Aging 1980s pop star Madonna told a sold-out crowd at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm the way to stop terrorism was with love – that "only love will change the world," she said.
She interrupted her concert to issue a tearful commentary about the Paris terror attacks, and said she nearly canceled her show but decided she shouldn't let the attackers win.
"I feel torn," she said, Breitbart reported. "Like, why am I up here dancing and having fun when people are crying over the loss of their loved ones? However, that is exactly what these people want to do. They want to shut us up. They want to silence us. And we won't let them. We will never let them."
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She went on, telling her audience both they and she "deserve to have fun, and there is no one in this world that should have the right to stop us from doing what we love," she said.
The singer's next comments didn't go over as well, particularly with one editorial writer for a culture magazine.
Madonna, 57, said: "Yes, there are people who have no respect for human life and there are people that do atrocious, degrading and unforgivable things to other human beings. But we will never, ever, ever change this world that we live in if we do not change ourselves, if we do not change the way that we treat one another on a daily basis. Only love will change the world. But it's very hard to love unconditionally, and it's very hard to love that which we do not understand, or that which is different than we are. But we have to or this will go on and on forever."
One writer for GossipCop called her remarks naive.
"While in broad brushstrokes, there's no argument that spreading love and treating one another with 'dignity and respect' will make for a better planet, but ISIS doesn't play by those rule," the editorial said. "ISIS detests our way of life. ISIS wants to wreak havoc on the Western world. Does Madonna really think if we gave ISIS 'love unconditionally' they would no longer perpetrate horrific acts of violence? And can Madonna really 'love unconditionally' a group that beheads, throws over the sides of building and stones to death men for being gay?"