Killing Yourself With Terrorism
Killing Yourself With Terrorism
The Las Vegas shooting, for some, is supposed to prove that White men can be just as dangerous as any other ethnic group, maybe more-so. To this I say “Duh!” Did anyone ever say otherwise? When these kinds of conversations come up, and they do after just about every mass shooting—regardless of who’s doing the shooting—they’re almost always in response to the usual straw man arguments that work something like this;
White folk have no right to complain when a Muslim kills a bunch of people, while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” “I mean, if a man walks into a gay bar, shouting “Allah is Great in Arabic,” while firing an AK47, that doesn't mean he’s a Muslim or a terrorist. Maybe what he meant is, “Hello! My name is Akbar.” And, maybe, just maybe, the gunfire might have been a celebratory form of cultural expression with a couple of misfires, which unintentionally wounded or killed a hundred or so people. Only a real racist would jump to the conclusion that Islam was involved and then try and blame that person based on their religion. Except if that person is a Christian. Then all bets are off. “Remember the Crusades!”
Yes, going back as 1000 years to The Crusades—in an effort to find a modern justification for Islamic terrorism—isn’t an issue for a liberal. However, if we’re talking about Roe v. Wade and abortion, 44 years is ancient history and well beyond the statue of limitations. So, hands off my vagina, you rightwing bastards.
Furthermore, just because Muslims engage in terrorism, doesn’t mean they’re doing it because of Islam, even when they say that’s the reason they’re doing it—as they blast men, women, and children to death with a cache of illegal weapons. If those illegal weapons were made even more illegal, all violent gun crime would end. This makes Republicans responsible, not Muslims. Plus, Muslims are Brown, meaning, to defend yourself against a “Terror attack” is a form of racism.
Coda: That all people can be dangerous is a given. This does not mean, however, that all cultures are the same, or all religions, or all anything, for that matter. To say that Beirut and Maine or E. St Louis and Idaho are exactly the same—or, that the one is no more dangerous than the other—is pure fiction. But such fiction is profitable because it allows people to maintain an insane world-view, at no immediate cost to themselves, while sustaining a sense of moral superiority.
At the heart of it, is an anti-Americanism that comes from having a read a book, maybe an article or two, which now gives the speaker insight into geopolitics and history, all on the cheap. This works especially well if you surround yourself with people who are even more ill-informed than yourself, enabling denial to thrive like a cancerous weed.
These anti-American types often have their hearts in the right place, even if their heads are shoved deeply in their asses.
So, remember, if you are a victim of Islamic terrorism, you probably deserve it, because you’re White. Meaning, you really just killed yourself. You damned bigot, you!
Claude Hopper
The Las Vegas shooting, for some, is supposed to prove that White men can be just as dangerous as any other ethnic group, maybe more-so. To this I say “Duh!” Did anyone ever say otherwise? When these kinds of conversations come up, and they do after just about every mass shooting—regardless of who’s doing the shooting—they’re almost always in response to the usual straw man arguments that work something like this;
White folk have no right to complain when a Muslim kills a bunch of people, while shouting “Allahu Akbar!” “I mean, if a man walks into a gay bar, shouting “Allah is Great in Arabic,” while firing an AK47, that doesn't mean he’s a Muslim or a terrorist. Maybe what he meant is, “Hello! My name is Akbar.” And, maybe, just maybe, the gunfire might have been a celebratory form of cultural expression with a couple of misfires, which unintentionally wounded or killed a hundred or so people. Only a real racist would jump to the conclusion that Islam was involved and then try and blame that person based on their religion. Except if that person is a Christian. Then all bets are off. “Remember the Crusades!”
Yes, going back as 1000 years to The Crusades—in an effort to find a modern justification for Islamic terrorism—isn’t an issue for a liberal. However, if we’re talking about Roe v. Wade and abortion, 44 years is ancient history and well beyond the statue of limitations. So, hands off my vagina, you rightwing bastards.
Furthermore, just because Muslims engage in terrorism, doesn’t mean they’re doing it because of Islam, even when they say that’s the reason they’re doing it—as they blast men, women, and children to death with a cache of illegal weapons. If those illegal weapons were made even more illegal, all violent gun crime would end. This makes Republicans responsible, not Muslims. Plus, Muslims are Brown, meaning, to defend yourself against a “Terror attack” is a form of racism.
Coda: That all people can be dangerous is a given. This does not mean, however, that all cultures are the same, or all religions, or all anything, for that matter. To say that Beirut and Maine or E. St Louis and Idaho are exactly the same—or, that the one is no more dangerous than the other—is pure fiction. But such fiction is profitable because it allows people to maintain an insane world-view, at no immediate cost to themselves, while sustaining a sense of moral superiority.
At the heart of it, is an anti-Americanism that comes from having a read a book, maybe an article or two, which now gives the speaker insight into geopolitics and history, all on the cheap. This works especially well if you surround yourself with people who are even more ill-informed than yourself, enabling denial to thrive like a cancerous weed.
These anti-American types often have their hearts in the right place, even if their heads are shoved deeply in their asses.
So, remember, if you are a victim of Islamic terrorism, you probably deserve it, because you’re White. Meaning, you really just killed yourself. You damned bigot, you!
Claude Hopper