I wastched most of the coverage last night. All this crap is really starting to get me down. I know even 200 years ago, people were lamenting about the state of the world, that it can't get much worse, but hell, between gangs, terrorists, and sympathisers, I'm feelng a bit defeated mentally and morally lately.
One fact about all this that really causes me pause is that apparently one man, with two handguns was able to kill and wound that many people. Having done a lot of research into tactical and crime scenarios over the years, I find what he was able to do mindboggeling, even somewhat unbelievable. He was able to shoot nearly four dozen people. I don't understand how that happened. Perhaps it was the location, training, etc, I don't know, but for a single person to cause that kind of damage is almost unheard of. I'm wondering what is going to shake out once they determine the facts of what transpired.
The fact that he is Muslim in and of itself doesn't bother me, nor concern me. What does cause me great concern is the fact that he is a muslim who blogged that his personal feeling was that a suicide bomber is somehow the same thing as a marine who jumps on a grenade. That nugget came to light this morning and speaks volumes. My concern about Muslims, and I have personal experience to feel this way, is that it seems that even though they may not be violent or ever engage in a terroist act, they somehow find a way to rationalize the most violent of acts, even justify it. When you sympathize with such animalistic behavior, it makes me feel that any one of them has the potential to be swayed and commit a violent act. My daughter's friend in high school is a Muslim. She wears a hajeab (sp?) and has what seems to be a fairly moderate religious upbringing. I've met her parents. They seem like perfectly fine people and it never even ocurred to me to even consider anything about their Muslim beliefs. I would have never equated any ill-conceieved notions about them in any way. Last year, my daughter came home upset a couple time that her friend has said some tihngs, basically trying to justify terrorist events. Then, we learned that they pulled her out of school to attend a very formal symposium on the destruction of Isreal.
There's a lot more to the story, but suffice it to say that "you never know." It's no different to find out that your seemingly "normal" next door neighbor is a serial killer. I've just become, not suspicious really, but vigilant I guess.
If you have a Muslim preaching or writing about hate, or justifying murder, which is what they eseentially had found out six months ago about this guy, then maybe it should warrant far stronger consideration. Perhaps that's profiling, but I'm okay with it.
