Surprise! Another Christian Terrorist

[KamaAina]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/24/surprise-another-christian-terrorist.html

A Muslim American man carrying a duffel bag that holds six homemade explosives, a machete, and poison spray travels to a major U.S. airport. The man enters the airport, approaches the TSA security checkpoint, and then sprays two TSA officers with the poison. He then grabs his machete and chases another TSA officer with it.

This Muslim man is then shot and killed by the police. After the incident, a search of the attacker’s car by the police reveals it contained acetylene and oxygen tanks, two substances that, when mixed together, will yield a powerful explosive.

If this scenario occurred, there’s zero doubt that this would be called a terrorist attack. Zero. It would make headlines across the country and world, and we would see wall-to-wall cable news coverage for days. And, of course, certain right-wing media outlets, many conservative politicians, and Bill Maher would use this event as another excuse to stoke the flames of hate toward Muslims.

Well, last Friday night, this exact event took place at the New Orleans airport—that is, except for one factual difference: The attacker was not Muslim. Consequently, you might be reading about this brazen assault for the first time here, although this incident did receive a smattering of media coverage over the weekend.

[cali]

1. yep. good piece.

[Mnemosyne]

2. K&R! nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I remember the machete; I don't remember hearing about the Molotov cocktails and gas tanks

which do put him firmly in the "would have been called a terrorist if Muslim" category. And since then, the coverage has just said he was 'deranged', and assumed that was a sufficient explanation. The article is right - if there was mental illness there, they should be asking why he targeted an airport - was the TSA checkpoint just in the way of where he wanted to use his homemade explosives, or were they the target? Had he been listening to Alex Jones or other far right anti-TSA nutters? Had he been encouraged, online or in person, by anyone?

[malaise]

4. K & R

Good post

[Oktober]

5. Religion strikes again...

Arguing about which particular variety is the stupidest and most vile seems like a waste of time...

It's all a stone around the neck of humanity...