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.

[EX Q]: The Observer view on the Paris attacks. Last week's attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris and the subsequent, linked hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket were appalling acts of inhumanity that should be universally condemned . Despite the killers' grandiose claim to be "defenders of the prophet", their actions amounted to cold-blooded murder of defenceless people . Their pre-planned purpose was to terrorise, divide and dismay . Their aim was cowardly, contemptible and cruel . The perpetrators deserve only ignominy and the bitter scorn of the world . The attacks should be understood, more broadly, as a crude attempt to stifle a publication and its journalists who exercised, in vivid, unapologetic terms, the fundamental, priceless right to freedom of speech and expression . This right, though never absolute, was established through centuries of struggle and is still far from fully accepted around the world . There are many others - governments, dictators, religious fanatics - who would also like to shoot it down . That the killers' made Jews their additional, parallel target lends a woefully familiar, disgustingly antisemitic twist to a three-day trail of carnage and grief . By so doing, they hoped yet another community would be left in fear . This attack was thus also an attack on the French nation as a whole, on the values and beliefs that have sustained it, and on the message of liberty, equality and fraternity it has unevenly but persistently propagated . And while its principal victims were irreverent secularists , it was also an attack on faith - an offence against moral as well as human law . It was an attack on the life spiritual itself, whether conducted through church, mosque, synagogue or personal observance. It was an act of utter godlessness . By attempting to murder love with fear, to kill laughter with hatred, to substitute inflexible dogmas for shared truths, the masked gunmen attacked us all , European, American and Arab, Muslim, Christian and Jew, black, brown and white alike . In doing so, they posed a vital question . How, in the face of this assault on our common home, our common humanity, do we respond? Do we meet terror with a greater terror of our own or do we seek another way? Shall we unite together or shall we give in to division, discrimination and distrust? In Paris, and in other cities around the world, a spontaneous reply has already been given . The marchers, demonstrators, office workers, journalists, bloggers, politicians and governments who declared, with one voice:"Je suis Charlie", sent an immediate, welcome message of solidarity and defiance . Today, this roar of courage and belief will reach ear-splitting levels when people from every background join a march in Paris for unity, freedom and democracy . Out of blood and horror a unique moment has arisen, for France and all Europe . The choice is stark and unavoidable . It is between the ongoing struggle for enlightenment - Europe's gift to the world - and a gathering, hate-filled darkness . The evident danger is that this spirit of unity may not endure . French Muslim leaders have roundly condemned the attackers . "These men are criminals... For me, they are not Muslims," said the imam of Drancy . But at less emotional moments, French Muslims also speak of routine, entrenched discrimination, of insensitive restrictions such as curbs on women wearing the veil, and of a French policy of assimilation and integration, the flipside of Britain's let- it-all-hang-out multiculturalism , which has failed to achieve equal rights and equal treatment . It is this same embattled Muslim community, fractured, underprivileged, marginalised and disrespected which produced the killers . It is clear, conversely, that many French people have a problem with Islam . According to an Ipsos survey last year, 63% of French voters said Islam was not compatible with French values . Almost three-quarters said Muslims wanted to impose their values on others . Surveys also suggest seven out of 10 voters believe sections of the immigrant community have failed to integrate over the past 30 years . Some 65% say immigration levels are out of control . Anti-Muslim and anti-immigration movements are growing in strength in Germany, Britain and across Europe . But France's already powerful far-right Front National is certain to use the Charlie Hebdo affair to exploit these fears and prejudices . The urgent, daunting challenge for President Francois Hollande's ruling socialists, and the centre-right of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, is to plot a different, more conciliatory path . Their task: to tap into this spirit of unity, forging a new reality for both majority and minority communities . Muslim world leaders can help halt the cycles of violence and confrontation , if they wish . But this common challenge will not be assisted by wrong-headed, kneejerk reactions by western security services . In France, there is justified criticism that the Kouachi brothers were not under close watch, given their past record of extremism . Yet it would be wrong to massively increase monitoring of the Muslim community , thereby exacerbating existing tensions . Much better to use any additional resources to engage, rather than confront , while focusing more exactly on identifying truly hardline fanatics . Similarly ,  calls for more cash to counter a mounting but undefined terrorist menace to Britain should be treated with both respect and circumspection . Andrew Parker, head of MI5, warned last week of the "growing gap between the increasingly challenging threat and the decreasing availability of capabilities to address it" . But extended, intrusive internet surveillance does not necessarily bring increased security . What it does do is potentially deal a further blow to personal liberty, including the ability to speak and communicate freely and openly . The response to the Charlie Hebdo killings, in the longer term, should also include wider acceptance of the proper limits to individual and social freedoms, including free speech . It is not acceptable, for example, to use racist terms to describe a different ethnic group . It is not acceptable to resort to stereotypes to vilify minorities or ,  say, members of the opposite sex . And it is sometimes not appropriate, nor particularly funny, to deliberately provoke Muslims by publishing cartoons of the prophet that they view as blasphemous, offensive and insulting . Having said that, individuals or groups should not seek to prevent or ban published material just because they do not like it, do not agree or do not get the joke . Even more so, the ridiculing of Islam, however much resented, cannot be used to justify or explain gross acts of violence . The freedom to speak, write, draw and laugh fearlessly, without censorship and unreasonable restraint, lies at the very heart of a tolerant, democratic and inclusive society .
