Islam and the West
Christopher Skeet
Issue date: 11/30/09 Section: Opinions
I bet it's a Muslim.
That was my first thought when I heard about the shootings at Fort Hood. The media, military 'leadership', and the U.S. president weren't so sure. Obama warned us against "jumping to conclusions." The media continues to insist that Nidal Hasan's motives "were unclear." And General George Casey, the Army chief of staff, lamented that "it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."
Despite Obama's warning, I myself jumped to plenty of conclusions. For example, when it emerged that Hasan was a reactionary misogynist who pledged allegiance to the Koran in military uniform after giving speeches praising suicide bombers, claiming sharia law superseded constitutional law, and suggesting that all infidels should be beheaded, all the while attempting to contact al-Qaeda for months before massacring thirteen people while screaming "Allahu Akbar", my natural conclusion was that this guy was an Islamic terrorist whose motives were crystal clear and who probably didn't spend quite as many sleepless nights chewing his nails over diversity as General Casey.
I'm also willing to bet that the conclusions I "jumped" to were identical to the conclusions jumped to by a majority of Americans. So what does this mean? Are we all Islamophobes? Do we have an irrational fear of Islam? Certainly, groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Arab-American Institute, and the Council for American-Islamic Affairs seemed more concerned about a theoretical "backlash" against Muslims then they were about the terrorist attack itself. Needless to say, the feared "backlash" once again never materialized, but at this point the media is lockstep with these groups in bemoaning fictional future crimes rather than actual present crimes.
Where is the phobia here? In the mindset of a concerned citizenry who recognizes undeniable ideological patterns behind a string of persistent terrorist campaigns over the last three decades? Or in the mindset of that ideology's hosts in their insistence that any and all criticism of said ideology is a vitriolic, Zionist-inspired hate crime?
That was my first thought when I heard about the shootings at Fort Hood. The media, military 'leadership', and the U.S. president weren't so sure. Obama warned us against "jumping to conclusions." The media continues to insist that Nidal Hasan's motives "were unclear." And General George Casey, the Army chief of staff, lamented that "it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."
Despite Obama's warning, I myself jumped to plenty of conclusions. For example, when it emerged that Hasan was a reactionary misogynist who pledged allegiance to the Koran in military uniform after giving speeches praising suicide bombers, claiming sharia law superseded constitutional law, and suggesting that all infidels should be beheaded, all the while attempting to contact al-Qaeda for months before massacring thirteen people while screaming "Allahu Akbar", my natural conclusion was that this guy was an Islamic terrorist whose motives were crystal clear and who probably didn't spend quite as many sleepless nights chewing his nails over diversity as General Casey.
I'm also willing to bet that the conclusions I "jumped" to were identical to the conclusions jumped to by a majority of Americans. So what does this mean? Are we all Islamophobes? Do we have an irrational fear of Islam? Certainly, groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Arab-American Institute, and the Council for American-Islamic Affairs seemed more concerned about a theoretical "backlash" against Muslims then they were about the terrorist attack itself. Needless to say, the feared "backlash" once again never materialized, but at this point the media is lockstep with these groups in bemoaning fictional future crimes rather than actual present crimes.
Where is the phobia here? In the mindset of a concerned citizenry who recognizes undeniable ideological patterns behind a string of persistent terrorist campaigns over the last three decades? Or in the mindset of that ideology's hosts in their insistence that any and all criticism of said ideology is a vitriolic, Zionist-inspired hate crime?
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 62
Steve
posted 11/30/09 @ 10:22 AM CST
Good piece.
Muhammad Khan
posted 11/30/09 @ 6:19 PM CST
if every muslim is a terrorist than every Christian is a Ku Klux Klan member because all of the slogans they got were from the bible. No one has any right to say anything about anyone. (Continued…)
anon
posted 11/30/09 @ 6:29 PM CST
Very humorous read. You can get a good idea how ignorant/stupid some UIC students can be just by reading the UIC Flames paper.
How does Skeet define Islam? What does Skeet even know about Islam? Politically and theologically speaking, Islam branches into many different categories, not just one. (Continued…)
T.C.
posted 11/30/09 @ 6:58 PM CST
Was this copy-and-pasted from an Ann Coulter blog post, or perhaps a FreeRepublic forum entry? This article is lame, cliche, and completely (obviously) Islamophobic. (Continued…)
H.M.
posted 11/30/09 @ 10:40 PM CST
When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 was religion brought into it? No, I didn't think so. Along with many other murderers religion is never brought up, but the fact that Maj. (Continued…)
Sarah
posted 11/30/09 @ 10:43 PM CST
You obviously know nothing about the religion. You took one man and made him into every single muslim. So, what your saying is that everytime I see a Korean or Asian person I should fear of a shoot out because of who the VT killer was, also Every white like eric and dyln from the columbine shooting, also charles roberts who shot the amish girls. (Continued…)
Jim
posted 11/30/09 @ 11:01 PM CST
You guys are right that you can't say all Muslims are killers because of that one Hasan incident or even because of 100 incidents like that but you also can't say that Islam had nothing to do with it. (Continued…)
SS
posted 12/01/09 @ 10:04 AM CST
This article gives Glenn Beck a run for his money.
Ariel
posted 12/01/09 @ 10:29 AM CST
As much as I cannot believe this was published (though we have free speech, so yes I completely understand the right to having your own opinion) I find it incredibly insulting and misinformed. (Continued…)
Ross
posted 12/01/09 @ 6:13 PM CST
I can't believe this was actually published. Freedom of speech only goes so far. While we're at it, lets publish "The White Man's Burden" or "Mein Kampf". (Continued…)
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