The drooling, knuckle-dragging racists calling themselves Americans are busy bashing Muslims and Islam over the Fort Hood shooting. It appears, however, that the shooter - who joined the military BEFORE 9/11 - right out of high school - was being harassed by the other soldiers. Indeed, we also now know that he was an American soldier, born and bred in the USA. He did not recently convert to Islam as some faux-news outlets are claiming. He was always a Muslim. So what made him suddenly go postal?
We are also now learning that he was allegedly afraid to be deployed because of the horrors of war and because he was afraid to go overseas with his harassers. The motive for the shooting seems to be that he simply went postal as a result of war and harassment. Yet the people who are busy bashing Muslims in reaction to the Fort Hood shooting are the exact type of people who harassed this man into a mental breakdown.
I am a Jew. But I have friends who are Muslim. I will always defend Muslims against this kind of hate as I would expect others to defend Jews against this type of hate. Extremism happens in all religions and political views. Christianity is not, in itself, a religion of hate and violence. But if one were to spend some time with some of the pro-life movement, they would come away thinking Christianity is yet another terrorist cult.
I am not excusing what the shooter did by any measure. I am appalled and saddened for those killed and wounded. But we have to ask why this happened and as the answers come in, the horror of the reality is a tragedy for all involved.
Below is an interview with the shooter's cousin - amazingly enough, via Fox (and fairly balanced actually):So this is a man born in the US. He is an American who joined the military out of high school. In essence he seems to have had a breakdown, but was being deployed anyway. This brings up the question of PTSD in soldiers and how well we are addressing this issue. But for the glue-sniffers, this is not PTSD, this is not an American soldier sadly driven into a breakdown by the horrors of war. Because of his name, they have already branded him a terrorist, an infiltrator, a Islamofascist.
Let me give you a small tour through the hate of the right-wing and how un-American it truly is:
"Their blood is on the hands of Islamic apologists, dhimmis, media, the weak, and lily livered politicians. The media spin on this massacre is another form of attack on America."
Let me see here. This woman openly supported (and still does) the Iraq war, despite the fact that it was based on lies, despite the fact that our military is over-stressed, despite the fact that the Bush policy of hiding the war from public scrutiny included repeated back-to-back deployments. This woman openly harasses Muslims and openly calls for genocide of Muslims. She was recently even showcased by the pro-Nazi, pro-fascist European "Pro Köln."
So when a soldier did not want to be deployed into hell for a war that we were lied into and when that soldier was harassed by bigots like Geller, the people this bimbo first blames are other Muslims. That is how hate works. It requires no responsibility by the person engaging in it. It is pure emotion without concept of consequences.
The attack on America is not by this lone American soldier gone insane and sadly taking so many lives with him. The attack on America is coming from the extremism and pro-war, anti-civil liberties, corporate sponsored hatriots (Shoq coined this) like Geller. By the way, next time a white man shoots someone, all white people should be blamed - at least according to Geller's logic (if one can call it that).
The Other McCainRacism is this guys bread and butter. And predictably, this idiot actually blames everyone who denies that all Muslims are terrorists and declares the whole lot, including the global warming crowd as evil:
Anyone who wants to distract you from real dangers by telling you to fear this week's pet bogeyman -- global warming! creationists! Ron Paul! -- is not your friend. They are fools and liars who cannot be trusted. They are objectively evil.
No you idiot. This guy is an American soldier, born and bred in the USA. Regardless of his religion, he is still an American soldier. What if he were a Christian soldier, would you run off screaming that all Christians are terrorists? Of course not.
John Nichols summarizes this best:
"No one knew on Thursday whether stress, fear, anger over mistreatment, mental illness or a warped understanding of his religion might have motivated Major Hasan. The point here is not to defend the soldier or his alleged actions. Rather, it is to question the rush to judgment regarding not just this one Muslim but all Muslims.
It should be understood that to assume a follower of Islam who engages in violence is a jihadist is every bit as absurd to assume that every follower of Christianity who attacks others is a crusader. The calculus makes no sense, and is rooted in a bigotry that everyone from George W. Bush to Pope Benedict XVI has condemned."
In addition, it has emerged (by a media less interested in responsible coverage and more interested in sensationalism) that in the last six months, the suspect became extreme in his views. But remember, he has been in the military since before 9/11. So what made him suddenly so angry? Well, he did just find out he was going to be deployed, something his family has said was his "worst nightmare." So this brings us once again back to the obvious issue, the stresses of war and its casualties, including those who were shot by a fellow soldier and the soldier who shot them. They are all casualties of war, not of Islamic Jihad as the glue-sniffers are eager to spin.
I have refrained from naming the suspect, because there is no doubt in my mind that the hatriots are likely planning their own retribution for what they see as an attack on America. His family should go into hiding for a while, given the hate and violence coming from their fellow Americans who, while not Muslim, are proud wearer of bed sheets.
Again, I want to be clear, I am not in any way defending the actions of this man. I am saddened for the fallen and their families and my prayers are for the wounded and their families. But we must ask why this happened and we must understand how to prevent this from happening again. Rushing to judgment and worse, branding all Muslims - including others serving this country and risking their lives - as terrorists is ugly and cruel. It is un-American to attack the very people on the front lines in a war in which they are serving on OUR SIDE because of their ethnicity or religious views. Simply put, an American soldier went insane and shot other soldiers. The rest is background, but NOT motive.
