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The Spectacle Blog
Over at The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf complains that Americans aren’t paying enough attention to last Sunday’s shooting at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin which claimed the lives of six of its members because the shooter is white. Not surprisingly, Friedersdorf is quick to criticize conservatives:
There is, however, another factor that likely explains some of the reticence of some Americans, including professional commentators, to focus very much attention on the Oak Creek massacre.
Their disclination to grapple with it has less to do with the victims than the gunman. The key factor isn’t that their Sikhs; it’s that the apparent homegrown terrorist — a term virtually no one would object to had a murderous Muslim burst into the Sikh temple — was perpetuated by a white guy.
Hold the victims constant and give the perpetrator the last name Mohammed. Does anyone think for a moment that such an attack wouldn’t still be the most discussed story at Fox News and National Review? And at various network news shows and unaffiliated newspapers for that matter?
Instead Wade Michael Page was the gunman.
In other words, according to Friedersdorf, conservatives aren’t talking about Oak Creek because the shooter was white. What utter rubbish!!!
By making that claim Friedersdorf assumes that being white and Muslim are mutually exclusive. Perhaps Friedersdorf is unfamiliar with John Walker Lindh.
Friedersdorf is being equally presumptous when he suggest that “virtually no one would object” to the term “homegrown terrorist” being applied to a Muslim. Well, Nidal Malik Hasan was born and raised in Virginia and yet the liberal press fell all over itself trying not to call Hasan a terrorist despite the fact he screamed “Allahu Akbar” and left a business card with the inscription SOA (“Soldier of Allah”) as he massacred his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. Remember when the liberal media tried to suggest the shooting was a result of PTSD despite the fact Hasan had not been deployed overseas.
For his part, President Obama lectured the nation not to jump to conclusions and the official report into the terrorist attack at Fort Hood released last December concluded the shootings were a result of workplace violence. Well, most people who commit workplace violence don’t get called a hero by al Qaeda’s top man in Yemen. BTW, the late Anwar al-Awlaki was also born in the United States.
If a Muslim had attacked the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek there is a good chance this inclination towards political correctness by the Obama Administration and the liberal press would once again be in play and thus would be the subject of scrutiny on conservative websites and fair & balanced news organizations.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Friedersdorf citing the Department of Homeland Security’s 2009 report about military veterans committing terrorism. Friedersdorf writes, “Whatever you think of the document, its warning against the possibility of a disgruntled military veteran perpetrating right-wing extremist violence seems vindicated by initial reports from Wisconsin.” Well, the report referred to a potential threat from “returning military veterans” from Afghanistan and Iraq. Guess what? Wade Michael Page wasn’t deployed overseas and neither was Nidal Malik Hasan. The DHS report was wrong then and it is wrong now.
What must be remembered about Islamic terrorism is that it is a global phenonmenon. The actions of Nidal Malik Hasan were celebrated all over the Muslim world. This isn’t to say that neo-Nazism doesn’t cross geographical boundaries. It certainly does. Yet Page could not recruit anyone to join him.
With that said, Page was able to wreak havoc on his own. Six people freely and peaceably practicing their religion in their house of worship are dead. It was both an act of terrorism and an act of evil and we should not forget that it happened. It is worthy of thoughtful discussion but so is the terrorist attack at Fort Hood.
By injecting race into the discussion and casting aspersions on the motivations of conservatives, Friedersdorf cheapens both the meaning of racism and himself.
View all comments (20) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/08/08/friedersdorf-conservatives-don
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Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 6:25PM
Okay Aaron,
Instead of talking about Friedersdorf, talk about the Temple Massacre.
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 6:18AM
here's what i heard on Hannity, and caught clips from other Fox shows, and from other conservatives, as a paraphrase:
'wade michael page was a racist evil nutjob who killed and wonded a lot of innocent peaceful people, and the world is a better place with him out of it, we need to pray for the families of the victims'
not mush much more needs to be said, actually, until more infromation turns up in the investigation
now THIS is what i heard from the Left
'wade alan page was a FORMER SOLDIER, and it's all michelle bachman's fault!!!!!!'
btw, in the same (H/T Mark Steyn) nanosecond that it took the 'compassion-filled and thoughtful progressives' to blame conservatives for this evil deed, they managed to call it 'terrorism', which it may well be justifiably termed, but the funny thing is, the Left STILL refuses to use that description for when an Islamist extremist in uniform screaming "allahu akhbar" guns down a roomful of US soldiers, because their Obamessiah blew the dog whistle and told them not to 'rush to judgment'
Occam's Tool| 8.8.12 @ 6:48PM
Sikhs are nice folks. The shooter was a white racist asshole. See this viewpoint: http://jasjitsdhanoa.blogspot......press.html
This is an aberration, not a mainstream of America issue. Please note that I am one of the harshest opponents of sharia on this site.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:17PM
Agreed. The Sikhs, of course, do not subscribe to sharia law. But, you knew that.
