One dead, two injured after man attacks tourists near Paris' Eiffel Tower
ReutersDEC 2023
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Armand is yet another lone-wolf Islamic State attacker who, against the background of the Israel-Hamas war, felt prompted to carry out violent actions in his home country of France. Despite coming from a secular background, he converted to Islam and has long been radicalized online. This tragic incident exposes the need to expand interventionist, compulsory treatment for potential extremists with mental health issues.
Establishment-critical narrative
Another day, another terrorist attack in Europe. Yet, authorities and the media insist on regurgitating the fallacy of lone-wolf terrorism, as if such behavior could ever go unnoticed in their communities, as well as the myth of online self-radicalization, as if the environment played no role in this process. Instead of crying Islamophobia and blaming individual actions, authorities must take serious steps to prevent these attacks.