Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.
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Question: Sia's video: let's be wary of seeing paedophilia everywhere. Australian musician Sia has apologised to anyone "triggered" by her video for Elastic Heart, featuring Shia LaBeouf and 12-year-old dance prodigy Maggie Ziegler, dancing together, in flesh-coloured outfits (Ziegler sporting a platinum Sia wig), in a cage . The video has caused uproar in some quarters . Fame-averse Sia(who generally performs with her face hidden) tweeted:"I anticipated some 'paedophilia!!!' cries for this video . All I can say is Maddie and Shia are two of the only actors I felt could play these two warring 'Sia self states'" , adding that her intention was to "create some emotional content, not to upset anybody" . The video is jarring . Famously troubled LaBeouf and Ziegler dance around, wrestling, attacking, playing . At one point, LaBeouf holds Ziegler aloft ; at another, he tries to stroke her and she kicks and hisses to get away . Elsewhere, Ziegler wraps her tiny limbs around LaBeouf in a feral grip . Watching it, I realised that the intensity(Sia's "emotional content") was the reason it was jarring - the mere fact that the video wasn't carefully benign, cheaply titillating or just plain boring, like so much else in the genre . In Elastic Heart, the grown man and the young girl are alive with feelings for each other, running the gamut from amusement and play through to fury to despair . What isn't there is sexuality . In fact ,  it baffles me how anyone could look seriously at Elastic Heart and claim to see any sexual content whatsoever . Can't a grown man and a young girl produce art with edge and beauty of any kind without a squalid sexual subtext instantly being read into it? Sia seemed to apologise for potentially triggering memories of child sex abuse and grooming (as some accused her of doing, on behalf of abuse victims) . Of course we all sympathise with abuse victims . However, one would imagine that such triggers would be everywhere - perhaps mainly focused on the most ordinary and domestic of situations . All of which couldn't be further away from a highly choreographed performance of an arty cage dance . If some abuse survivors were genuinely disturbed by Elastic Heart then fair enough, but what about those who referred to it as an excuse for their own unease? Are these people aware that Ziegler performed solo, dressed identically, dancing similarly, for Sia's Chandelier video . Did this talented young dancer remind them of child sex abuse then? If not, is it because LaBeouf was in Elastic Heart - so presumably a woman performing the same dance with Ziegler would have been perfectly fine . Is this where we are now: society flinching from the sight of a man and a girl performing together in any way that hasn't been entirely emotionally neutered? Ultimately, this discomfort seems wrapped up in our own dirty, addled, increasingly paranoid 21st-century mindset, in which paedophilia, once so grotesquely secretive, is now seen everywhere and in the most kneejerk fashion . No one could complain about increased awareness of abuse , which means that children are finally protected and believed . Such instincts come from a good (better informed) place . However ,  the situation has surely become overcooked when paedophilia becomes one of the first things we presume and in the most ludicrous settings . It becomes so that everything, even art, is expected to distil and accommodate all the retrospective guilt of bygone eras: the fact that so many perpetrators of the past weren't caught, that we were lax, not observant or protective enough . In some ways, it's good not to forget ; in others, perhaps we need to get past it . The latter is true of Elastic Heart - a video found to be offensive because of sanctioned hysteria, rather than anything happening on screen  - all the more disturbing when set against the wider background of any artist being scared into silence or self-censorship . Sia should not have been badgered into an apology . She had nothing to apologise for . Russia has listed transsexual and transgender people as no longer being allowed to qualify for driving licences . They are to be classed as having "mental disorders" , which would also include exhibitionism, voyeurism and fetishism of any kind (others include compulsive gambling and stealing) . The official line is that this is because there are too many road accidents in Russia and tightening medical controls has become necessary . However ,  Russian psychiatrists and human rights lawyers have condemned the move , which appears to follow on from the infamous 2013 legislation that made the promotion of "non-traditional lifestyles" illegal . Barring a person from driving for no good reason is a serious matter . It takes away not only a civilian right but also a prime symbol of adult autonomy ; never mind the real logistical difficulties that being car-less might present in parts of Russia . It also means that people who might feel that they'd benefit from some degree of psychiatric counselling would feel less inclined to do so if they feared losing their cars . What a farce . There are some of us who would like it proved that a certain Vladimir Putin is mentally fit to ride that horse he is often(and so sexily!) perched upon . There are shots I've seen where he looks quite thrillingly "barking", bobbing about on his saddle, with no top on, brandishing a rifle like the big he-man he oh so obviously is . More seriously, this reminds us that it's still important to keep abreast of Russian moves such as these . Big and small, these laws represent blatant targeting of minorities and cynical affronts to international human rights . This latest one is yet another shift towards the blanket criminalisation of anything other than blessed, state-ordained heterosexuality . We must keep watching . I go pretty low with television, lower than is dignified . But even I have never watched The Jump , the Channel 4 reality show where low-rent celebrities compete in a variety of winter sports, with the slowest two each week being made to perform a ski jump to decide who will be eliminated . There are always casualties during training . This time, Ola Jordan, of Strictly Come Dancing, injured her knee so badly that it threatens her dancing career . The Speaker's wife, Sally Bercow, also injured herself - her ribs, not her gob , so she'll be able to carry on just fine . We all accept this kind of caper as "normal", but on what premise is such dangerous and sadistic television justified? I thought Splash! was irresponsible(unfit semi-famous people falling off high-diving boards after minimal training) . But ski jumping - are they kidding? A test of mettle, my derriere; this is Lord of the Flies with frostbite . Why don't programme makers go the whole hog and push C-listers into fast-moving traffic and allow viewers to vote on who gets squelched by an articulated lorry the fastest? If people dislike celebrities, then fine, but breaking their bones should be off limits .

