Denial is a river in Australia..
At 9:45 a.m. on December 15, a gunman walked into a Lindt chocolate cafe in downtown Sydney and initiated a 16-hour hostage situation that locked down the heart of the city and resulted in the deaths of two hostages.
Initial images of the attack showed Lindt staff and patrons pressed against the cafe windows with their arms raised. Two held aloft a black flag with white Arabic writing scrawled across it. Another woman appeared to gesture, sliding a finger along her neck. Behind them, a man wearing a bandana stalked back and forth.
Seventeen hours of tense negotiations ended when police resorted to a frontal assault into the shop after hearing gunfire within. The tragic finale was the end of Australia’s most publicized terrorist attack since the wide-scale police raids on potential Muslim terrorists in western Sydney earlier this year. Along with the publicity came the debating.
Denial
With the uncertainty and media-fueled hype, one commonality was peddled by the media and political elites alike. The assailant, Man Haron Monis, was a) insane and b) acting completely alone and independent of any religious or political group.
This denial constitutes the greatest flaw in Australia’s handling of the situation. It also highlights just how bound up in politically correct behavior the nation is—to the point where a terrorist can no longer be called a terrorist.
It is understandable that the police commissioner, prime minister and other authorities would not state the political motivations behind the attack until it was resolved, but now that the dust has settled the only thing we hear is denial.
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