You find them everywhere, and throughout your life: manipulative people with their own agenda looking to get something out of you. The more you encounter these people, the more you realise that their tactics go further than just flattery and false friendships. There are a number of quite sophisticated ways of manipulating someone, and more often than not you only realise what has happened when it is too late.
They study you, find out what your buttons are, and then they push them knowing exactly what the reaction will be. It is this sort of manipulation, so empirical, patient and measured in its attack that makes it so scary.
However, with any luck, we learn about ourselves through them and learn what to look out for so that we can spot a manipulator before we find ourselves in trouble. Europe is being manipulated. It is being studied, or has been studied, in order to be predictable. Daesh knows how attitudes towards immigration are affected by every attack. They know how to fulfil the worst nightmares bandied about by the Far Right in Europe to increase the likelihood of division in Europe, a division previous generations have worked so hard and tirelessly to eradicate.
No sooner did the Brussels bombing occur, than Nigel Farage, opportunistically, claimed how much safer the UK would be outside of Europe and some news reporters were quick to point out that it wouldn’t have happened without Schengen in place. Was that really needed?
In the US, division can be sown through bringing into question the gun laws that exist. Gun ownership, a long-held tradition in the US, is a sticky issue even when the attackers are white US citizens.
When the attackers are Daesh psychopaths, it drags in problems regarding immigration and before you know it we see Donald Trump promising to ban all Muslims from entering the US, and the liberal left saying ‘No’ to banning Muslims, but ‘Yes’ to banning guns, along with yet another attack on our privacy with people debating whether or not our phones should be easily accessed by authorities.
It is the predictability of our reactions that put Daesh one step ahead of us
It is as predictable a reaction as saying the word ‘Mintoff’ in any social situation in Malta. The lines get drawn very quickly, and before you know it a civilised drinks party splits down the middle.
It is not difficult to observe such reactions, and then find a way to predict what may well happen next. We resort to these reactions axiomatically, as if they are obvious, normal and don’t deserve further examination. We fail to see what is right in front of our nose: a divide and conquer technique that is as old as the Age of Empire.
However, implicit in all that is an animosity towards all peaceful Muslims who just want to live their lives and be part of a society that increasingly rejects and targets them. Daesh want this mainly because it gives them the lonely and disenfranchised they need to manipulate and ensnare. Before it was gangs that offered people a sense of worth and belonging. It gave them a fraternity to be part of.
When you are alone in a world that increasingly hates you, you are constantly filled with fear and in desperate need of protection. Being part of a group offers that.
Today there is Daesh.So you have to ask yourself this one important question: do you want Daesh to win? I don’t. But in the face of such adversity, such tragedies, it is difficult to remember how not to fight fire with fire. If we really and truly are resolved to putting an end to Daesh and its plans, we must learn to left-foot them by reacting in a way they do not expect or want.
Unity is the only answer. Enough talk about how other countries aren’t doing their bit. We must fight their hate with our love, acceptance, and tolerance. We must not let their devious plans have their desired effect. We are being manipulated, and we must realise this.
It is the predictability of our reactions that put Daesh one step ahead of us. From every terrorist attack they learn something, while we continue to drown in Far Right propaganda and political posturing and, in effect, learn nothing.
Must we always blame immigrants? Let’s send a stronger message of peace. Let’s not turn our back on the freedoms we have enjoyed for so long. Let’s not become that which our past dictates. Let’s take control of our future, our peace of mind, and our safety, and not give in to the hate and division Daesh seek to foster within us.
Edward Caruana Galizia is an actor and studied psycho-social studies at Birkbeck University of London.