Answer: Ultimately, this discomfort seems wrapped up in our own dirty, addled, increasingly paranoid 21st-century mindset, in which paedophilia, once so grotesquely secretive, is now seen everywhere and in the most kneejerk fashion  the situation has surely become overcooked when paedophilia becomes one of the first things we presume and in the most ludicrous settings


Question: Fearmongering in Sydney. Australians turning on their televisions Monday morning to watch breakfast and cooking shows were instead greeted with news channels beaming minute-to-minute fearmongering of the ongoing siege at a chocolate shop in Sydney . When customers and employees were taken hostage by a lone gunman , and a flag with"There is only one God" inscription in Arabic was held in the window , it was enough to hold the rest of the country hostage to their fears and TV screens . Should it be that way and what should an appropriate response look like? First ,  consider what this violent thug had designed our reaction to be . The site of the siege was likely no afterthought - located in the heart of the Sydney CBD and directly opposite a major television station, the shop had made it ideal for the media to report on . Streets were cordoned off , public transport diverted , and a strong contingent of police sent to the Opera House . All made for good visuals of the incident and terror in an otherwise peaceful city . Even the most left-leaning and progressive members of parliament, like Greens MP Adam Bandt, who have repeatedly defended the Muslim community from unjust discrimination and generalisation, tweeted to their followers in the first hours of the siege that it was "terrifying" . Was it really? Was it at all terrifying for you personally, Adam? If it was , I'd hate to know what the hostages experienced, including the two who were murdered . A strike in the public's dark . For once, Prime Minister Tony Abbott had a more mature response than his colleagues on the opposite side . Such a situation can "scare people out of being themselves", he said in his first press briefing, before urging all Australians to go about their business as usual . Although he told the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the authorities , he said so with calm and caution . Vitally, he avoided using the t-word at this early stage, or any formulation thereof . No doubt we have since learnt a lot more about this deranged outsider and his motives , and it is clear he had terrorist intent . His website, which was shut down during the final hours of the siege, had a message dated December 14, which described why Muslims "fight against the oppression and terrorism" of the US and its allies, including the UK and Australia . The rampant speculation before this was unnecessary and unhelpful, however , and letting the siege sow fear, enough so to publicly describe it as "terrifying", was handing a victory to an extremist . With the hot Australian summer setting in, many people's minds turn to beer, barbeques, family, and Christmas presents, not the possibility of "politically motivated violence", as Abbott wisely phrased it . Intriguingly, Australians fear terrorism more than a foreign invasion, despite many believing we'd have no hope of fending off the latter and despite us never directly experiencing the former . Given the opportunity to attribute a complexly motivated act to terrorism , it's no wonder this all-too-easy escape mechanism which avoids rigorous thought or objective analysis was adopted en masse . The most noted incidents in Australia's experience of terrorism have been mostly foreign tragedies, like the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, or the 2004 Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta . Although the September raids and arrests of suspected domestic terrorists in Sydney and Brisbane set a new landscape and brought the thought of an attack to our own shores , they merely raised the thought, not the authentic actuality . The raids sparked limited local backlash against peaceful Muslims at the time , and this was both unwarranted and unwanted . Though it only goes to further support my thesis ; Australians just aren't used to this sort of thing and thus are unpractised in their response . That said , it hasn't stopped thousands on social media to show solidarity with minorities through the #IllRideWithYou campaign . When the Abbott government raised the domestic terrorism threat level to high before the September raids , many local commentators criticised what they branded as political theatre (both before and after the arrests) . To consider this is to suggest an even baser type of political animal than is presently expected by even the most cynical of observers . Would any rational actor toy with people's lives for short-term political ends in what was an unimportant political week? What end does that even achieve? Plainly, none, and it is sensationally conspiratorialist to suggest otherwise . To protest against such raids and continue looking at them through a political lens was just as unwarranted and unwanted as the racial-profiling and racial- hatred which events like these have sparked . Terrorism isn't something that we should let foster, anywhere , and the public reactions to the raids were unjustifiably sceptical in comparison to the response to the Sydney siege . Even so ,  the authorities' heed for caution may have come too late for some . Slipshod media reports that the flag held in the shop window was an ISIL flag - when it was not- may have already fuelled the imaginations of too many . Whatever the outcome of the full investigation, one thing remains clear : This was a tragic learning experience for the Australian media, public, and politicians . Keep calm and carry on, though pay a thought or two to how we ought to respond to events like these in the future .

