Backlash Shmacklash

UPDATE: Since I wrote this, even more egregious examples of willful blindness in the media (big surprise) have started to appear. NewsBusters reported on 2 participants on today's "Inside Washington" whose comments made it clear that the shooter's Muslim religion was just a coincidence, that it had nothing to do with the shootings or its motivations. Not only that, but one of the two, Newsweek's Evan Thomas, made a comment that the shooter's Muslim status would "inflame" the right, inciting them to - what, write columns like mine? What are you worried about, Evan? Does the right have a history of personally attacking people they disagree with? Oh yeah, that's the Left. My bad. Dirtbag.

Wake. Up. America.

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Reactions, now, from people in the newspaper about the shooting at Ft Hood the other day, and more information about the shooter, a Muslim who reportedly was shouting "Alahu Akbar" as he shot up the place. Beautiful. There were reactions from the shooter's family members, who all expressed dismay and amazement that this person they thought they knew would do such a thing. And there were reactions from local soldiers who were not there but who had served at Ft Hood in the past.

Most interestingly, there were reactions from local Muslims, and the reactions are a mixed bag. On the one hand, they are pretty universally outraged and condemn the acts of violence. On the other hand, they all are supposedly nervous about an anti-Muslim backlash because of this. In fact, I'm not sure which these interviewees were more upset about: The shooting itself, or the possibility of being (unfairly) targeted by other citizens.

Missing from these reactions was anyone lamenting the fact that, once again, we have a Muslim at the center of the shooting rampage, shouting "God Is Great!" that well-known Muslim phrase, and the message that someone within Islam should be loudly condemning such violence in the name of Islam. No one I have seen has done so yet. Instead of whining about an unfair backlash - which has never happened despite decades of Muslim violence in the world - peaceful Muslims should be focused on eliminating Islamic violence.

If any objective disinterested third party were to look at the statistics alone for terrorism in the world (and I think this shooting qualifies), they would find very quickly that Islamic violence accounts for the vast majority of it; I would bet upwards of 95%. Again, to any fair observer, this suggests that there is something about Islam that promotes violence. People of all religions should be upfront and honest about these facts, in order that as a society we may deal with them. Peaceful Muslims ought to be at the forefront of this battle, arguing that the Islamists who promote such violence in the name of that religion are wrong to do so, and that such people should be marginalized and ostracized. If they cannot do that, for whatever reason, then they should either leave that religion or stop complaining about the possibility that Muslims could come under heavier scrutiny because of the above facts.

If we can't face this threat honestly, in the end we will lose, without question. The sooner we all acknowledge the real threat and start taking real, politically-incorrect, steps to deal with it, the sooner we will be on the road to success against the terrorists.

When Are We Going To Learn?

Sitting here before bed watching the news out of Texas tonight about this shooting at Fort Hood, I get to marvel at the ridiculousness of news anchors, both on Fox (Shep Smith & Greta) and CNN (Anderson Cooper), as they try to interview relatives and neighbors of this shooter without the benefit of a teleprompter telling them what to say. It reminds me of the local news guys, back when I watched local news, every time there was any kind of earthquake here in Southern California, who would get on camera, hair disheveled and tie half-done, vamping for what seemed like hours about the seriousness of the quake (regardless of its size) and talking to people on the telephone who called in to get on the news program and describe what it felt like - to people who were also in it. "It was sort of a rolling motion, Paul, and then for a few seconds there was some jolting!"

Equally maddening is listening to the alleged shooter's cousin, on the phone with Shepard Smith, trying to reassure everyone watching that his cousin, Major Nidal Hasan, a 40-year-old Army psychiatrist, really is a patriotic American who loves his country and would never hurt a fly. He goes on to start offering lame excuses for the man, saying that Hasan was trying desperately to get out of the military because being deployed in the Middle East was "his worst nightmare," and that he had been dealing with some harassment issues because of his Islamic faith. Somehow this all seems legitimate to this nitwit cousin.

Here is reality: this lifelong Muslim either volunteered to serve in the Army or was paying off years of payments the Army made on his behalf for his college and medical school costs. Nobody put a gun to his head. And if you're either stupid enough or unethical enough to let the military pay for your education only because you think they'll never deploy you into a war zone, then at least don't complain about it or, as his cousin stated, try to pay off the military to let you out of your contract and think that's fair. Stay quiet so no one else knows how pathetic you are. And news flash, Cuz: A few hours after the guy kills 12 people and wounds dozens more in a shooting spree is maybe not the best time to go around claiming he's a pacifist.

CNN showed surveillance footage from a convenience store that morning, where the American-born-and-raised peaceful Muslim bought coffee, dressed head-to-toe in a white head piece, robe and pants, and slippers. Even the CNN commentator had to admit that this is not typical garb in the U.S. At a time when most of our military is fighting wars against Muslim insurgents and terrorists, is that really the message you want to send at an Army post? In Texas? And you really expect not to have anyone make a comment about it? Then when you get your marching orders to go overseas, you go on a shooting spree and kill a dozen people, wounding several dozen more, and still your family has the audacity to suggest that you were the victim, and that the soldiers who victimized you targeted you - unfairly - because of your religion? When does the lunacy end??

The Pattern Is There - Use It
How many incidents like this have to happen - a shooting by a disgruntled Muslim - before everyone (Liberals included) finally wake up and admit that maybe Islam isn't such a peaceful religion after all? That it maybe makes sense to really examine the religion and what it teaches, and to start putting up a stronger guard against Muslims, especially those like this guy, who reportedly complained bitterly several times about America's presence in the wars in the Middle East.

Leftists like Rosie O'Donnell, Chris Matthews, and others have made statements that Christianity is at least as big a threat to the world as Islam. Chris Matthews just last month said, closing out his show on that oh-so-fair-and-balanced MSNBC, "The closest thing to the Taliban in this country is the [Christian] Religious Right." Never do they provide any evidence, and never are they challenged. No, every time I turn on the news and start to hear a story about some targeted violence in the world, it's not a Christian who turns out to have perpetrated it; it's a Muslim. Why is that so hard for people to admit?

This is not to say all Muslims are at fault. Reportedly about 10-20% of the world's Muslims empathize with the "Islamists," those extremists who perpetrate these acts of violence. But 10-20% of a billion people is a gigantic number of dangerous people. The point here is that it's not reasonable for law enforcement or the military, or airport security, to go around watching everyone; they should pay particular attention to Muslims. Instead of trying to ignore the warning signs or profile of these fanatics, we should be figuring out how to ignore the 90% of peace-loving Muslims and target the 10% of dangerous ones. This will not be comfortable, perhaps, but it's foolish not to do.

Who's Right About Islam?
In a talk I listened to a few years ago about Islam, the speaker made a comment that stuck with me: "Muslims are not peaceful because of Islam. Muslims are peaceful in spite of Islam." Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-raised Muslim woman who has become internationally recognized because of her speaking out against Islam, has made similar comments regarding talk of "reform" of Islam, much like the Protestant Reformation of Christianity 500 years ago. Sultan, Pope Benedict XVI, and others I've heard, have said they don't believe such a reformation may be possible, partly because the words of Mohammed are to be taken literally, not interpreted, and that leads a proper reading of the Koran to advocate precisely what the Islamists advocate. That is, the dangerous Muslims in the world are the ones who "get" Islam as it was intended.

It's high time for the peaceful people - of ALL religions, including Islam - to stop pretending that Islam itself has no role in this violence and instead work to flush out the extremists.