Why Two White Kids Are a Senseless Tragedy but an Arab American Is Terrorism

When a couple of white kids shoot up a school, it is a tragedy, and a search for mental defect. Bring on a shooting at a military base that involves an Arab-American though, and the media does everything that it can to shout "TERRORISM" without really saying it.

Sadly, in our gun-laden, NRA-shielded America, shootings at schools, post offices, hospitals and military installations are all too common. School shootings barely elevate to the national news. You need something new in the tragedy department, like a university, or a military base, and a high enough body count, before the media takes much notice nationally.

That Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was disturbed is without question. He was a psychiatrist, which is in itself a bit more mentally-edgy occupation. He was treating the symptoms of war on a daily basis, and he did not want to go over the edge himself by being sent into combat, so he went over the edge and shot up a processing center at Fort Hood when his greatest personal terror was being realized without any way to stop it.

That is a senseless tragedy, but it is not terrorism. Likewise, the media's handling of shooters who are not white and suburban is racism, not journalism.

Prior to Hasan being named as the suspect, the TV talking heads were LIVE, spinning senseless tragedy and soldiers pushed to the breaking point. Once the FBI dumped a bucket of blood in the media waters that Hasan was an Arab-American who might have blogged something that agreed with Arab terrorists, the feeding frenzy began.

The New York Times even reported:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier became aware of Internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan, a law enforcement official said. The postings discussed suicide bombings favorably, but the investigators were not clear whether the writer was Major Hasan.

They point to the Website with the blog post. Then they mention again:

"It could not be confirmed, however, that the writer was Major Hasan."

Of course the posting itself features a paper called "Martyrdom in Islam Versus Suicide Bombing" which actually is a six page paper making the distinction between Islamic martydom and suicide bombings which is AGAINST suicide bombings.

The author states:

"It is only with the proliferation of suicide bombing in our time that the distinction between suicide and martyrdom has become marred as the former is being justified with textual support [in the Koran] for the latter.

The Times writer, James Dao, quoted the juicier passage of the blog item:

"If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory"

Without giving any regard to the conclusion of the Hasan who blogged this piece in response to the six page paper whose link sits right below the commentary:

"So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best."

In its entirety this Hasan, whether the Major or not, seems to be agreeing with the author that the taking of life in combat and opposing one's enemies is not the same as walking into a crowded market full of civilians and exploding oneself.

Dao got it wrong when he wrote "The postings discussed suicide bombings favorably" because he did not take the extra ten minutes to read the original document and understand the context of this Hasan's remarks.

There is nothing inconsistent in that thinking from anything that we preach either. We send young men off to kill "enemy combatants" and that is acceptable. We tell them to stop killing when they come home. We make a distinction, in our Armed Forces manuals, between enemy combatants and civilians, even though the distinction in the real world of Iraq or Afghanistan can be so grey that women and children may well be the armed enemy.

He was too busy doing what the FBI apparently hoped to do: Distract a shooting based on a soldier snapping his twig by misdirecting the media down the terrorist trail.

Similarly, the Times article on the Virginia Tech shootings identified:

Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a South Korean who was a resident alien in the United States was finally identified as the shooter in the Virginia Tech campus shooting spree.

Which suggests that he was perhaps a foreign student until you read, many paragraphs down:

Mr. Cho moved to the United States with his family as a grade school student in 1992, government officials in South Korea said.

Cho arrived in the US as an 8-year-old. He spent the majority of his youth living in the suburbs of Virginia, not the streets of Seoul.

Again the times did in-depth reporting on the family history of the shooter. His poor family that subsisted off a used bookstore in South Korea who moved here for opportunity but shunned the Korean community and kept to themselves. The silent boy who was obedient for whom the mother prayed.

As if any of this explains how a "quiet" young man suddenly bursts into a gun-toting maniac.

When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot up the school in Colombine, it was a senseless tragedy, but no one profiled Harris or Klebold's ethnicity, or their religious views, or lack thereof.

If you check on the Colombine pages of the New York Times, you will find extensive literature from the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics on the psychological profiles of Harris and Klebold. Their homes and home life get fractional mention, days after the dust settled from the shooting. Most of what was covered, was their mental state and what mental defect drives kids from white suburbia to shoot their fellow students. This would also be true of the majority of the media that covered that event at the time.