Answer: Even the most left-leaning and progressive members of parliament, like Greens MP Adam Bandt, who have repeatedly defended the Muslim community from unjust discrimination and generalisation, tweeted to their followers in the first hours of the siege that it was "terrifying"


Question: What the Quran says about the mighty pen. Muslims - in theory - have traditions that value the power of the pen . Islam was revealed to save people from bloodshed and misuse of the sword . That is a paraphrasing of the cardinal's line in one of the Acts of Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1839 play "Richelieu" . The origin of the timeless adage is thought to have originated in Assyrian wisdom - like Islam, moral and value systems of Middle Eastern descent . However ,  the moral, intellectual and ethical systems of that region - including those carried through dialogue with Hellenic ideas in the first three centuries of Islam - have all been subjected to obscurantist and literalist interpretations of revelation . Islam's first command to the Prophet Muhammad was to "read" ; "Read in the name of thy Lord." Chapter 68 in the Quran is named "Al-Qalam" (the pen) . It opens up with the verse:"By the pen and what they inscribe." In Chapter 96 of the Quran one finds another reference to the high value placed on the might of the pen ; "Who taught by the pen. Taught mankind that which he knew not"(96:4-5) . So it should be natural for Muslims today to feel total empathy towards fellow writers and journalists and the families of other victims in France . Especially in solidarity against the cowardly slaying of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists . Reading and writing belong to the "genus" of cross-disciplinary activities Islam insists upon repeatedly . Reading, writing and reasoning are all part and parcel of the way of life Islam is all about . In Chapter 55 we find "Allah - Most Gracious! It is He Who has taught the Quran. He has created man. He has taught him eloquence [intelligence]" (55:1-4) . The didactic ethos of numerous Quranic injunctions on the pen, knowing and reasoning, seem to be lost today in the heap of ignorance and obscurantism that is consuming many a Muslim land . Lands where scholars of Islam underwrite political power at the expense of freedom of speech and a rational interpreting of the Quran that delivers Muslims from the yoke of oppression that is consuming Muslim youth and pleads the case of social justice, freedom of thought and tolerance . The sad state of the violence that today engulfs Muslim cities, pitting Muslim against Muslim, is in no small measure the result of the over-politicisation and over-securitisation of Islam . Whole states are disintegrating , and religious and sectarian intolerance is ushering in a horrible era of annihilation and self-destruction . Islam never began with jihad (a holy war) . The miracle of the Prophet Muhammad is that he knew when to retreat(via Hijra or emigration) to build values of solidarity, peaceful coexistence with all kinds of "otherness" (such as in Medina and hostile Arab tribes), create know-how, and voluntarism in faith and membership of community, along with moderation ("wasatiyya") . Quran is the word for "reading" . Those Muslims who, in cold blood, killed French journalists and cartoonists, supposedly to "avenge the prophet" miss the point about the prophet's ways . That includes the injunctions that "Verily, this Quran guides [human beings] to that which is most just"(17:9), and"If anyone took a life unless it be for murder and spreading injustice in the land, it would be as if he killed mankind entirely" (5:32) . Satire, criticism, and cartoons will never caricature the grand stature of the prophet nor diminish the sacredness of the Quran to Muslims and billions of tolerant human beings who share countries, ideologies or friendships with hundreds of millions of Muslims . Denigration comes from the savagery of heinous violence and Manichean ways many self-professed learned scholars of Islam or self-serving politicians knowingly and unknowingly are pushing trusting Muslim youth and entire nations towards the abyss . France has historically accommodated millions of Muslims who fled poverty, marginalisation and even oppression . Many of those come from North Africa where Maghreb countries have benefited not only from remittances, but also from a vast shared space in which Muslims, Christians and Jews have learnt the art of toleration of differences . What the murder of innocents in Paris has done is inflame inter-communal trust , and like the 9/11 attacks in the US 14 years ago, it has placed Muslims in the awkward position of being either unwelcome among host communities or defending Islam . This is because of the insane acts of co-religionists whose Islam is fixated on the "sword" and has little to do with the might of the "pen" that over millennia Muslim luminaries used to connect with others, and spread knowledge - not sow death .

Answer:
Islam was revealed to save people from bloodshed and misuse of the sword