Horror at Fort Hood Inspires Horribly Predictable Islamophobia

[tekisui]

Source: The Nation

Thursday's shootings at Fort Hood army base in Texas -- which have left at least 11 people dead and 31 others wounded -- were of course the "horrific outburst of violence" that President Obama bemoaned and condemned Thursday.

But, because a soldier identified as the gunman had a name that led to the presumption that he was Muslim, the incident inspired an all-too-predictable outbreak of Islamophobia.

News reports named the man who used two handguns in the assault on his fellow soldiers at a base that is a prime point of departure for troops headed to Iraq and Afghanistan as Major Malik Nidal Hasan. The major, who was wounded during the incident, was reportedly a psychiatrist who had served in the Department of Psychology at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Bethesda Naval Facility in Bethesda, Maryland, before his transfer to Fort Hood. Hours after the incident, and hours after news anchors and politicians cited his religion as an explanation for the shootings, a family member told reporters Major Hasan was indeed a Muslim.

But that was hardly the only relevant detail about the major.

For instance, according to Texas Senator Bailey Hutchison, preparing to deploy to Iraq. However, the senator said, "I do know that he has been known to have told people that he was upset about going (to Iraq)." Several new reports suggested that the major saw a deployment to Iraq as his "worst nightmare" and recounted how he had treated victims of combat-related stress and was upset about the war.

Military officials at the base and in Washington refused to speculate about motivations or intents. And Paul Sullivan, executive director of the group Veterans for Common Sense, noted that the incident might well be the latest in a series of stress-related homicides and suicides involving soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan or are being dispatched to those occupied lands.

No one knew on Thursday whether stress, fear, anger over mistreatment, mental illness or a warped understanding of his religion might have motivated Major Hasan. The point here is not to defend the soldier or his alleged actions. Rather, it is to question the rush to judgment regarding not just this one Muslim but all Muslims.

more: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/493148/horror_at_fort_hood_inspires_horribly_predictable_islamophobia

[Bucky]

1. Digusting. There's nothing political about this. He was a sick, pathetic, hateful person.

I hope his doctors skimp on the painkillers.

[RoadRage]

2. Sorry.. he wasn't the only soldier who had to deploy to Iraq..

He wasn't the only muslim to have to deploy, and he wasn't the only muslim who was made fun of either.

There is no excuse for this.. if he wanted to get out of it so badly that death was a better option, then he could have just committed suicide, he didn't need to try and take 40 people with him.

As a phsychiatrist though, you have to wonder about his colleauges - others who were around him. Were there not any outward signs that this guy was mentally on the brink? I'm sure he knew how to hide some of them, but all in all - someone had to notice something.

It's amazing how this 1 guy is going to pull the triggers of distrust with so many people now. Muslims, Psychiatrists, Military, Doctors, etc. Unbelievably sad.

[DemBones DemBones]

6. He required counseling while working at Walter Reed

and was trying to get a discharge rather than be deployed to a war zone so the Army knew he had problems. The Army said today that he shouted "Allahu Akbar" before he began shooting but DU persists in thinking this has nothing to do with his being Muslim.

The FBI has also been investigating for six months, trying to determine if he was the same Nidal Hasan who posted online about suicide bombings. Too bad they couldn't get a warrant to seize his computer before yesterday, the deaths and woundings might have been averted.

[tavalon]

16. How many times have we here at DU said subversive things

I'm not in the least bit pleased that our government watches our internet usage.

[Deep13]

3. Right, we don't know why he did what he did.

It may be any of the things the media has speculated about or it may be something we have not thought of. Or it may be several things. After 9/11, some drunken idiot rammed the local Islamic center with his minivan. I wrote to the director of the center expressing my outrage over the violent act and my relief that no one was hurt beyond the driver himself. Subjective beliefs are never a justification for violence or pogroms or marginalization.

Still, I dispute that anyone (beyond the lunatic fringe) is assuming this incriminates "all Muslims." One may be critical or even condemning of a specific school of thought without implicating everyone who subscribes to it. Most Muslims in this country who have expressed an opinion are plainly mortified by this. Even the murderer's family expressed dismay.

Still, suggesting that the murderer's understanding of his religion may be warped is just as prejudiced as assuming a Muslim must be irrationally violent. Getting killed while fighting the "enemies" of Islam is a singular virtue in the Koran, the Hadiffs and in Islamic tradition. So, I dispute that IF the murderer was motivated by religion, that it was a warped understanding of it just as I dispute that his religion is off-limits as a possible motive.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I wish he'd just shot himself.

There's a lot of things he could've done to keep from going to Iraq. Anyway, I'm glad he isn't going to Iraq. My brother is over there and I don't want a man like Hasan watching his back.

[timeforpeace]

17. Hearing his reasons in court will expose his Islam-inspired hate and murderous rampage and will put

to rest any claims that reactions are "Islamophobic".

