Right-wing media respond to Fort Hood shooting by attacking American Muslims
Right-wing media figures have used the shooting at Fort Hood as an excuse to attack Islam and American Muslims in particular, with Debbie Schlussel, for example, urging readers to think of the alleged shooter "whenever you hear about how Muslims serve their country in the U.S. military." Additionally, commentators have blamed the shooting on "political correctness," with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggesting the implementation of "special debriefings" for Muslim American soldiers to prevent future attacks.
Right-wing media respond to attack by demonizing Muslims
Schulssel: Think of Hasan "whenever you hear about how Muslims serve their country in the U.S. military." In a November 5 post -- headlined "Shocker: Man Who Shot Up Ft. Hood Soldiers Was Muslim" -- right-wing commentator Debbie Schulssel wrote:
UPDATE: Nidal Malik Hasan isPalestinian. Figures...Yeah, I wonder if that "Palestinian" town is actually Palestinian or part of the Islamic encroachment on Israel. Either way, he had every opportunity given to him by American taxpayers. And he murdered them anyway. This isn't just the Palestinian way. It's the Islamic way. And we expect Israel to make peace with guys like this? Even in the midst of the land of plenty, look at how they behave.
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And, oh, yeah, think of Major Malik Nadal Hasan (and all of the other Muslim American traitorous soldiers in the U.S. military who've shot their fellow soldiers up and killed them or otherwise helped the enemy), whenever you hear about how Muslims serve their country in the U.S. military.
Well, actually, they do serve "their country" in the U.S. military. And their country is Dar Al-Islam and greater Koranistan.
"It's Islamic terrorism, stupid. Wait, that's repetitive. It's Islam, stupid."
Geller: Shooter is in the "pious Muslim category," has "such Islamic bravery." In a November 5 blog post, Pamela Geller wrote: " 'Six months ago Major Hasan came to law enforcement attention for posting blogs supporting suicide bombing.' This puts him in the pious Muslim category." In a November 6 post, she wrote: "The pig jumped on a table and was shooting down on the crowd, which is why he could get so many off. Jihad Hasan was shooting soldiers in the back. Such Islamic bravery."
Malkin links shooter to other "Muslim Soldiers with Attitude." In her November 6 post headlined "The massacre at Fort Hood and Muslim soldiers with attitude," Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin linked the alleged Fort Hood shooter to "all those who came before Hasan," highlighting her March 2003 column on "Muslim soldiers with attitude" who are "suspected of infiltrating our military, endangering our troops and undermining national security" and referencing "Muslim sniper" John Muhammad and "Muslim US soldier Hasan Abujihaad."
Right-wing media blame shooting on "political correctness," call for "special debriefings" of American Muslims
Carlson: "Could it be that our military is so politically correct... to be careful about treatment of Muslims" that this happened? On the November 6 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson asked: "Could it be that our own military is so politically correct right now ... to be careful about treatment of Muslims that they would have allowed this to go by?"
Michelle Malkin: "Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror." Commenting on "The whitewashing of jihad by the MSM," Michelle Malkin wrote: "I've said it many times over the years and it bears repeating again as cable TV talking heads ask in bewilderment how all the red flags Hasan raised could have been ignored: Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror."
Steyn: People afraid to report suspicious Muslim activity, lest they end up "in sensitivity-training hell for the next six months." On the November 6 edition of Rush Limbaugh's radio show, guest host Mark Steyn said: "You think about the next time you see some behavior that's suspicious -- guys praying, they're doing goofy things, they're talking about Saddam Hussein, all the things that the flying imams did. And you think to yourself, 'Do I call Homeland Security? No, I'm going to be tied up in sensitivity-training hell for the next six months. Maybe it's better to just forget about it, to ignore it.' And that is becoming the problem now, that we're conditioned to ignore it."
