The shooting at Fort Hood was a real tragedy -- there is no doubt of that. But now it seems like some people want to compound that tragedy by taking it out on innocent people in the muslim faith.
Many right-wingers are now trying to blame all muslims for the actions of one man (who happened to also be a muslim). Fox News even had their rather scary pundits talking as though muslims in the Armed Forces should be treated differently than other Americans -- people who have or will risk their lives to defend all of us.
There are over 1.3 billion muslims in the world, and I'm convinced that 98% of them are as horrified by the shooting at Fort Hood as anyone else. I've known and worked with many muslims in this country, and I've found them to be among the nicest and most decent people I've had the pleasure to be around.
For example, consider the Islamic Society of North America. They have joined with other muslim groups (and with interfaith groups) to raise money for the families of the victims at Fort Hood. They don't care what religion the victims professed (or even if they professed any religion). They just want to help.
Trying to blame all muslims for the Fort Hood shooting would be like trying to blame all christians for the shooting of Dr. Tiller. It's not just unfair, it's downright stupid!
Let's be good Americans, and not turn a terrible tragedy into an even larger tragedy.
We need to maintain a delicate balance between two extremes: blaming all members of an ethnic group for the actions of a few; and closing our eyes to even the most obvious warning signals for the sake of political correctness and diversity. An example of the former was the internment camps set up for Japanese Americans during World War II. I'm afraid the case of Nadal Malik Hasan is an example of the latter.
ReplyDeleteI remember my father (who was born in 1906) telling me about the government agents that attended German language services at our church during World War I to make sure that nothing subversive was being plotted. Would that be justified today? What if there had been previous reports of such subversive activities? (There were none at my church, BTW). How absolute is our First Amendment right to Freedom of Religion? Can it be used to aid and abet those who would do us harm? These are hard questions, in my opinion.
But when a commissioned officer in the US Army sends numerous emails to a known Al Qaeda operative, when he speaks openly about beheading infidels, when he equates suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on live grenades - there were enough warning signs to keep a very tight rein on this terrorist, at the very least.
In some ways, this reminds me of the play The Fire Raisers by the Swiss author Max Frisch. Obviously, not everyone is an "arsonist," but ignoring the most obvious signs can lead to disastrous results.
Having myself lived overseas, I appreciate other cultures and enjoy the diversity that even a city like Amarillo offers; you'd be surprised how many different nationalities and cultures are represented here. But to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, "The price of diversity is eternal vigilence."