Occam's Tool| 8.9.12 @ 6:42PM
Correct, the Sikhs are persecuted by Muslims as non-believers. I just wanted to point out my Conservative, anti-jihadist bonafides.
DRed| 8.8.12 @ 6:59PM
It did take 4 days for one of the writers here to talk about the biggest news story in the country this week, which seems a bit odd. If a OWS supporter had shot up a church Sunday morning do you really think it would have taken until Wednesday for Jeff Lord, say, to write an article about murderous leftists?
spike59| 8.9.12 @ 6:19AM
if an OWS supporter had shot up a church on Sunday morning, the only place you would have seen a story about it would have been a site like AS...the MSM would have pretended it never happened
AllAmericanAmerican| 8.9.12 @ 9:25AM
Heard much about ol' James Holmes lately? We know less about him than we do the temple shooter. Why is that?
Oh, because he's a member of the OWS Black Block faction. MSM won't report that tho.
JD| 8.9.12 @ 12:04PM
This site isn't a crime blotter. The relevance of shootings here is when leftist liars try to falsely connect shooters to the political right.
JeffPerren | 8.9.12 @ 2:02PM
Maybe because this is a POLITICAL COMMENTARY website and that case has nothing to do with politics, so far as we presently know. (At least, it didn't until Leftists like you started bringing that into it.)
Nick| 8.8.12 @ 7:40PM
Great post, Mr. Goldstein.
Hey, Friedersdorf, the Milwaukee mass killer was a homegrown terrorist, okay? Does that make you feel better?
He wasn't "right-wing," by the way. (As far as we know.) He was an extremist. No different than Nidal Hassan, as Mr. Goldstein pointed out.
When the Klan battled the Communist Workers Party, at the Greensboro massacre in 1979, you had one group of extremists fighting with another group of extremists. One group was better armed, though.
Neither group was representative of conservatives or liberals.
The knee-jerk reaction by lefties to try to tie these mass-shooters to the conservative movement is disgusting and propaganda at its worst.
PCPSmokerII| 8.8.12 @ 8:47PM
What's the difference between Goldshit and Friedork? Two neo statist and proto homosexuals.
Mike in N.C.| 8.8.12 @ 9:15PM
If they gave you a enema, they could bury you in a match box, PCP. Quick! Who wrote the line that applies to you? This is one stupid post. Neo statist. I guess you think your are an innalekshual.
Derek Leaberry| 8.9.12 @ 10:13AM
What did Friedersdorf have to say about the Wichita Massacre of December 2000 when the black Carr Brothers raped, tortured and murdered five white youngsters? Probably nothing. The national media said nothing as well.
AllAmericanAmerican| 8.9.12 @ 12:03PM
Actually I think the correct term for that is the "Wichita Horror."
I wonder what Friederdork had to say about the rape and murder of 13 y/o Jesse Dirkhising by his gay neighbors? Nothing I'm sure.
Wonder if he's read "White Girl Bleed Alot?" Naaaah, prolly not.
Butch| 8.9.12 @ 11:13AM
Friedersdorf is upset because the story isn't getting the traction he wants. The left finally got a shooter who fits their narrative, but the victims are all wrong. Killing Sikhs looks like either a senseless mistake or a truly insane choice of victims because they are so visibly different.
Derek Leaberry| 8.9.12 @ 12:11PM
Like John McCain and David Frum, all Friedersdorf's enemies are on the right.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 8.9.12 @ 11:49AM
All I can say is that there are some segments of the media and their corporate managers who (like Paige) want a full scale race riot in this country. That would keep people glued to CNN or FoxNews for days on end and the advertisers would be beyond satisfied with the viewership.
JeffPerren | 8.9.12 @ 2:00PM
I continue to wonder why conservative commentators give that buffoon Friedersdorf any publicity - the one thing he craves above all else.
Occam's Tool| 8.9.12 @ 6:44PM
Sikhs that I know are all nice folks, and their religion is fine, too.