This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/manchester-ariana-grande-salman-abedi.html

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
The Power of Ariana Grande The Power of Ariana Grande
(about 9 hours later)
LONDON — Between Instagram and Twitter, Ariana Grande has over 150 million followers, more than the population of Britain and France combined. Bubbly and self-assured, this young artist whose Manchester show ended in the blast of a terrorist bomb connects every day with her fans, known as “Arianators.”LONDON — Between Instagram and Twitter, Ariana Grande has over 150 million followers, more than the population of Britain and France combined. Bubbly and self-assured, this young artist whose Manchester show ended in the blast of a terrorist bomb connects every day with her fans, known as “Arianators.”
As my colleague Tariro Mzezewa writes of Grande, “She posts more than most celebrities, which fans probably love, and she posts silly things like photos of cute puppies or cute outfits, but also she’ll do something like post that she wants her fans to say three things they like about themselves on social media, which is great because it’s mostly teen girls. In a way, she’s created this safe space online for her fans and I would say there’s an expectation that that transfers into her concert venues.”As my colleague Tariro Mzezewa writes of Grande, “She posts more than most celebrities, which fans probably love, and she posts silly things like photos of cute puppies or cute outfits, but also she’ll do something like post that she wants her fans to say three things they like about themselves on social media, which is great because it’s mostly teen girls. In a way, she’s created this safe space online for her fans and I would say there’s an expectation that that transfers into her concert venues.”
It did not in Manchester because of the murderous Salman Abedi, who at 22 was just a year younger than Grande. Abedi, a British citizen of Libyan descent, had been seduced by the anti-Western, woman-hating ideology of the Islamic State, which swirls around the internet. Born and raised in Britain he found in a cult-like form of caliphate-seeking Islamist violence — rather than the more accessible glories of Manchester United — his reason for life and death in North West England. It did not in Manchester because of the murderous Salman Abedi, who at 22 was just a year younger than Grande. Abedi, a British citizen of Libyan descent, had been seduced by the anti-Western, woman-hating ideology of the Islamic State, which swirls around the internet. Born and raised in Britain he found in a cultlike form of caliphate-seeking Islamist violence — rather than the more accessible glories of Manchester United — his reason for life and death in North West England.
It’s unclear just what combination of gangs, drugs, sexual frustration, inadequacy, political and religious indoctrination, cultural alienation and personal failure pushed him to kill 22 people, including an eight-year-old, by blowing himself up. In all likelihood we will never know. His path by now is well trodden. It defies formulaic dissection or socioeconomic patterns. Terrorist tipping-points are enigmas.It’s unclear just what combination of gangs, drugs, sexual frustration, inadequacy, political and religious indoctrination, cultural alienation and personal failure pushed him to kill 22 people, including an eight-year-old, by blowing himself up. In all likelihood we will never know. His path by now is well trodden. It defies formulaic dissection or socioeconomic patterns. Terrorist tipping-points are enigmas.
What we do know is that a special corner of hell is reserved for killers who target children. To propel, through self-detonation, bolts and nails into kids is a particular infamy.What we do know is that a special corner of hell is reserved for killers who target children. To propel, through self-detonation, bolts and nails into kids is a particular infamy.
I watched the around-the-clock coverage in Britain and found outrage and pain giving way to a kind of numbness. There is something ritualistic about these events by now. I watched the round-the-clock coverage in Britain and found outrage and pain giving way to a kind of numbness. There is something ritualistic about these events by now.
The vows to carry on with unbowed calm, the acts of generosity and the coming-together of strangers are uplifting; but we know that lives are in fact changed, conversations are in fact different, children do in fact look more vulnerable, unity does in fact abate, and the itch of hatred and intolerance does in fact stir. A lot of words, and I am writing more, resolve nothing whatsoever.The vows to carry on with unbowed calm, the acts of generosity and the coming-together of strangers are uplifting; but we know that lives are in fact changed, conversations are in fact different, children do in fact look more vulnerable, unity does in fact abate, and the itch of hatred and intolerance does in fact stir. A lot of words, and I am writing more, resolve nothing whatsoever.
The pattern has established itself since the bloody dawn of this millennium. First the shock, then the smart-phone video images, then the online frenzy, then the Al Qaeda or Islamic State claim, then the bristling determination of world leaders like President Trump to defeat terrorism. The pattern has established itself since the bloody dawn of this millennium. First the shock, then the smartphone video images, then the online frenzy, then the Al Qaeda or Islamic State claim, then the bristling determination of world leaders like President Trump to defeat terrorism.