Kilmeade suggested that "it's time for the military to have special debriefings" of U.S. soldiers who are Muslim. On the November 6 edition of Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade asked Geraldo Rivera, "Do you think it's time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim Army civili-- officers, anybody enlisted?" He added: "Because if I'm going to be deployed in a foxhole, if I'm going to be sitting in an outpost, I've got to know that the guy next to me is not going to want to kill me."
Other muslims are irrelevent.
Sure, I can literally understand the three sentences and definitely agree with the second one.
What do you mean with the first and third?
Thanks.
Historically, have Christians ever done this? If so, how many and when?
no aspirations to do anyone any harm. Today a muslim goes and kills a bunch of people, mostly americans, and screams "god is great" before he
does this act, then people just turn their heads and say "well, he had
some mental problems, the poor guy" or "we could have helped him". When are we going to address the real problem? Why are we so blind to the real threat or terror? How about not burying our heads in the sand
and take a look at who is really doing the killing? Do you want to be shot? How about having your head removed? Oh, I forgot, just stick your head back in the sand.
You lot are jumping the gun here. Period. He may be a terrorsit or he may be a spy or he may be nothing more than a coward and a traitor. You idiots here "muslim" and automatically think terrorism. What, can a muslim never just commit a CRIME? Can a non-muslim ever commit an act of TERROR?
It certainly a possibiliy, but you may be right and you may be wrong. On the other hand, the liberals ARE RIGHT on this, in that all we're saying is that you CAN'T CONCLUDE THAT YET, WAIT FOR THE MIITARY TO RELEASE IT'S OFFICIAL FINDINGS. And one can NEVER be wrong saying that.
You're running off half-cocked, looking for anything to justify your bigotry. Last friday ONE American Muslim killed 13 people. Roughly SEVEN-MILLION didn't kill anyone. So you can stop your goofy crusade now. (BTW, has your lot blown up any obstretrician's offices lately?)
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And BTW... citing 1950 McCarthy-era Republicans as precident? Yeah... not helping your case any.
At most, he didn't support the war because of it. That makes him a traitor. That that away and he is both a traitor and a coward.
But there has not yet been any evidence released that suggests this was an act MOTIVTED by religious jihad.
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The Military will sort this out. They always do. Until then, there's just ne reason for wild, unsupported speculation.
Regardless, to answer your question, it is an irrelevant detail to both issues. (Mental and Terrorism.) What he yelled in between shots is irrelevant. He was one guy, with two handguns. If you would not call it an act of terrorsim (but merely a heinous and traitorous crime) if he'd remained silent, or was a christian/jew/atheist/etc... then why does the fact that he muslim, and said a "prayer," automatically make it terrorism? If I were to say the Lord's prayer while slughtering shoolchilderen from a rooftop, would that detail alone make me a terrosit? Or insane? Not really - No more than the ACT ITSELF does anyway.
Show me he followed a radical fundamentalist view of islam. Show me this was coordinated within a larger cell. (If not coordinated with a larger group, calling it "terrorism" is superfluous. In the absense of a greater organization, and thus a greater threat, it's just a heinous crime. Nothing more.)
And there are other possibilites: What if was acting at the behest of a foreign gov't? (Iran, for example?) That would be espionage, treason and possibly be an act of WAR, but it could only be considered 'terrorism' once the Right Wing strips the word of all meaning.
You people just jump the gun. It may very well be terrorsim, that obviously a possibiity, but a lot more is needed to demonstrate that that some nonsense he shouted as he went on a rampage. If I'm about to die in a blaze of "glory" it's likely I'd say a prayer or two as well - and I'm agnostic!
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I'll say it again: The Military will sort this out. They always do. Until then, there's just ne reason for wild, unsupported speculation.
Other muslims are irrelevent.
The right-wing media is also irrelevant.
Didn't we just go over this the other day with the NY Marathon winner? Like him the shooter was American. He was born here as were both his parents. If he had been German would they be saying 'That figures. He's German."?
Ignorant savages.