White shooters get psych profiles. Non-white shooters get family backgrounds, and, in the case of Maj. Hasan, stretches to link to terrorism.

Apparently you cannot just be mentally disturbed and Arab-American or South Korean. There has to be something in your origins that explains the sudden violence and the seemingly mindless rage.

I selected the Times to illustrate a point because the more incendiary news or news-ish outlets like Fox are a bit too oversimplified. It is too easy to listen to Wolf Blitzer do everything that he can to keep seeding the notion of terrorism into the discussion without using the word. The media in the United States has always been very adept at turning the non-white into bogeymen.

The Times has stood as one of the great bellwethers of American journalism standards. So it is especially troubling when you see the NYT engage in this more veiled form of racism.

It is sad when it takes a week, and several smaller, Internet-based publications to start catching up with the inconsistencies.

Hasan did many of the things that Cho and Harris and Klebold did. He showed signs. He was giving away things. He exhibited serious personality shifts.

The problem is that we are not attuned to picking up those warning signs, in part because they could be a hundred-thousand other, less lethal things. We do not know why someone at the post office finally goes "postal." We do not track gun purchases and mental health histories well enough to set off alarm bells when someone is arming themselves who shouldn't be in the possession of a firearm because NRA lobbyists connect any form of monitoring with the inalienable right for Bubba in Biloxi to hold on to his rifle and six pack in a duck blind on a cold November morning.

It is too easy to lay off a tragedy with labels that are comfortable to us. I checked in with my avid Fox News junkie at the gym. Hasan is a "terrorist" and he "wrote about supporting terrorism." That is the final word from Average Joe, burned into his brain because the media served up a Twinkie story, misdirecting the public, and giving them a simple verdict that catered to their fears.

The Times should have verified the blog as belonging to Hasan instead of reporting the sensational quote and back-pedaling away from it with "It could not be confirmed, however, that the writer was Major Hasan."

During the Virginia Tech shootings, the more adept NYT team covering that story at least managed to achieve some balance when they ended their background on Cho with:

The single deadliest shooting in the United States came in October 1991, when George Jo Hennard crashed his pickup truck through the window of a Luby's cafeteria in Killeen, Tex., then shot 22 people dead and wounded at least 20 others. He shot himself in the head."

Why is Hennard not as infamous as Hasan, Cho, Harris or Klebold? Because the folks at Luby's in Kileen watching the news and eating their macaroni and cheese might find that a whole lot harder to swallow than a crazed Arab terrorist shooting up their military base.

White people do not like seeing themselves as being able to be that deranged, that awful, even though, by simple population dynamics alone, more often than not, Caucasians are the shooter, the mass murderer, the teen killer.

Perhaps it is time to revisit our treatment of these tragedies and find some balance in the coverage. Maybe we need to stop, and vet even the word of the FBI before we rush to beat the next guy to the story.

The truth is out there. It is just getting lost in the rush to be first.

 

Follow Brian Ross on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mlnsports

Comments

[sizgorich]

Of course you are right about the big money to be made around the ideas of "terror," "terrorism," and "terrorists;" it is certainly there, just as it was ten years ago in proximity to the "drug war." And you are right about the failure of Mr. Dao to properly vet his information before passing it along as nascent "fact." But his work is not unlike much of the journalism one encounters these days. Before I left journalism for another field, it seemed to me that even the most highly regarded journalists took it as their brief to dutifully affirm the value systems of their core readerships, to confirm and even reify that readership's fears and taboos and to present each story as, at its core, a crude morality tale in which good and bad were set in stark opposition to one another. Mr. Dao's treatment was very much in this tradition of reportage; his work is simply a bit sloppier than what one usually sees. His piece may have inadvertently made visible certain prejudices current among the more credulous and less critical of our neighbors, but the villain in his story could have been any other kind of boogeyman, whether a white racist (or militia member), a crazed drug addict or, if one goes back a bit, a commie or (shudder) an anarchist.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Exceptionally well put! Putting "common wisdoms," public fears and journalistic group-think ahead of fact-finding and the truth is all too common. I did a piece in August for SZ, "At What Cost Peace?" http://www.mlnsports.com/baseball/affiliated/features/articles2009/09/17/01.php on the Comissioner of Baseball shaving anti-doping "suspensions" which were not even really suspensions to begin with. How many BWAA members do you think picked up the story? Bunch of bloggers but the "mainstream" media? Even when we had spent two months tacking down the story and had glowing detail.

