USA Today: Fort Hood caused by 'intolerance'
You have to look at ALL the evidence before arriving
at a conclusion! (Sherlock Holmes courtesy of Wikipedia)
Criminology professors James Alan Fox and Jack Levin claim, in their USA Today piece, that the Fort Hood tragedy is nothing but “workplace violence.” But when examining the authors’ claims and criteria, their conclusion has little basis in reality.
According to Fox and Levin, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was “seeking vengeance for personal mistreatment.” They claim he had suffered “some catastrophic loss on the job that serves as a precipitant.” However, his alleged loss was “facing deployment overseas.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press wrote that “Hasan had enlisted more than two decades ago,” during which he attended medical school and was promoted to Major.
Fox and Levin attempt a pre-emptive strike against objective investigation and reasonable discourse, by transforming the shooter into the victim and claiming that anybody who differs with their conclusion is “intolerant.”
But calling the Fort Hood ambush an act of terrorism would only compound the tragedy by reinforcing the kind of intolerance toward American Muslims that appears to have contributed to Hasan's despair.
This statement is suspect on several levels, not the least of which is the attempt to squelch debate and analysis by branding such discussions ‘non-sympathetic’. The authors have reason to avoid debate, because their basic assumptions and criteria rebut their entire premise:
Unfortunately, according to FBI figures, there has been a precipitous increase in hate crimes against Arab Americans since the 9/11 attacks. [emphasis added]
According to Fox and Levin, the alleged “precipitous increase in hate crimes against Arab Americans” is to blame for this attack.
Since 1997 the Federal Bureau of Investigation has tabulated hate crimes by race, religion, and other categories. The Hate Crimes Statistics Act defines these as: “crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.”
Only under one criteria can Fox and Levin claim any justification for their conclusion. In 1997, 31 anti-Islam hate offenses were reported; this increased 17-fold to 546 in 2001, mostly due to 9/11. However, since 2001, offenses decreased 75.6% to 133 in 2007 (latest data available). Since the 2007 numbers remain over four times as high as 1997, it can be said that anti-Islam hate crime has increased.
But as with all data, one puts this in context by examining the entire dataset, to see if this is about Islam or some other factor. For example:
· The 1,010 anti-Jewish offenses in 2007 were 7.6 times those committed against Muslims.
· The 871 anti-White offenses were 6.5 times those committed against Muslims.
· The 3,275 anti-Black offenses were 24.6 times those committed against Muslims.
Anti-Islam offenses accounted for 1.5% of all hate crimes in 2007, down 69.0% from a high of 4.8% in 2001. During this same time period, other groups experienced an increasing share of all hate crimes:
· Anti-Jewish offenses increased 14.9% to 11.2% of the total.
· Anti-White offenses increased 7.3% to 9.7% of the total.
· Anti-Black offenses increased 17.9% to 36.4% of the total.
Between 1997 and 2001, the trends were opposite:
· Anti-Jewish offenses decreased 17.0% to 9.8% of the total.
· Anti-White offenses decreased 29.8% to 9.0% of the total.
· Anti-Black offenses decreased 20.8% to 30.8% of the total.
These data indicate that there are hateful people whose bigotry “justified” anti-Islam hatred after 9/11, but as that event faded from their narrow minds, they increasingly returned to historical targets.
In any case, anti-Islam offenses were consistently a small fraction of all hate crimes.
It’s about hate, not about Islam.
According to Fox and Levin’s hypothesis, since there are other population groups who have endured far more hate-induced violence, it would be a more effective allocation of military resources to investigate Black, Jewish, and White soldiers in the hopes of preventing the next “workplace violence” event.
Fox and Levine also imply that Muslims are inordinately weak-minded and unable to withstand the stresses placed upon them by the workplace.
Fox and Levin can rightly be considered intolerant.
For more on this topic: 'Intolerant' Americans: Fort Hood massacre was your fault
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For in-depth analysis of the issues discussed here, read Howard’s book Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense. Autographed copies are available from the author.
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Knoxville: Liston Matthews | | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
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