And no, it doesn't seem "that way". It doesn't seem like rms was defending bad behavior.
Now, if you made an error, and replied to the wrong post, that's not my fault, nor am I in any way to blame for my reply to what you did - was I magically supposed to know that you were replying to the wrong post? Really?
Debunking YOUR off topic and rude post that has nothing to do with what the topic is? That's not trolling. Your original post that was a reply to rms? Not a troll post either, since there didn't seem to be an intent to derail the conversation. Your mistake in what post you replied to? All on you, fool.
It's a pretty big stretch to call that "trolling".
Let's face facts: When an overwhelming amount of conservative media pundits, radio hosts, and talk-show yakkers, as well as bloggers, are sthat we need to profile Muslims because they were Muslims, does that not sound like racism? When the context of those quotes makes said quotes sound even worse, isn't that racism?
He's an American who happens to be Muslim. That, in and of itself, isn't a cause for concern, or shouldn't be.
I won't hold my breath.
Why, if the threat you perceive is real, would you not want everyday citizens to have the same safeguards in place?
I don't know why Hasan killed those people any more than you do, but you've decided that it was his religion. It's possible the guy is a sociopath, and any warped religious views he may have are secondary to his overall derangement. Hasan could have snapped if he had been a Christian, Jew or non-believer. Let's wait for the facts and not judge the group based on the actions on an individual.
Maybe converts of the Fox News cult, or Southern Baptists, should be monitored too, since they seem to be the ones gunning down doctors like Tiller.
Although I disagree with your conclusion, I have no problem with your argument so long as you hold believers of one faith or ideology to the same standard you want to hold Muslims.
While this guy committed a despicable act of cowardly homocide, this is the kind of thing thing that really annoys me about conservatives today. When some right wing Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Fred Phelps, James Dobson following fringie pops his cork and and executes Americans, they want to claim he was just a troubled individual acting on his own. They can't run away from their responsibility to the consequences of their eliminationist rhetoric fast enough. But let a troubled Muslim individual do the same thing and the entire religion is an evil horde of Islamofascists. Let a Mexican do the same thing and the right would have us believe we are being invaded by the reconquistas, or whatever label Lou Dobbs is losing his s**t over this week.
Just puttin' that out there. Not necessarily condemning you, I'm just shining a light on the way of the fringie.
Why, if the threat you perceive is real, would you not want everyday citizens to have the same safeguards in place?
WHAT?
So because of the actions of ONE Muslim, you want to monitor ALL other Muslims?
Hey, there was a Black Muslim who shot 2 people at an Arkansas military recruitment center, should we be monitoring all Black Muslims too?
Funny (not), Timothy McVeigh, Army veteran went out and killed over 160 innocent people but I don't recall a single person saying we should closely monitor ALL White males.
Blaming all Muslims for the criminal actions of ONE INDIVIDUAL is wrong!
All Muslims int he military madam. Yes I do want them monitored, assessed, or whatever tools are necessary to potentially identify and eliminate threats.
Again, Timothy McVeigh has nothing to do with this, but if the Army had identified McVeigh as a potential domestic threat due to his beliefs and associations, then that bombing may have been adverted. The military isn't like civilian life madam. You give up may of your rights. That's the way it is. If they want to monitor you then they'll monitor you. And, there ain't a thing you can do about it. If I had a child in the military right now, I would want potential threats within his branch of the service identified, assessed, and monitored if need be. If you don't like it, don't join the military.
You ASSume because ONE person committed a crime and he was Muslim, all other Muslims should be monitored because they MAY commit a crime?
That does not may any sense!
In this country, which our military defends, we are ALL innocent UNTIL PROVEN guilty. We operate on facts! And just because someone is Muslim DOES NOT automatically mean that they hate and want to kill Americans!
I gotta wonder if you think we should have monitored Mohsin Naqvi, a Muslim, who joined the Army after 9/11? He was killed, by a roadside bomb, fighting for HIS country.
