Read this article by John Nichols about how the horrible killings at Ft Hood were immediately spawning an Islamophobic response before much anything was known about the alleged perpetrator or his motivations — except for his religion.
And, on cue, we get in the comments:
Madness prevails. For instance we are wasting our time responding to crybaby leftwing blog pundits in media such as Nichols who is trying his best to find a story that distances itself from the main topic. AMERICANS KILLED BY A MUSLIM ON A BASE!! So it’s a knee jerk reaction…all of you are more worried about being PC than the families of dead or wounded.
Ah, yes. Saying that we should not rush to judgment means nobody cares about the victims. May I knot that noose for you, sir?
Because, of course, we should definitely take the easy course here in assuming where the crime lies. Clearly, looking at Major Hasan, we can definitely say …
- AMERICANS KILLED BY SOLDIER ON BASE! Well, we certainly can’t assume that soldiers are murderers (except under orders). That would be unpatriotic.
- AMERICANS KILLED BY MAJOR ON BASE! An officer and a gentleman? I should think not!
- AMERICANS KILLED BY PSYCHIATRIST ON BASE! Well, shrinks are pretty dodgy, to be sure, but who would assume that any psychiatrist is secretly plotting to kill everyone around him — that’s just crazy!
- AMERICANS KILLED BY GUY ABOUT TO BE DEPLOYED TO ON BASE! That couldn’t have anything at all to do with it, not at all. Every soldier is glad to serve, and none would ever be possibly stressed or depressed or dangerous over the prospect of being sent over to, say, Iraq.
- AMERICANS KILLED BY AMERICAN CITIZEN ON BASE! American citizens would never kill anyone, I assure you. That’s terribly unpatriotic even to suggest.
- AMERICANS KILLED BY BALD GUY ON BASE! That’s just silly — bald guys are harmless.
- AMERICANS KILLED BY MAN ON BASE! Oh, right, blame it on men, you Feminazi.
- AMERICANS KILLED BY MUSLIM ON BASE! Oh, well, he’s Muslim, that explains everything … I mean, we know that all Muslims are part of an unholy jihad against all true Americans (read: Christians), given the daily occurrence of jihadi killings committed by the vast majority of the 2-6 million Muslims in the US. Case solved!
Now, it may well turn out that Major Hasan did go on his murderous attack out of some religious motivation (as opposed to being bald, or being an American, or being on the deployment list for Iraq). Leaping to that conclusion based on only several hours of TV journalistic “fact-finding,” however, betrays more of the leaper’s prejudices in the situation than any critical judgment or insight.
And as I’ve noted elsewhere, if we’re going to conclude from acts of religiously-motivated murder by a handful of Muslims that all Muslims are enemies of the United States and should be interned or deported or forcably converted to Christianity or otherwise treated as second-class citizens … will we be drawing the same conclusion about all Pro-Life Activists, based on the religiously-motivated murders by a handful of their number?
Note: I expect that any action by the Depts. of Defense and Justice in this situation, short of organizing a lynch mob and/or auto-de-fe in the next few days, will be laid at Obama’s feet as proof that he has “Islamic sympathies.” Mark my words.