Fort Hood Tragedy Has Muslims Ducking for Cover

Here we go again- looking for a sinister explanation of the terrible Fort Hood tragedy. Army Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim American citizen born and raised in this country, undoubtedly intended to take his own life while committing the worst possible act against his fellow men. It’s senseless; but is it an act of organized terrorism?

OK. It may be remotely possible that Hasan was acting completely rational and planned to carry out a terrorist attack against America and his fellow soldiers. It’s remotely possible, but I don’t think so. If he intended to do maximum harm, there are likely a hundred other scenarios he could have planned and carried out that would do much greater damage to us. But we will probably never know what voices were speaking to him. The man is a psychiatrist, practiced in understanding abnormalities of the human thought process. He had likely become a patient, and like most people with mental illness, he probably didn’t know it, nor did he see the horrific actions he took to be a bad thing. He was probably operating under an internal directive to serve some warped idea of the better good. If anything, it shows clearly how our value system, judgment, and consciousness of our actions rely precipitously on a healthy, well-tuned brain; it can’t tell us when it’s flawed or broken. It’s too smart to be out smarted. We lack the built in test equipment that even our cars have- check engine, check brakes, taillight out, tire pressure low, door ajar…

Not surprisingly, the conservative gabinators are characterizing his actions as the tip of the terrorist iceberg in America- the first of many “sleeper” Muslim terrorists planning and intending to do us harm. Millions of innocent, faithful people now must walk with their head tilted down in fear of retaliation and false accusations. It’s the same thinking that drove America to intern Japanese Americans in WWII. They were different than European Americans, and we let ourselves be talked into believing thousands of kind and peace loving American citizens were intent on doing us harm.

Timothy McVeigh planned and executed the Oklahoma City. It was an unforgivable act, and he was executed for it. Until 9/11 it was the worst act of terrorism ever committed on US soil. He was an Army veteran. He served in the Gulf War and earned the Bronze Star. He was a Roman Catholic. He attended Mass almost daily. I don’t remember anyone writing and ranting that Roman Catholics presented a danger to our national security... Because they don’t… Even back in the 1930s Father Charles Coughlin broadcasted antisemitic, anti-American, pro-Hitler garbage to more than forty million listeners weekly. He was exercising his First Amendment right of free speech. We didn't blame Roman Catholics for his actions, nor would we intern people for being Catholic in WWII. Casting doubt about the integrity and intentions of  Muslims because of the actions of one, likely very sick man, is equally absurd.