And, at the end, the wait for the next incident begins.And, at the end, the wait for the next incident begins.
No force on earth — and certainly not Saudi Arabia’s new U.S. weapons or terrorism-combatting institutions — can stop a widely disseminated Wahhabi ideology of hatred converting a susceptible individual and driving him to mass murder. The internet is morally agnostic. It forges community, or kindles hatred, with complete indifference. No attempt to censor its content can alter this core characteristic. In its duality it mirrors its creator, humankind. This is 21st-century life. Or perhaps, simply, it is life.No force on earth — and certainly not Saudi Arabia’s new U.S. weapons or terrorism-combatting institutions — can stop a widely disseminated Wahhabi ideology of hatred converting a susceptible individual and driving him to mass murder. The internet is morally agnostic. It forges community, or kindles hatred, with complete indifference. No attempt to censor its content can alter this core characteristic. In its duality it mirrors its creator, humankind. This is 21st-century life. Or perhaps, simply, it is life.
It could be worse. We live better and longer than our forebears.It could be worse. We live better and longer than our forebears.
Terrorism must be confronted at every level, combatted through all means (intelligence, military, the police, policies that favor social integration) but it cannot, as Trump insists, be eradicated. It can be contained. There is no Day of Victory in this fight — and certainly no victory in siding with dictators. Terrorism must be confronted at every level, combated through all means (intelligence, military, the police, policies that favor social integration) but it cannot, as Trump insists, be eradicated. It can be contained. There is no Day of Victory in this fight — and certainly no victory in siding with dictators.
On one night, in Manchester, worlds elide.On one night, in Manchester, worlds elide.
A young woman from Florida grows up in the public glare. On Nickelodeon’s show “Victorious” she becomes a star, playing a character called Cat with fiery red hair (the color of the red velvet cupcakes she loves.) Cat is ditzy and playful and empathetic; the show attracts millions. The young woman can sing, with a wide vocal range. Unlike other rising teen stars, including Miley Cyrus, she circumvents scandal and manages adolescence and her career transition with dignity. She tries to bolster that most brittle of things: self-esteem in teenage girls. Her proud femininity, can-do assurance and sexiness say all things are possible. She hosts Saturday Night Live once. She has more Instagram followers than Beyoncé. Ariana Grande thrills and comforts adolescents. A young woman from Florida grows up in the public glare. On Nickelodeon’s show “Victorious” she becomes a star, playing a character called Cat with fiery red hair (the color of the red velvet cupcakes she loves.) Cat is ditsy and playful and empathetic; the show attracts millions. The young woman can sing, with a wide vocal range. Unlike other rising teen stars, including Miley Cyrus, she circumvents scandal and manages adolescence and her career transition with dignity. She tries to bolster that most brittle of things: self-esteem in teenage girls. Her proud femininity, can-do assurance and sexiness say all things are possible. She hosts Saturday Night Live once. She has more Instagram followers than Beyoncé. Ariana Grande thrills and comforts adolescents.
Then a young man her age self-detonates. Boom. Silence. Screams. Blood. Limbs. Grande will grow up faster now. Her bunny ears may not resist the gravity of death so revealed.Then a young man her age self-detonates. Boom. Silence. Screams. Blood. Limbs. Grande will grow up faster now. Her bunny ears may not resist the gravity of death so revealed.
Is Grande’s network stronger than Abedi’s? I believe it is. The public face of the world — the Islamic State and all those meaningless words — is ugly right now. But behind it, in myriad ways, billions use the forces of connection to resist the abyss and lift humanity.Is Grande’s network stronger than Abedi’s? I believe it is. The public face of the world — the Islamic State and all those meaningless words — is ugly right now. But behind it, in myriad ways, billions use the forces of connection to resist the abyss and lift humanity.
I wonder if Trump can learn anything from this terrorist attack, and Pope Francis, and Yad Vashem and Jerusalem. The thing he needs, and the world demands of him, is the thing furthest from his bullying nature (as illustrated once again at NATO): humility.I wonder if Trump can learn anything from this terrorist attack, and Pope Francis, and Yad Vashem and Jerusalem. The thing he needs, and the world demands of him, is the thing furthest from his bullying nature (as illustrated once again at NATO): humility.