And why don't we start early and monitor Mustafa Durrani, Amir Bagherpour and Noor Merchant, 3 Muslim cadets at West point!
Thousands of Muslims have served with honor, dignity and love for this country. They do not deserve to be treated like criminals, simply because they are Muslim!
Some people are also inclined to see threats in anything that isn't familiar or homogeneous.
What all these scared folks don't seem to realize is, the people who hate us, are winning. Anytime we allow fear to rule us, change our principals and what we stand for, they win. Anytime they make us afraid of other American citizens, simply because they look different and worship a different religion, they've won.
No one can deny that 9/11 was bad, but the truth is, life is messy and bad sh*t happens to good people each and every day.
And if I hate like they hate, I'm no better than they are.
This soldier's apparent belief that the war was against Muslims, and since (he believed) it was a war against a religion, instead of being willing to do his duty, he felt it would be impossible for him to do his duty.
His particular religion didn't matter. Islam is not the problem. It's his beliefs about the reasons we're fighting the wars we are fighting, plus other factors, that caused this.
This guy was a loner. In his adult life, he'd apparently never had a satisfying relationship with a woman - he even entered an Islamic dating service, but he was too picky and found no one that was acceptable as he had too many demands. He believed in conspiracy theories, too, and was willing to create and display PowerPoint presentations about his conspiracy theories!
It looks to me like the Army didn't really understand that this guy wasn't just a whiner, trying to escape a legitimate service responsibility he had. That's too bad that they didn't.
Monitoring Muslims is the same as interning Japanese during World War II.
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The Midnight Review
Mum Is The Word
I realize you are so anti-gun that you feel you can inject it into any situation, but it makes no sense in this case.
Colin Powell said that. I feel it's pretty relevant today.
Major Hasan - His cheese slips off his cracker and he's now responsible for the deaths of at least 12 and the wounding of more than 30; FOX NEWS babblers want to single out people of a certain faith for "special" questioning.
George W. Bush - Forget his cheese; his cracker was pounded into crumb dust by who knows how much chemical abuse and he's now responsible for the deaths of at least 5,000 Americans, countless civilians and the wounding of hundreds of thousands; FOX NEWS babblers want to single him out for "special" commendations, sainthood, knighthood, Nobel prizes and on and on.
Go figure.
I disagree. I'm always in the market for high-quality dairy products.
Sounds like a lyric straight off of "If I Had $1000000" "We wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner/But we would have Kraft dinner
...
Steve:They have pre-wrapped sausages, but they don't have pre-wrapped bacon
Ed: Well can you blame them?
Steve: W, yeah!"
Back on topic, normally I would compare Bush to most other idiots, but this goes a bit far even for me. Not that far, though.
"Could it be that our military is so politically correct right now...that they would allow this to go by." Gretchen Carlson
Thanks Fox News for boosting and supporting the moral of our soldiers. Good Job.
So, he's signing up?
Um... NO.
I heard that they were going to have a moment of silence and lower the Flag to half staff in honor of the soldiers that were killed at Ft. Hood. I happen to be passing our local High School this afternoon at the time the Flag was being lowered to half staff.
It was a very poignant.
Now, where were all these right wing foghorns when a few white soldiers went around the bend in Iraq and shot their comrades in arms? There have been several incidents of that nature.
There is a pattern to all this. Read the Koran, read the hadiths, read the biographies of the prophet and you'll find exhortations to violence, persecution and hatred towards Jews, Christians and non-believers that would have made Hitler blush (who not surprisingly was a great fan of Islam). Want further evidence, check out the Muslim worlds treatment of non-Muslims when they have power (they aren't hypocrites, they practice what they preach if given a chance).
That's the cause and Fort Hood is the effect. McVeigh was an aberration, a blip, Islamic violence toward non-believers is normative, prescribed and has almost 1500 years of history. Anyhow the fact you have to go back 15 years for an example of a non-Muslim act of violence to substantiate your point says a lot. Chances are you'll still be quoting McVeigh in five years from now when more Muslim acts of barbarism and mass murder need to be rationalized away.
