Surely nobody can forget the vicious terrorist attack that killed three at a Planned Parenthood Clinic–including a police officer. Well, I guess we can forget. In fact all of the major news outlets have seemed to forget. I had to hunt the can and fox news sites for any mention of the shooting at all. Instead what I saw were dozens of articles detailing different aspects of the ‘Farook’ shooting in San Bernadino. Why? Because they are Muslims and as such this is kind of a big deal.
I don’t mean to belittle the deaths and injuries this husband and wife couple caused, but I am completely certain that the coverage isn’t about the death toll itself. It is about this ridiculous and overhyped fear we have cultivated through the media over Muslims. I have students and even friends who feel that most–if not all–followers of the Qur’an. One article reminded readers that Farook spent all of his time memorizing the Qur’an, before going on to claim he had ties to known terrorists. This, by default ties the word of religion to the act of terrorism when anyone with a brain knows that the people used to carry out these acts are being brainwashed not by the book but by the people who preach from the book.
There is nothing in that book that says go blow up America. The book is over 1500 years old, so I’m pretty certain there was no America to consider even blowing up. The argument most terrorists have with us is one of pure politics and poverty. Despite our predilections to the contrary, this is not a Jihad. Come on, we are smarter than that. Sure, it is easier to think that those who follow the book want to blow us all up, but that discounts the many muslims living both peacefully and fruitfully in America. Of course it does. Remembering them is inconvenient–just like labeling the man who attacked the Planned Parenthood clinic a terrorist was inconvenient. However, we were quick to judge and to lump this Farook couple right in with ISIL, without most of us even recognizing what ISIL really is or what their fight is about.
Don’t be a sheep. Where is the sense of curiosity so prevalent with the Sandy Hook shooting? Instead of pulling at the loose threads as so many did then (because nobody could really understand why Lanka would do that–thus many believed it never actually happened) we are blindly following the media story. That story doesn’t tell the story of why the shooting happened. I don’t know what caused this, but it is very convenient and easy to put it on terrorism. Before we do, I implore us all to consider why there? Why was it a workplace shooting? What is it we are missing in our rush to label them muslim terrorists?