Ft. Hood shootings

[TheWombat]

I'm surprised no one has commented on this yet. Then again, there's precious little information either, so perhaps it's for the best that no one has held forth extensively on the topic.

Whatever they find out as the motive and whoever was involved, this is going to be ugly.

[Ephraim]

Thread already started in EE. This isn't necessarily "politics" yet, so that was the appropriate place to do it, I think.

[charmtrap]

Three people posted simultaneously, so here's a picture of a squirrel with a bazooka!

[Janster]

Probably caused by violent videogames.

[TheWombat]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

Thread already started in EE. This isn't necessarily "politics" yet, so that was the appropriate place to do it, I think.

Ah, sorry about that. I disagree it isn't politics (it's inherently political) but I will defer to the groupthink.

[ElGuapo]

It's getting pretty political now.

[wahoo]

Originally Posted by ElGuapo

It's getting pretty political now.

No, it's pretty stupid now.

Is this country at war with a ground of religious fundamentalists? Yes.
Do we know that these fundamentalists communicate with cells throughout the world in order to plot terror attacks? Yes.
Has this type of violence occurred before? Yes.

It's pretty clear that the US is doing a pretty damn good job investigating the radical Muslim world (you know, the guy who just got arrested from Colorado for buying bomb parts NYC for example). The idea that there's not a threat from radical Islam in this country is absurd.

So the FBI will take this guy's life apart and see who he's been communicating with and then see if there are other folks who believe in his same strain of Islam. That's not religious bigotry, it's common sense.

[Kraaze]

Originally Posted by wahoo

No, it's pretty stupid now.

Is this country at war with a group of religious fundamentalists? Yes.
Do we know that these fundamentalists communicate with cells throughout the world in order to plot terror attacks? Yes.
Has this type of violence occurred before? Yes.

It's pretty clear that the US is doing a pretty damn good job investigating the radical Muslim world (you know, the guy who just got arrested from Colorado for buying bomb parts NYC for example). The idea that there's not a threat from radical Islam in this country is absurd.

So the FBI will take this guy's life apart and see who he's been communicating with and then see if there are other folks who believe in his same strain of Islam. That's not religious bigotry, it's common sense.

No, that's religious bigotry and stereotyping. You correctly noted that *some* Islamic religious fanatic idiots have caused the US some trouble in the past. No issue with that. Extrapolating from that to the conclusion that Islam or subsects thereof are a threat to the US is where you went off the rails.

Categorizing the people who do belong to these groups and do want to harm the U.S. by their race, nationality, or religion is both offensive and missing the point. The only logical way to categorize them is "members of groups X and Y."

[TheWombat]

While some of the stuff in the other thread is a bit gonzo, I think the general thrust is that, while good investigative technique and common sense require that we take the suspect's religious and political views and expressions into consideration, we should avoid making broad generalizations, particularly those based on speculation and hearsay. There's something of an oscillation effect in postings, though. As one post edges towards an extreme, the reaction from the opposing camp edges in a different extreme, and then the response to that continues the pendulum. Sort of like the tit for tat force escalation studies neuroscientists and psychologists have done.

Originally Posted by wahoo

No, it's pretty stupid now.

Is this country at war with a ground of religious fundamentalists? Yes.
Do we know that these fundamentalists communicate with cells throughout the world in order to plot terror attacks? Yes.
Has this type of violence occurred before? Yes.

It's pretty clear that the US is doing a pretty damn good job investigating the radical Muslim world (you know, the guy who just got arrested from Colorado for buying bomb parts NYC for example). The idea that there's not a threat from radical Islam in this country is absurd.

So the FBI will take this guy's life apart and see who he's been communicating with and then see if there are other folks who believe in his same strain of Islam. That's not religious bigotry, it's common sense.

[Kael]

Thank goodness for Kimberly Munley: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/...ley/index.html

[Anti-Bunny]

Maybe the media can stop live-blogging every fucking rumor they hear? Seriously.

[Midnight Son]

I heard Bin Laden was hiding in his laundry room!

Well, that might not be true....

[Kael]

Originally Posted by Anti-Bunny

Maybe the media can stop live-blogging every fucking rumor they hear? Seriously.

I wouldn't call boingboing.net the media.

[Anti-Bunny]

Originally Posted by Kael

I wouldn't call boingboing.net the media.

I was referring to this passage in the interview:

Very early after the incident yesterday, I was pretty amazed to stand by and listen to, mostly, TV reporters go on air and speculate and report on rumors they'd heard. Whereas, our newspaper is right next to Fort Hood. We have a close relationship and it's always been our policy where we find that it's best to wait for correct information rather than to speculate. Because there's a large family population that isn't necessarily on Post, and don't know what's going on. It's a dangerous situation to get those people worried and worked up for reasons that maybe aren't correct. It's been really frustrating to see all the speculation. I've even been avoiding watching the TV coverage too closely, because I don't want the speculation to accidentally influence what I write.

[Anders Hallin]

Not to steal Atrios's schtick, but it seems we need another Blogger Ethics Conference.

[Anti-Bunny]

Originally Posted by Anders Hallin

it seems we need another Blogger Ethics Conference.

No we don't. We need a JOURNALISM Ethics Conference.

There were two shooters! He used a high-powered sniper rifle! He was suffering from PTSD from previous deployments to Iraq! All three shooters are in custody! He used his service M16! He's never been to Iraq! He just enlisted! He's a major so he's been in for 10+ years! He's recently converted to Islam! He's been raised as a Muslim! He was a model Psychiatry student! He barely made it through school! The shooter has risen from the dead!

[Anders Hallin]

Originally Posted by Anti-Bunny

No we don't. We need a JOURNALISM Ethics Conference.

There were two shooters! He used a high-powered sniper rifle! He was suffering from PTSD from previous deployments to Iraq! All three shooters are in custody! He used his service M16! He's never been to Iraq! He just enlisted! He's a major so he's been in for 10+ years! He's recently converted to Islam! He's been raised as a Muslim! He was a model Psychiatry student! He barely made it through school! The shooter has risen from the dead!

Sorry, it was a joke taken from Eschaton, where Atrios says that every time some new idiocy like the WaPo pay2play thing is revealed.
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%...blogger+ethics