And, if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are, in your words, "a war against Islam," then we'd better get out now, because that is a war that will never be won, and a war against a religion has no place in American foreign policy.
And an Army Major himself?
Now I know you got that smear from a un-justified site.
Did George W. Bush shoot the soldiers at Fort Hood.
Someone clue me in!
Note that we shouldn't discriminate based upon ethnic heritage, or the color of someone's skin. We can't help where we are born, who our parents are, or the first language that we learn.
But religion is a choice. It is a set of beliefs which affect the behavior of the believer. We would be stupid to ignore the fact that the vast majority of the suicide bombing attacks in history are perpetrated by muslims. Or that the worst intentional fratricide incidents of the last few years were by muslim service members. Or 9/11. Or the Taliban. Or honor killings. etc. etc.
Many other religions have their history of violent offenses as well. I am not defending any other religion, but just pointing out that the one that spurs the worst oppression and terror in the world happens to be Islam.
Not all muslims are violent terrorists, but it is purely false to imply that a trend doesn't exist here.
"Not all muslims are violent terrorists, but it is purely false to imply that a trend doesn't exist here. "
Why is there a trend? Just observing the trend does not take a genius you know.
And by the way, there are many different branches of Islam...not very accurate to lump them all in together and refer to some sort of "trend".
eventually when these vultures finish stumbling over each other we'll learn the truth, but for now i'm thankful basketball season has started...
reporting from murderland ranch,
i'm mookie von zipper
massmurdermedia,
First there were three shooters, now there's just one. First one of the shooters was dead, but now his status has been upgraded to "Alive" (must have been taken to a better hospital, one where the staff can tell alive from dead.)
And don't a little thing like innocent until proven guilty get in the way. Oh no, the media has already tried and convicted a certain Army major. Ah, the US Media: It never lets the facts get in the way of a good story.
Remember that there are also a significant amount of Christians who are against the war in Iraq and the oppression being imposed to the Palestinians. Should we generalize and call homeland security too every time we see a Christian?
You get this because your initials are at the bottom of this article and not listed on the mmfa roster.
You may be new here...but I don't appreciate the scrubbing of the posts on this thread.
This is one of the most fair comments sections on political blogs today. The comments are rough and tumble but not usually of the rabid and ignorant type that are pervasive on many of the other sites.
I don't know what comments that you found offensive...so I can't judge entirely what you chose to eliminate...but I find it offensive that you ham-handly erased comments.
If you're new...I understand the sensitivity...but you should have your name added to the staff roster and participate in monitoring the comments section for a while before taking the censorship route.
We've been through this before with hall monitors that felt the need to erase comments that didn't fit the mmfa agenda...but that is counter-productive to having an open and honest discussion of the thread...which makes this site different than most.
I doubt that this clown will ever leave his rat's nest at Fox.
"IF", what a great wingnut word. It gives the gutless wonders at Fox the chance to put themselves in hypothetical situations they'd never really be in.
My favorite? O'Reilly's combat exploits.
"If it's life or death, he's going first."
Then here you go with the claim his religion had nothing to do with it - while the guy sez "Hail Allah" just before he starts shooting!.
You leftists are a truly a bunch of pathetic losers. Thank God there are only a few 100 of you nut jobs amongst us.
Get a clue: Hasan was and is a domestic terrorist! It is that simple.
Timothy McVeigh was also a domestic terrorist. Get it?
If there were 23 out of 24 crackers on that list you better hope they can find something that they can all profile them under.
We're so worried about racial profiling that we're missing the point....
Fine lets all be really really nice and warm and friendly to each other "Make Love not War".
Sorry not for me. You go ahead and be a martyr for your stupid ideology.
Better wake up before it's too late.....
