The Tragedy of Fort Hood
By Craig Considine
Director of “Journey into America”
Washington , DC
After the Fort Hood incident, I turned on the television and the radio to catch more details of these horrible and tragic events. Before we knew who the shooter was, commentators were already insinuating that it was quite conceivable that the perpetrator was `driven by a religious ideology' or that he was a member of a `radical jihadi group'. They continued their inflammatory commentary by claiming that `to not associate such an event with a Muslim is like not assuming alcohol was involved in a teenage car crash on a Saturday night'.
When it was reported that the shooter had a Muslim name, recent events in Sudbury, MA (Oct. 2009) and Dearborn, MI (Oct. 2009) where two so-called Muslim `jihadists' had their terror plots unfolded by the FBI were quickly linked to the Fort Hood shooting. All of these incidents, somehow were extrapolated to become activities related to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. One reporter on FOX said that `we can assume this is terrorism because the man had a Middle Eastern name'. This particular reported seems to forget (or just does not know) that just because a name sounds Middle Eastern does not mean they are Muslim. There are many Christians with Arabic sounding names in the Middle East. Again, the media is quick to jump the gun.
The same stereotypes in inner city robberies (Americans assume African-Americans were behind it) or catching illegal aliens on the Mexican border (Americans assume they were Mexican) are ingrained in the American psyche. Even more frustrating are claims that `not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims'.
It seems like people have forgotten about Timothy McVeigh, Ted Bundy, the `Unabomber', and John Wayne Gacy.
It has been custom since 9/11 to report `terrorism' only when it involves Muslims or Islam. A Church shooting in Maryville, Illinois in March of 2009 where a young white man entered a Sunday sermon and killed the pastor and two others
was not reported as `terrorism'. Those in Maryville just assumed that the man was estranged and depressed.
He could not possibly have been a terrorist because he was not `driven by an ideology'. It seems that terrorism exists in the United States only when the Qur'an motivates it.
The very same Maryville assumption could well be the case in the Fort Hood shooting. The shooter may have been depressed, estranged, and frustrated with his job, but because he was Muslim with an Islamic sounding name, he automatically was branded a terrorist, at the convenience of the mass media.
Americans suffer from serious stereotype problem, a bigger Islamaphobia problem, and an even bigger ignorance problem. Sadly, due to the irresponsible and jaundiced reporting of the Fort Hood incident, all mainstream and peaceful Muslims in the United States have to suffer from the stigma of terrorism. The double standards and the stereotypes must end. Whatever happened to Ameri ca?
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