This is why I stay and fight the good fight, though.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Examiner.com posted a story that rehashes a Fox News Sunday whine by Joe "I'll Do Anything for Attention" Lieberman that he would investigate why the Army kept Nidal.

"Students that took masters classes with Hasan at a military college in 2007-2008 have been coming forward saying that they made several complaints to superiors about Hasan's anti-American views. They said that Hasan told them Islamic law was better than the US Constitution, and one of them complained to five officers and two civilian faculty members at the university about Hasan’s views. One of Hasan’s instructors at that college, Dr. Val Finnell stated that Hasan gave a presentation that justified suicide bombing."

Forgetting the absolute hearsay of most of it, the Army not only kept Nidal but apparently dismissed the complaints. Given the fact that these colleges are supposed to be about the discussion of ideas, even relatively radical ones, this is not a shocker. Non-Arabs have commented on the effectiveness of suicide bombing at forwarding a political agenda. And how many hard-Right Christians will tell you that the Bible trumps the Constitution on issues like abortion...

One has to wonder who is working so hard to turn mental defect into political terrorism.

[atretrioeciii]

Don't we lead the universe in the rampage killing? I mean, Charles Whitman (not a Muslim) invented it in a bell tower in Austin, Texas and sadly is anyone even surprised anymore when this occurs? I'm afraid we are becoming desensitized to this type of horrific crime.

Even the perpetrators are evolving into something more than just "mad men with guns" at the Virgina Tech shootings Cho Seung-Hui (also not a Muslim) stopped shooting, went to mail something to a news station and then started killing again.

Anyone who references the religion of the man and the role it played before all the details are known is only doing one thing in the end, passing judgement an entire religion without a fair trial and sentencing practitioners to harassment and ridicule for a crime they did not commit.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Yet there were news outlets engaged in the wild speculation of the moment who, when they found out that Cho was "Korean" wondered aloud if somehow this was not North Korean terrorism. As responsible journalists, even if that occurs to you, you keep your trap shut, find someone on the staff who can run down that angle, validate it at least twice, and then run it. That's responsible. Otherwise you get the situations that you so aptly describe. Thank you!

[scribe15]

So..hypothetically, lets' say that there was incontrovertible evidence of a domestic terror attack by a Muslim. Are you saying that such an attack should never be acknowledged because to do so would ipso facto lead to discrimination against all Muslims?

[atretrioeciii]

I'm saying not to reference the suspects religion. When the Columbine shootings broke did anyone say that "one of suspects is a christian, and the other is Jewish"? Because even if only one Muslim is discriminated against, that one Muslim will be judged for an crime he did not commit. That would be an injustice I would not wish upon anyone.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

If religion or some other belief, like the anti-government hatred of a McVeigh, and you can PROVE it through numerous sources, then it is fair game. When you have a thousand guys named Nidal, and dozens with the same first name, to run the FBI's pure speculation that a blog which by the way, rejects terrorism, as if it were the source's own words is just IRRESPONSIBLE.

[alexa07]

Brian Ross,
Thank you for your careful analysis of the news coverage about the Ft. Hood tragedy. I esp. want to thank you for delving into the original blogging about martyrdom vs. suicide bombing. I think there needs to be a constant running commentary that holds up to the sunshine how the NYT, WP, CNN, ABC, 60 Minutes, & others are violating journalistic standards, esp. in regard to anything about Muslims here or abroad, or the conflicts in the Middle East. The most telling indicator seems to be the growing popularity of online sources like HP; the alternative programs like "Democracy Now" & "Grit TV", the great satellite channel LinkTV & the internationals. All of these sources provide a contrast to the corporate media whose moguls seem unable to get off the war tracks. I am looking forward to more analysis from you, Brian.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

First thing you should do is read thoroughly. Fewer mistakes that way. Thank you for the kind comments.

[scribe15]

Right- Why don't you analyse "Allahu Akbar", Brian? Or all the other evidence that has been made public that indicates terrorism.. you cherry-picked this one paper on suicide bombing....there is so much more.

