German paper Focus joins a Kalashnikov and the word Islam on its front page

Submitted by myth (Germany), Jan 21, 2015 at 16:28

German weekly Focus comes with a provocative front page in this week's edition as reaction to recent islamist killings in France. The page shows both a Kalashnikov and the word "Islam".

http://focus-abo.de/out/pictures/generated/product/1/320_400_90/focus-aktuelle-ausgabe-04-2015.jpg

The text in German: "Das hat nichts mit dem Islam zu tun" Doch! (very large letters). Glaube und Gewalt: Warum Muslime ihre Relgion jetzt erneuern müssen - und wie die Freiheit zu verteidigen ist.

in English: "This has nothing to do with Islam" Yes, it does! (very large letters, the German -doch- is a one word answer which oppose a statement that is essentially a negation ). Faith and violence: why muslimes must reform their religion now - and how to defend freedom.

The language reveals sharper and more pointed tone than I have ever seen in Western papers before:

1. (G)laube und (G)ewalt a carefully chosen alliteration in German meaning faith and violence. The alliteration reflects the connection of the two subjects.
2. The quotation marks around the statement "this has nothing to do with Islam" undermine the validity of the statement by means of typography. In the same way the exclamation mark highlights the truth of the answer.
3. The single word answer -Doch- beats the longer statement "...nothing to do...".
4. The line "muslim must reform their religion" demands responsiblity from the muslims for they own "their" religion. That turns around the (grammatical) ownership-relation in phrases containing "adherents of Islam", "members of the Islamis community".
5. The question now is "how" to defend freedom, no longer is it "do we have to defend".

Note how Islam is called into question, not merely Islamism. Focus is among the three big weekly magazines in German. The other two being "Der Spiegel" and "Stern".

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