates (the Saudi Royal Family) in his native Saudi Arabia. So, for a group that hates westerners, like al-Qaeda or ISIS, a suicide bomb attack at a jam-packed arena in Manchester seems like a good target. It’s very public. The victims were young which strikes at the heart of a society’s morale, and they probably know that a lot of people would be there to maximize casualties. What a way to influence the wider audience, which is a core tenant of terrorism?
1/ I absolutely believe that misogyny was part of the #ManchesterBombing. ISIS has deliberately targeted women as a strategy for years.
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) May 23, 2017
2/ The operative word is "part of." It doesn't mean other forces aren't at play, but clearly - this is a large component of this tragedy.
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) May 23, 2017
3/ It's fairly shocking to me the dishonest gymnastics people go through to pretend misogyny doesn't exist. People want to erase it.
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) May 23, 2017
4/ Thousands of people are screaming at me for pointing out what the @washingtonpost has reported, that sexism was probably a factor here.
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) May 23, 2017
@washingtonpost 5/ I'm going to continue speaking about these forces, especially violence, and continue working for a more equal world for girls and women.
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) May 23, 2017
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