THE DAY AFTER

   RAD:  The horrific event at Fort Hood in Texas makes one realize the fragility of life and one's mortality.  In that light I've posted the quotes in the post below to bring solace to us all but especially the family and friends of the maimed and killed.                                                                                  
    On the morning after such horror we should be careful about drawing conclusions about what caused a soldier-psychiatrist who happens to be a USA born and raised Muslim-American to perpetrate such evil. Time will tell.  Speculation is rampant.  Already some are rushing to judgment focusing on the ethnicity and faith of the perpetrator as if that explained anything definitive.                                
    The US military has always included men and women from many races, ethnicities and faiths.  In WW II Japanese-Americans served their country with honor despite the fact their families were interned; Native-Americans served herorically despite centureis of mistreatment of their tribal peers; and African-Americans served bravely in segregated units.                                                                                         
    It is too easy to default to reasons of race, ethnicity or faith when the issues of this case are too complex for such one-dimensional analysis.  In the simmering pot of American pluralism people of different races, ethnicities, faiths, genders and sexual orientations have served their nation well abeit facing the slings and arrows of prejudice.
    It is clear from what we know so far that the accused was a very troubled person as his psychiatrist peers at Walter Reed in DC noted.  With all the warnings out there - why didn't anybody step up and go to the higher ups to note their concerns?  As with tragedies of this sort, including Oregon's own Kip Kinkle case, there is a conspiracy of silence which precedes such horrific events.  Why?              
    Let's also keep this tragedy in perspective, The Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995 by American militia movement sympathizer Timothy McVeigh, with the assistance of Terry Nichols was the most significant act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11 attacks in 2001, claiming the lives of 168 victims and injuring more than 680.                                                                          
    Finally, while the NRA will no doubt say at some point that “people, not guns, kill people” it’s hard to imagine such slaughter being possible without access in this case to automatic weapons.  And yet our 2nd Amendment fetish for unlimited access to personal weapons of mass destruction will no doubt continue – despite Fort Hood or similar events such as the killings at Virginia Tech.

Comments

[Rhonda]

This event really hurt.

The U.S. military is the best equal opportunity employer there is.

Thanks for putting it in perspective. Thiswas about a particular individual who gave enough troubling clues that should have been investigated earlier, not about the people of a whole race or religion.