[mongol invasion]

incidentally for a muslim saying 'allahu akbar' is no more unusual than it is for a christian to say "o my god" or "jesus christ" or 'o lord' or 'halleluyah'...

it is really making me wonder about the intelligence of people in the u.s. in general...to give so much attention to a most insignificant part of an act...it shows that something is tragically wrong with the understanding and the psyche

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

As I had pointed out by numerous Muslims when I made mention in a prior essay on Iran that the translation of the phrase sends a bad message out to a world looking for a more peaceful resolution to conflict, the phrase is not seen by them in the same way. When you say "God damn it" you are not actually calling for the almighty to bring pestilence to the door jamb where you stubbed your toe.

[ReturnOfTheTruthTellaPod]

Wow those are some pretty big leaps you make

"Cho arrived in the US as an 8 year old. He spent the majority of his youth living in the suburbs of Virginia, not the streets of Seoul. "

Just like the times said!

Are you trying to imply that it was never mentioned where the columbine killers were from?

Had they tried to contact Al Qaeda, no doubt we would have talked about them being terrorists.

The Va tech shooter was never viewed as a terrorist by the media, including him in your argument because the times noted he is from South Korea is beyond irrelevant.

If you want to see racism or pejudice just examine President Obamas response post Cambridge to Post Fort Hood or the media's response post George Tiller to post Fort Hood.

Obama was quick to say the white police officer acted stupidly however when it came to islam there was no rush to judgement. In fact everything we've heard from Obama and the media has been 'lets not rush to judgement' ; 'We fear there might be a backlash against muslims'.

The truth about anti-muslim crime statistics
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2006/victims.html

However when George Tiller was murdered the left and the media was quick to call it terrorism and religious extremism. They demonized the entire right and all of christianity. There were multiple articles on this site quick to judge anyone associated with conservative opinions or who consider themselves christians

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Lot of wind, little of it hitting your sails... Let's try to simplify for you, as you seemed to be skimming some.

Cho was not identified as a terrorist. He was identified as "foreign" however, and his foreign heiritage was brought into play by the NYT and others as if somehow his being Korean and the cultural gap might have something to do with his shooting rampage, which, having spent most of his life in America and American schools, does not explain it away. He was a kid with emotional and possibly mental issues who happened to be Korean. This is relevant to the concept that the media tends to give different treatment to non Caucasians in these situations.

Your commentary about Obama is spurious, and, by the by, the police officer did act stupidly after he found out that he was busting a man for breaking into his own home, and he was properly identified.

There is no "rush to judgment (correct spelling btw)" relative to Hasan because it is very clear that the guy is just missing a hinge and he lost it. You and the Fix News crowd can try to paint that one any way you like but the truth is that he is no different than other whack jobs like the killers at Colombine. Same problem. Different venue.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Tiller was killed by a religious extremist, and if the object of "terrorism" is to terrify the general public into action, or non-action, then there is a school of thought that Scott Roeder qualifies.

Check your facts before you shoot off. On Roeder, courtesy of the Right-leaning Daily News:

"The ex-wife of 51-year-old Scott Roeder said while he never thought of himself as mentally ill, "everyone else did."

"His anti-abortion rhetoric was very strong," said Lindsey Roeder, who filed for divorce in 1996 after a 10-year marriage. "It scared me," she told the Topeka Capital-Journal.

The suspect's brother, David Roeder, said his family always saw "Scott as a kind and loving son, brother and father who suffered from mental illness."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/06/02/2009-06-02_suspect_in_slay_of_abort_docs_crazy_ex_says.html#ixzz0WaQ4DwNR

[ReturnOfTheTruthTellaPod]

In short all im saying is Roeder is white and yet he was quickly demonized(and rightly so) and the left was quick to lump christians and conservatives in with Roeder and in fact blame them for the murderers(­wrongfully so).

Now that the shooter is muslim and the victims US soldiers those same people on the left want everyone to hold off on even thinking this guy could be a jihadist and dont condmen all muslims

Im not saying he is a jihadist and i certainly dont think all muslims should be lumped in with him who is obviously mentally unstable. Im just pointing out that all white killers(Roeder) dont get the 'what a travesty' treatment and that those on the left who yelled and screamed about the right and christianity after the tiller murder should remember how they acted before preaching to others about judging Hasan.

[tcagle]

Remember also the inordinate amount of attention paid to missing white girls while so many others are ignored.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Too true. In neighborhoods not too far from Yale, people disappear and are found dead, but they are not Chinese college students.

[sizgorich]

Actually, she was Vietnamese­-American. Careful. Somebody might accuse you of being racist.