What's in a Name? (for anyone lurking about DU tonight)

[Solly Mack]

Aziz Nissan

Habib Afram

Rami Kamel


Names: *Arabic in origin
Religion: Christian

If you hear an Arabic name and think "Muslim" - you might want to do some traveling (or do some reading).

If you hear the word Muslim and think "terrorist" - you might be a bigot. (and that's me being polite because there ain't no 'might' to it)


When I hear the word 'Christian' I don't automatically think Eric Rudolph or Scott Roeder.


In the end, the facts might just be that the Army Major is a domestic religious terrorist - but if you have already decided he went on a killing spree because of his "Muslim sounding name" (whatever that means) or because he's a Muslim (and in your mind Muslim means bad), you're a bigot.


To be sure, hard-core, out there flapping religious beliefs of all kind have been a motivating factor in a lot of horrible deeds.....but we don't know if that's a factor in this case.


Religious terrorists come in many flavors. If you're out bombing clinics or murdering doctors you're exactly the same as those flying planes into buildings. If you're using your religion as a weapon to harm others (assault, murder, oppression/denying civil rights, etc..), you're not fit for decent society - you are a religious terrorist.




Also, not to be forgotten...


He is military; he could have easily snapped. Wouldn't be the first time a soldier snapped and killed fellow soldiers.


He could have snapped for reasons we know nothing about.


I don't know why the man did what he did. Until the facts come out, no one does.


















*Nissan is Hebrew in origin.

[tekisui]

1. A thankful knr!~

[PDJane]

2. indeed.......

and until I have a reason for another opinion, he has my compassion.

[cigsandcoffee]

9. Your compassion? Are you kidding?

Ask yourself this. If he'd been arrested for shooting 10 kittens to death, would he have your immediate compassion?

If not, one would have to wonder how a kitten's murder could inspire more outrage in you than members of our military.

Your compassion? Good Lord.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[PDJane]

28. Compassion for the killed and injured

doesn't mean I can't have compassion for the killer too.

He was a muslim before he was a military man. He was a man who listened to the stories of men that came back from the invasions and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had requested that he not be assigned to those theatres, he was doing his job in America. He was getting a lot of hassle because he was a muslim. He was a gentle man, an American, and a member of a minority group. He was being sent where he didn't want to go.

What don't you understand about the situation? I can't have enough compassion to go around and enough of whatever it takes to say so?

What the HELL is wrong with this? I have to automatically jump up and condemn the man because he lost control? You wouldn't do that, of course.

No, I wouldn't kill someone. I can't.

I don't believe in the death penalty; yes, that's likely a character flaw. However, I do have enough empathy to understand why this particular scene might happen.
\

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. K&R, my dear Solly Mack!

Well stated...

:applause:

[JohnnyLib2]

4. Very timely. Thank you.

Rec.

[laststeamtrain]

5. K & R -- n/t.

[uppityperson]

6. k&r. At this point, news is unclear and speculation isn't accurate either.

[Mira]

7. K&R Very needed tonight. Thank you !

[UpInArms]

8. I am, once again, reminded

what a wonderful DUer you are.

Thank you.

Your clarity, your thoughtfulness, your unwillingess to be led ~ to lead ~ is inspiring.

[dmr]

12. I'll second that!

:)

[Solly Mack]

31. ...

Golly

:blush:

Thank you.

[Scurrilous]

10. K & R

:thumbsup:

[nolabear]

11. Thank you. I appreciate your reasoned response to a horrible situation.

[Loose Meat]

14. I'm surprised.

A lot of people here seem to conclude that the shooter is a Muslim because of his name. I've been watching the news, and I haven't heard anything about his religion. I do know that he is of Jordanian ancestry, born in the United States. Virginia, to be exact.

Are people so uninformed that they hear his name and conclude that he's a Muslim, without understanding that his name has Jordanian origins, sort of like how the name "Soprano" has Italian origins and the name "O'Malley" has Irish origins?

I thought DU was populated by people with broad minds, but watching all this back-and-forth about the "Muslim" shooter, without any hard evidence of his religion, is kind of dispiriting. I'm new here. Maybe my expectations were unrealistic.

Maybe I missed that news flash that said the shooter is a Muslim. I don't know. I just think it's sad that such a conclusion would be drawn because people are so unworldly that they don't understand the derivation of surnames.

Your post was spot on, and I commend you for it. Since I just figured out what K&R means, I did that, and I thank you.

[Codeine]

15. His mother hs stated

that he is a devout Muslim and wanted out of the military.

[Codeine]

16. aunt, rather. nt

[paulsby]

19. as has his cousing and former commanding officer nt

[Loose Meat]

20. Thank you.

Yes, I just saw that, after I wrote my post. That, though, was the first statement of what his religion was.

Before that, it was all conjecture, and it was startling. I stand by my statement about people jumping to conclusions because of a name, when the matter of religion has nothing to do with his name.

[Codeine]

21. No, several soldiers made similar statements

and his name was connected to a number of internet posts identifying him as Muslim. Perhaps you've jumped to concusions in your assumption that we've jumped to conclusions. The actual reason is far more likely to be that some people have paid closer attention to the developing story.

[Loose Meat]

23. Nowhere did I see his religion mentioned.

When his aunt made that statement, I saw that after I'd posted. I saw it on DU. But, as I said in my post, perhaps I had missed that piece of information in the news reports.

Clearly, you watched more closely than I did, and you are to be commended for your diligence. My observations were not a matter of jumping to conclusions, but, rather, based on the paucity of information I'd gleaned from the news reports. I don't have time to watch them as closely as you did, and I thank you for the enlightenment.

[Solly Mack]

22. Early in the news coverage one of the news stations said

the shooter had a "Muslim sounding name" - then came the possible terror attack/Al Queada plot scenarios. Conflating Muslim with terrorist.

Fear-mongering by playing on people's prejudices.


Thank you for your words.

[Loose Meat]

24. So I'm not the only one?

No one knows what a "Muslim-sounding name" is any more than they know what a "Jewish-sounding name" might be. Is there such a thing as a "Catholic-sounding name"? I have a good old friend who grew up Italian-American on the South Side of Philadelphia, a Roman Catholic from birth, but he converted to the Lutheran faith when he married his wife. Now, he has a name that sounds like "Tony Soprano," but he's Protestant.

It's so easy to leap to conclusions on the basis of skewed and inaccurate assumptions.

Your post was the most intelligent I've seen since this whole horrible event took place. It is I who is grateful for it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. And that was... MSNBC

followed by Neil Cavuto on Fox...

[Cerridwen]

17. K & R.

My first thought on hearing the shooter's name was Arab; not Muslim.

I'm weird.

[BrklynLiberal]

18. K and R....

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Looking at names is one of my favorite things to do

and for me terror is not limited to ahem them Muslims. We have had a few here from good ol' Christian boys.

My reaction in early reporting was... an attack, but not a foreign one.

:-)

And given the 180 of all the story something smells... but not quite Muslim terror if ye get me drift.

[stevedeshazer]

27. Thanks. That needed to be said.

Recommended.

[Hepburn]

29. Nissan....

...yes, Hebrew. I had a dentist work on me the other day and that was his first name. He is an Israeli and is a sephardic Jew.

[tavalon]

30. I heard on the radio this morning that the shooter used the phrase "Allahu Akbar"

They said it breathlessly as though it was important. He is religious and that is a common phrase used in his religion. But it was clear what we were supposed to infer. I was also subjected to the breathless discussion of the shooter who went into a convenience store in his religious attire as if that meant something, you know, IMPORTANT!!!!

The bastards in the mainstream media want the public to go that way. Why I wonder would that be?