[EX A]: Last week's attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris and the subsequent, linked hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket were appalling acts of inhumanity that should be universally condemned

[EX Q]: Sexting may make porn stars of us all, but you don't have to be an Adonis. Sexting . Belfies . Cock shots . Instagrammed abs . WhatsApp filth chats . Cam-to- cam sessions with strangers in Rio (or Hull) Xtube videos of faceless, face- sitting civil servants . Can I take your number, asks modern Britain , I'll send you a six-minute film of me masturbating . We're all porn stars now . Technology hasn't merely flung off religion's centuries-long chastity belt but also provided live footage of people in suburban bedrooms flinging off chastity belts, metaphorically and literally . Google it . You'll be horrified by their choice of curtains . The pornification of contemporary life is so vast and so sudden we have had no time to quantify it, or even behold it . But there is deepening concern that the reduction and commodification of human beings to mere body parts - walking, talking sex toys- is having a greater effect on gay men . Russell T Davies, a screenwriter of remarkable gifts who does not so much hold a mirror up to societal sensibilities as kick them into our retinas, thinks so . He straddles the subject in his latest, much heralded gay dramas: Cucumber, Banana and Tofu . In an interview with the Radio Times he worries that texting penis pictures "is the most normal thing in the world" among gay men, with bleak consequences . "That's the grammar! That's flirting! That's extraordinary, isn't it? That's got to create body pressures, hasn't it?" he added . It certainly will not help, nestled in an increasingly narcissistic wider culture that glistens puddle-deep as we regard our reflections . But how much we should worry, and how grave the impact is on gay people - already suffering worse mental health - depends on how closely we frame Davies' perspective . If gay people existed only online or on phones  - deriving their sense of self wholly from reactions to their online sex ads- then yes, this could be catastrophic . But they do not . And if we pan out and rewind to the gay scene of the early 90s, before Davies' Queer as Folk awoke middle England to the wonders of rimming , gay life was no less harsh . I was 16 and skinny when I first stepped into a gay bar in 1993 . Before websites and phone apps, pubs and clubs were much more sexualised than today . No amount of online objectification compares to, say, the Brief Encounter, a long narrow bar in central London, in which one could consider it an achievement to order a pint without a stranger's finger inserting itself somewhere . The other great difference was the message blaring out across gay culture : you are only desirable if you are an Adonis - a "Muscle Mary": no pecs, no sex . Many felt unwelcome, inadequate . It was, say some, a reaction to the extreme wasting suffered by thousands during the Aids crisis . I remember the dire contrast - a crowd of pumped-up tits and, in the corner, a wheelchair cradling a still-breathing skeleton . People turned away in terror . And then ran to the gym . Now , thanks to mobiles and the internet, there is a new message : different body shapes are desirable . Plump, hairy bear? There is a market for you . Older? Click here . Skinny? Hipsters are waiting for you . Yes , if you spend mere moments on Grindr or Scruff you will find a QC, a builder or a nurse reduced to a thumbnail fuck-me photo (it's all terribly dignified) , but there is at least some appreciation of diversity . Progress bumbles , faltering before forging ahead . This happened with gay rights , and it will happen with gay culture . Many might sext but will also consider what it means and how it feels . The wellbeing and mental health of LGBT people has never been so prominent in conversation - just as relevant services are cut . We are, at last, contemplating the internal damage from homophobic hostility . It is no wonder we crave distraction . We just need to put our phones down long enough to ask for support, for such services to be reinstated, and to ask those who bully, degrade and derail equality: why do you hate us? They are often easy to find . They're the married ones lurking in gay chat rooms with their faces concealed .