[Bitwit1234]

5. Can't you see

republicans response to this..wait til rush and all the rest get going.
Yes he was Muslim, yes he was against going overseas and was inciting violence. But that doesn't make all Muslims like that. The Muslims in this country are just as patriotic as any other ethnic American group.

For example. Look at Michelle Bach man, inciting riots in the capital no less. Look at Glen Beck getting out a baseball bat and saying we should use it against the white house. They aren't Muslim. It comes down to the fact that a person is responsible for these acts not the group of people he belongs to..It is their twisted minds. And their need for attention.

I hope people don't blame Muslims for what this man did. Another thing, the complain about woman in the military and the police force. This woman was quick on her feet, had an excellent response and got the job down. She saved a lot of people's lives yesterday.

[Lost-in-FL]

7. It still doesn't take away that he is a criminal. nt

[tekisui]

9. I thought that would go without saying.

[get the red out]

8. Right wing radio hosts

I worry about what the right wing radio hosts will be conjuring up to spew from this. I am sure they are looking at this as a golden opportunity to make Islamophobia a national condition again, I seriously doubt these guys like Beck and Limbaugh have enough compassion to think beyond how this can help their cause (and mostly their bank accounts).

I dread the hate that they will push on people. Sad.

[Romulox]

10. Unrec. This article was more like a pre-emptive accusation.

I read the whole thing, trying to figure out what the "Islamophobia" it was referring to was--I'm not sure if I'm alone, but I assumed that it referred to something on or near the base itself.

Instead, it refers to an oblique comment by Shep Smith and a website called "jihadwatch" (which presumably existed prior to this incident.) :shrug:

Evidence for the headline seems very thin on the ground.

[NoSheep]

18. Things are getting pretty bad in the hate dept. I assure you.

Go to NBC Chicago and read what they are cooking up over there.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/A-Disconnected-President.html

the comments are shocking

[timeforpeace]

19. Kudos, excellent analysis. But you will see this turning of the tables often. Blame the victims.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. All the points brought up have been mentioned by the media.....

....as the story developed. The Nation sounds like the ones panicking over a name.

[Solly Mack]

12. Muslim American groups rushed to distance themselves and their religion

from this incident. Why?

Because they know what happens when fear and prejudice travel together. They were rounded up after September 11, 2001 for no other reason than being male and Muslim. People endured attacks against their person and their property....for no other reason than fitting someones fear-driven bigotry inspired description of a terrorist.


Because so-called leaders and such demanded Muslims in America either condemn the actions or be labeled a terrorist as well. Demanded that Muslims in America prove their loyalty by an acceptable level of outrage. Said acceptable level determined by those doing the demanding.


Were white males with military experience rounded up after the OKC bombings? Why not? Better safe than sorry, right?




Were conservative, white Christian males rounded up after James Kopp murdered a doctor? After Paul Hill, a former minister, murdered a doctor? After Michael Griffin murdered a doctor? Why not? Again, better safe than sorry, right?

Did so-called leaders demand that Christians in America distance themselves from the murders or be labeled just as guilty?


When a white lawyer in Boston claimed a black male shot both him and his wife, police developed tunnel-vision; harassing any and all black males. Stopping black males simply because they were black and male, frisking them & demanding they strip then and there - and all because they fit the description of "black male" (nothing else - just black and male)

The white lawyer was the guilty party.


The thinking that Muslim or "Muslim sounding name" equals terrorist is the exact same sort of racism at play as 'black male' equals criminal


Different. Not 'one of us'. Fear-mongering playing on the prejudices of people.


There is a proven track record in America of over-reacting & lashing out from fear and prejudice.

[The Straight Story]

13. Christians here on DU understand quite well having people think negative of you based on religion

"The thinking that Muslim or "Muslim sounding name" equals terrorist is the exact same sort of racism at play as 'black male' equals criminal "

Say the word christian in a thread title, or say 'catholic priest', etc and folks will jump in fast to tell you how evil they are all.

Spreading hate is easy - especially when someone only focuses on the negative acts of people in a group.

[Solly Mack]

15. I think opinions on a message board are just a wee bit different from

being murdered because you perform a medical procedure, or being physically assaulted or murdered because you are gay, or being attacked because you 'look Muslim', or being rounded up because you are Muslim, or being harassed by the police because you're a 'black male'



Christians aren't rounded up in America because of the actions of other self-identified Christians. White males aren't rounded up en masse because another white male commits a crime. You don't hear the news say things like 'the suspect had a Christian sounding name' or 'the suspect had a WASPish sounding name'. The news doesn't start speculating on mass attacks from Christians after a former minister and self-identified Christian murders a doctor.

I do take your point, but I see a world of difference.

[elocs]

14. The shooting certainly did nothing to help Muslims in this country.

If you were to look at how Islamic hatred breaks down along party lines I am pretty sure that the vast majority of it would fall to one.

People all have different limits and who knows exactly how they might snap. There have certainly been others who have refused to serve and others who sucked it up and went and came out the other side with PTSD. This one snapped badly.