J.K. Rowling responds to Murdoch's tweet about Muslim responsibility for terrorist attacks

The recent terrorist attacks in France have evoked various emotions. Many are saddened and angered by the senseless deaths of 17 people. Some are afraid. Most, however, have realized the importance of solidarity.

Creating pools of people that can be recruited to prolong and continue terrorist agendas is often the reasoning behind attacks like the ones that took place in Paris this past week. The idea, as explained by the The Nation, is that if jihadists stage killing sprees, other Muslims will be blamed. If that happens, it can create division between communities and foster a sense of persecution among the blamed. Eventually, those ostracized citizens will want to fight back, making them more willing to join extremist groups.

At 9:07 p.m. on January 9, 2015, Rupert Murdoch fell for this psychological scheme when he tweeted that all Muslims should take responsibility for jihadist acts of violence.

Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015

He almost immediately followed it with another tweet in response to criticism of his lack of political correctness.

Big jihadist danger looming everywhere from Philippines to Africa to Europe to US. Political correctness makes for denial and hypocrisy.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015

J.K. Rowling responded to Murdoch with a tweet announcing her refusal to accept responsibility for the bigotry and violence espoused by fundamentalist Christians, including a link to an article published by The Guardian that argued against Murdoch’s statement. She then satirically tweeted that the Spanish Inquisition was her fault.

I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I'll auto-excommunicate. http://t.co/Atw1wNk8UX

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 11, 2015

Image via Twitter from J.K. Rowling.

.@dom209 The Spanish Inquisition was my fault, as is all Christian fundamentalist violence. Oh, and Jim Bakker.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 11, 2015

Saturday, January 10, 2015, many marches took place throughout France to counteract these terrorist intentions, denounce such blaming and promote unity between all French citizens. This was followed by French President Francois Hollande’s unity march Sunday, January 11, 2015, which garnered the support of world leaders, and attracted over one million participants. Thankfully they are not ensnared in the same trap as Murdoch, who is still receiving response tweets and posts on Facebook.