[EX A]: Technology hasn't merely flung off religion's centuries-long chastity belt but also provided live footage of people in suburban bedrooms flinging off chastity belts, metaphorically and literally

[EX Q]: Defusing Taliban publicity. Journalists in Afghanistan have decided for the second time this year to curtail their reporting on Taliban attacks as a means of reducing the impact of their message . The first such collective action was taken during the presidential elections when the Taliban were completely boycotted . This is a strategic decision according to Fahim Dashty, the chief executive of Afghanistan's National Journalists Union (ANJU) . The decision follows the recent heavy escalation of attacks in Kabul . "Our media is saturated with images of Taliban attacks," says a joint press statement by ANJU, and the media watchdog, Nai . "Taliban spokesman Zabihula Mujahid is active on TV and social media round the clock, he is in every home 24 hours a day, we need to confront his messages," says Nai's director, Sediqulah Tauhidi . Afghan journalists feel they need support from policy makers and the international community alike . "We will be calling on the new president, Ashraf Ghani, to consider blocking the sites that Taliban use for their publicity," says Dashty . Confronting publicity . The call by journalists in Afghanistan echoes international concerns about the need to confront publicity by armed groups such as ISIL, and the attempts in several countries including Britain to block these groups' use of the internet and social media to advertise, publicise and recruit . British Home Secretary Theresa May acknowledged the extent of the problem in her latest policy speech:"We need a counter terrorism strategy that is comprehensive and coherent." Among the measures to curb the activities of the Islamist terror groups she introduced restrictions on the use of the internet . "We are engaged in a struggle that is fought on many fronts," she said, naming terrorist groups in several parts of the world including Afghanistan . Police and intelligence agencies will be given new powers to track down those who plot terrorist attacks over the internet . "They enable the authorities to limit a subject's access to telephones and the internet," she said . Terrorist attacks have been complex but many are used for sending a specific message either to the local population or to the international community . Once these messages are turned into images on TV and internet across the world their impact is amplified . Broader audience . According to UN counterterrorism research, terrorist-related propaganda hosted on popular websites containing user-generated content has the potential to reach a significantly broader audience than content on traditional specialised websites, bulletin boards and web forums , which generally appeal to a self- selected group of individuals . "Their sophisticated use of the internet and social media means they have a significant propaganda reach across the world," said the British home secretary . "The scourge of ISIL should not mean that the Taliban are forgotten or seen as the milder terror group," stresses Dashty . There are serious reservations when British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond states at the opening of the London Conference on Afghanistan that "The terrorist threat from the region has been substantially reduced," when there are almost daily attacks in Kabul . "Taliban are blocking the fledgling democracy that has been built over the last decade," says Nai director . "They are attacking our liberty, they are targeting freedom of speech, they are targeting press freedom and we must have a counter offensive." Dashty says as journalists we must ask ourselves whether in our endeavour to provide information we are turning into communication channels at the service of the Taliban . The arguments are not straightforward . On the one hand , the media needs to report to inform the population and on the other hand , reporting terrorist attacks has increasingly become publicity for armed extremist groups . On the one hand freedom of speech and civil liberties should be preserved at all cost , and on the other hand ,  terrorist messages have traumatised societies and increased militant recruitment around the world . Credible counter-narrative . These issues must be discussed in depth and collectively around the world . There is a need for coordinating a credible counter narrative both at the local and the global level to confront the banality and cruelty of terrorist messages . Take for example their claim, believed even by some analysts, that they are fighting to save Muslims while facts tell us that they have killed tens of thousands over the years . Since 2009, there have been over 17,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan alone as documented by the UN - 75 percent as a result of Taliban attacks . Or the contradictions in the Taliban claim that they want foreign forces out while targeting British interests one month after British forces left Afghanistan, or inviting foreign Islamist fighters and al-Qaeda to set up camp in Afghanistan during their rule . "Confusion and contradictions among the various terrorist voices" are common according to the latest State Department report on terrorism . Journalists, media analysts, communication experts and policy makers need to come together to discuss how best to build a framework for a new counterterrorism narrative that at the same time reveals the falsities of terrorist assertions . Once formulated, it could then be used as any public service broadcast messages woven into drama serials, discussions, debates and news coverage alike . The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which created a counterterrorism task force, says that despite increasing international recognition of the threat posed by terrorists' use of the internet,"there is currently no universal instrument specifically addressing this pervasive facet of terrorist activity" . 'Psychological security' . The joint statement by ANJU and Nai calls on the media and the reporters in Afghanistan to refrain from competition over who shows more pictures of the gruesome Taliban attacks . It says that the "unprecedented" frequency of the footage shown on TV and social media have undermined the "psychological security" of the nation . "Our first boycott of the Taliban was successful," says Dashty . "Attacks were reduced and over 60 percent of the population took part in the elections." He says they would really benefit if journalists in the West supported their campaigns, especially those who frequently report from Afghanistan . "We would also welcome an international framework that sets an example for us," says Dashty . A coordinated global plan to counter terrorist media propaganda would be a useful tool for journalists in areas adversely affected by terrorist attacks . Attacks plotted on the World Wide Web need an appropriate worldwide media response .
[EX A]:
Journalists in Afghanistan have decided for the second time this year to curtail their reporting on Taliban attacks as a means of reducing the impact of their message