Do YOU mean the FBI's most wanted Terrorist list? FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists...
You've got to because, the ONLY Muslim on the FBI's top ten is Osama Bin Laden!
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted...
And speaking of terrorists, what about these folks? Wanted by the FBI for Domestic Terrorism...
And no one is saying you have to be warm and friendly but you damn sure don't need to act like a bunch of "I peed in my pants" sissies, hiding under your beds, afraid of your own shadow either!
And 23 out of 24 aren't from the Middle East. One is from the Philippines, one is Hispanic from the USA, and 2 are from the USA and their families apparently are from the Middle East.
Arabs were behind 9/11.
Arabs were behind the fort Hood massacre and I am sure many other terror acts.
Each and every non-Arab American muslim that I know loves our USA than I beleive Sarah, Rush, Beck, Lou, dick and many other so-called conservatives.
But, in the course of that happening, the general public will have to abandon their fear, hate, distrust, discontent and anger about one party over another and actually start to think for themselves (again) to see what all that is good and that which is bad. We used to be good at separating the crap from the crap, but not any more. Our critical thinking skills are tied to too many GED diploma holders; and I'm a huge GED supporter.
People find it easier to watch and listen to sound bytes over and over like on FOX and then act or react in a negative fashion ... in short: Fox viewers are good followers ... baaa baaa.... — Dan Francis (Watertown, NY)
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Deployed in a foxhole???
His IS deployed in a FOXhole............. lol............
As usual Kilmeade has no IDEA what he is talking about AND he would NEVER have the courage to enlist if General Honoré was there to tuck him in every night.
The many Muslims serving in the US military, have more honor and courage than Rupert Murdoch and his entire media empire.... ........in cluding his "FOXhole"
The fact that FIX and friends have jumped on this is no surprise at att. The right-wing have become nothing more then hot-tempured, trigger happy spitful, hateful brats.
And didn't liberals at the time blame the right-wing? Yes....they did.
It's counterintuitive to say religion had nothing to do with the motive behind the shooting, but what we need to be asking is, what role did religion play in that motive? It seems this act was not an act of religious conviction. Other reports I've read have listed extensively the amount that the killer complained both professionally (to higher ranking officers) and personally (to friends and family) of the constant harassment he received from fellow soldiers for both his race and religion.
Yes, his religion played a role in the murders, but let's face it: this looks a lot more like Columbine than 9/11. A despicable, cowardly act, but that doesn't make it a terrorist attack.
Then again, the media isn't exactly interested in discussing the torture, mass-murder, and moral deviancy of devout Christians. For the time being, it's more politically correct to attack that "other" religion doing the same thing.
and
2.suicide bombing attacks in history are perpetrated by muslims? Yes that is true as during Vietnam war 90% of the killing of Us servicemen were done by Asians.
or
90% of the people fighting the americans in the American Revolution were British.
Look at were the wars are going on today most ssb would be muslim because large part of side is muslim why they dont like us is another argument.
It does not equal that all Muslims are SSB or terrorists
If President Bush was as concerned about the troops as you seem to think he would not have sent so many of them to die on such flimsy evidence and having sent them he would have provided them with better armor in combat and better care for the wounded once they returned home.
This man served the United States of America faithfully for many years and deserves the benefit of the doubt until all the facts come out.
Murder/suicide in the military is on the rise across the board. Here is an example:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/27/kentucky.army.suicide/index.html
Combat related stress and the pressure of deployments are an epidemic that need to be addressed before more people get hurt.
Mr. News
You may say that the creed for Muslims allows for terrorists or that it is cultural or some crazy thing like that. Well, the same could be said of men. The creed of machismo lends itself to terrorism. It is a creed of violence.
Maybe we should round up the men.
Unfortunately, she's absolutely RIGHT. There are unintended consequences of political correctness like all other liberal policies.
Like all right-wing conservatives blow up abortion clinics and murder doctors who perform them ... oh wait ...