Chuck whines that he's not allowed to foment anti-Muslim paranoia even after Ft. Hood

[thatcrazycajun]

Normally, I have at least a modicum of grudging respect for Charles Krauthammer. Among the many right-wing pundits who daily cause sudden spikes in my blood pressure, he is one of the tiny handful who actually has, on rare occasions, a legitimate point to make...and usually makes it without the demagoguery, spin and/or outright falsehood all too common among his fellow conservative mouthpieces.

But today's column of his, published in my local paper, makes me want to purchase a round-trip airfare to DC for the express and sole purpose of bitch-slapping his wheelchair-bound ass. In it, he complains that in discussing last week's shocking massacre at Fort Hood in Texas, in which a Muslim US Army psychiatrist (there's a bit of choice irony for ya, eh, Dr. K?) is charged with 13 counts of murder, the fact that the suspect was of the Islamic faith and had previously expressed some rather alarming views is apparently beyond the journalistic pale.

Oh, really, Chuckie boy? Leaving aside the perfectly reasonable desire undoubtedly held by most mainstream journos to (a) be objective and fair and (b) avoid fanning the flames of anti-Islamic hatred among non-Muslim Americans that have burned all too intensely since the 9/11 attacks eight years ago, why don't we discuss the fact that you, Dr. Krauthammer, are in fact Jewish...and a Conservative Jew, at that? Surely this is bound to color your views with respect to anyone Arab and/or Muslim, given that whole pesky Middle East thing with Israel and the Palestinians and practically the whole rest of the region. Not so nice when the sandal's on the other foot, is it now?

The fact is (and you can look it up via Google or Lexis/Nexis) that most of the experts in military psychology so far quoted on this do not believe the accused shooter was in fact any sort of Al Qaeda or Hezbollah agent, but simply a very conflicted and stressed soldier. I do not in any way, shape or form condone his actions, but to assume he is a terrorist solely on the basis of his faith and statements relating thereto is a slap in the face to the millions of perfectly peaceable, law-abiding Muslim folks who go about their daily lives without shooting up the joint all around us. But then, by this time those folks are probably (and sadly) long used to that sort of slap from the rest of us.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The irony? Some friends of mine have, independently, come up with the notion that the shooter was (shock, horror) a closeted gay. I can speak from personal experience and say that just finding out your best friend is gay is quite the shock to a goody-two-shoes Methodist... I can only imagine what it would do to someone raised Muslim to figure out he *himself* was gay. To be Muslim, a soldier, a trained psychiatrist, and *then* come out of the closet *on yourself*... eeeeeeeeyeah. Color me unsurprised if that turns out to be true.

To be clear: this is JUST A THEORY. Totally freakin' over-the-moon SPECULATION. But it fits.

As for mein Herr Krauthammer and his all-Muslims-are-terrorists views... pig shit. (VERY treif. Not halal either.) All Muslims are terrorists the same way all Christians are. i.e. yes the badly educated ones have a tendency to be, but most of'em are just trying to make a living same as the rest of us.

What really gets me, and I have this on reliable authority, is that that very class of ultra-conservative lower-case-C Bible-thumper has infiltrated our military ranks and are part of the puppet strings that are jerking this nation around. Faux Snooze can be held in check by the Internet. A brig general with a big hate for anybody that isn't WASP? Not so much.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Which journalists haven't been mentioning that Hassan was Muslim and had some alarming views? Those details have been all over NPR.

[jannyblue.livejournal.com]

He didn't do this because he was Muslim.

He did this because he was crazy.

Stress and worry with no release will cause that.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

May I politely, and with respect for everyone's views and opinions, play deviled-egg advocate here? I mentioned eggs because this is, from my viewpoint as a radical unbeliever, a chicken-or-egg scenario. Did this guy go crazy and turn violent in part because of his uncontrolled religious fundamentalism, or was he crazy first and did that lead to his religious fundamentalism which in turn built up to the point of violence?

My objection to mainstream religion (non-fundamentalist religion) in general is that it leads some to fundamentalism, and some of these people move on to commit violent acts against others because their "religion" isolates them and causes them to feel blind hatred. I was looking for a bumpersticker, vaguely remembered, with an excellent slogan about Atheism being a way to end religious terrorism, couldn't find it, found this instead, and plan to order a few: http://www.zazzle.com/toxic_religion_bumper_sticker-128111294628360484

Oh, and by the way, I have a very alternative perspective on this situation. I am of the opinion that many (not all) who go into the field of psychiatry do so because they are suffering from mental illness and trying to understand or cure themselves. Without knowing this individual, I can't be certain, but I would not be surprised if the incident was a manifestation of his mental illness, in part due to the fact that society ignores, isolates, stigmatizes, misunderstands and refuses to provide funding to treat mental illness. It starts with calling people "crazy." (Guilty of this one now and then myself. So easy to do.) Label them, then blame them, but forget about getting them the help they need.