Piecing together the Hasan puzzle
The debate continues over whether the news media downplayed suggestions that Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood gunman, is an Islamist terrorist. Critics such as columnists David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer had said there was too much focus on whether Hasan was mentally ill, what Brooks called a “rush to therapy.”
As someone who has covered such stories in the past – and I mean trying to tell the public on deadline what happened, not writing with a columnist’s hindsight – I think Brooks, Krauthammer, et al are wrong about this. The details initially available to reporters didn’t establish the story Brooks and Krauthammer wanted to see. But from the first day, the better news organizations have been trying to gather the missing facts, as in this piece in Saturday’s Washington Post on Hasan’s contacts with a radical Muslim cleric.
I remember that on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, I was assigned to do a Sunday story providing a larger context about the threat of terrorism. I was a reporter for New York Newsday. Word had gotten out that authorities had detained an Arab taxi driver from Brooklyn, and I began to shape my story with that in mind. I had to start anew when that turned out to be a false alarm.
In 1997, I covered a shooting in which a deranged Palestinian man fatally shot one person and wounded six others at the Empire State Building. In that case, New York City officials, including Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, went to great lengths to avoid any suggestion of a political motive and portrayed the shooting as a random act of violence that could have happened anywhere. They focused attention on the gunman’s mental instability. This was undermined the next day when it came out that the shooter had a rambling letter in his pocket attacking Zionism, among other things, and asserting that he had chosen the Empire State Building for his attack because he saw it as a symbol of all he opposed. Still, there was no evidence that the gunman had any connection to a terrorist group. The letter spelled out a political motivation for the crime, but also made clear that the gunman was mentally ill.
Reporters will generally follow the law enforcement authorities’ lead on these matters, at least until they have the time to develop information from other sources. The facts available on traumatic events such as these are often scant on the first day or two, especially if the authorities are not forthcoming.
Good journalism is still rooted in finding out and reporting the facts, even in this era of instant opinion. The hair-trigger journalism urged in coverage of the Fort Hood shooter’s motive is the wrong approach. It’s important for journalists to recognize what they don’t know.
The Fort Hood shooting strikes me not as terrorism but as a typical American workplace/school massacre.
People compelled by law (school/military) or by capital (workplace) to labor in a place and manner that violates their dignity and refuses to recognize their full humanity will lash out violently, either against others or themselves or both.
We shouldn’t place a chasm between motives of psychology versus ideology – people who feel that they have no options will easily adopt an ideology of the Only Option, the True Faith, etc.
When you hear the phrase “slave revolt”, people often imagine a romantic fight for freedom, much like Kirk Douglas in Spartacus. However, in reality, slave revolts are seriously violent affairs, unsurprisingly, since the slaves have been conditioned by the abuse of Master/Slave relationships. In America, a good example is the revolt of the slave Nat Turner. People were relieved when it was violently suppressed – and indeed, it was a murderous insurrection. What we need to do, as a society, is look beyond the words, “monsterous”, “heinous”, “unspeakable” (even though those words are accurate) and realize that what we’re looking at, at Fort Hood and in workplaces and schools across America, are a serious of bloody slave revolts. What’s needed is a new and more just social and economic order.
Brian –
Where is the evidence that Hasan was forced into his work? Indeed, it seems so far that his superiors were, if anything, lenient in their demands on him.
I wonder if Hasan was a terrorist because he was crazy, not the other way around.
A question about Middle Eastern Muslim cultures: do they have the sorts of competive sports involving teams, such ss Western hockey, football, bsskstbsll and soccer, that seem to allow Western males to blow off emotional steam, if only as fans? Are there any religious prohibitions against such sports? If, not, perhaps the Olympics should woo them. Or is the Middle East just too hot to have such physically aggressive sports?
At this stage, I see no value in using labels to describe the Fort Hood shootings. Muslims, with some exceptions, have condemned his behavior, saying that it does not conform with teachings in the Koran. I think it is premature to use labels such as crazy, insane, going postal, murderer, terrorist, etc.
The shootings at Fort Hood would certainly provoke feelings of terror among unarmed folks in the vicinity, but Hasan appears to have acted alone. Which begs the question: Is a “terrorist” by definition one who acts in concert with others? On the other hand, state laws recognize so-called “terroristic threatening.” Talk about confusing terminology. The word ‘insanity’ is a legal, not a psychiatric/psychological, term. Perhaps Hasan will eventually be found guilty of homicide, not murder.
Hasan may have been the butt of jokes about his religion. Was he a “soft-skinned” individual who could not adapt to the bigotry/ignorance of fellow soldiers? Did he see our Iraq and Afghan incursions as an attack on Islam and/or as an attack on fellow Muslims?
It seems this guy “snapped.” But who knows?
I’m reminded of the Mountain Meadows Massacre by a band of Mormons against non-Mormon folks on their way west.
Ann-
People in the military are, for better or for worse, forced, i.e. ordered, to serve a tour of duty. Hasan had hired a lawyer to try to fight his upcoming deployment to Afghanistan, but the Army refused his appeals.
To Ann Oliver: Yes, there is plenty of passion over sports in the Middle East, especially soccer.
“What’s needed is a new and more just social and economic order.” Brian, are you suggesting that these terrorists who slaughter the innocent in the name of the god of violent coersion are not Islamic militant heretics but rather kindred souls simply looking for a more just social and economic order? A just social and economic order requires “Charity in Love”, to begin with.
F.Y.I.- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadal_Malik_Hasan
Oh, it is easy to jump to the “He did it because he is a crazy Muslim”. In fact that sentence is partially correct; Hassan killed those folks because he is crazy.
I know more than few Muslims and that are not all insane. Indeed, most would be the first to denounce this sort of thing.
And so this guy is insane – that much is clear. The question then is what did the military know, and when did they know it? What was the military bureaucracy doing all the while this fellow was on the payroll, prowling around military hospitals ranting and raving in one way or another?
It seems they were twiddling their brass thumbs and were not willing to do much of anything, and now the natural bureaucratic tendency will be to cover their collective derrieres.
I hope the President – as Commander in Chief – demands and obtains, a clear explanation of this fratricide, and presents it to the public accordingly.
Brian said:
What we need to do, as a society, is look beyond the words, “monsterous”, “heinous”, “unspeakable” (even though those words are accurate) and realize that what we’re looking at, at Fort Hood and in workplaces and schools across America, are a serious of bloody slave revolts.
I see that Brian has officially inducted Hasan into that star-spangled group so beloved of the Left: Victimhood. What a steaming load. But if it is true, then Brian needs to get busy and contribute to his (Hasan’s) defense fund, if he can take time out from transforming this country into a “new social and economic order”. Like in Cuba, perhaps?
Brian
Newsflash – Hassan was a member of an all volunteer force.
Major Hassan received four years of undergraduate education and four years of medical school on the government’s dime. Moreover, as a student at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, he was on active duty while hes was in school and received a second lietenant’s pay. All in all the government probably spent over a million dollars on him before he even got a medical license.
Now, add to this that as a physician he receives professional pay (he probably still is btw), and as a psychiatrist he received specialty incentive pay, he has been making well north of six figures most of his career – all the while at Walter Reed Medical Center, hardly a gladiator pen.
Spartacus my eye.
How much of a brouhaha would there be about this case if Hasan had been an Arab Christian.
“He did it because he was a crazy Christian?” In some circles, this definitely would have been the case. But, in general?
We still have to work through our irrational fears of Muslims in general. Of course, in this day and age, where many “Christians” tend to be of the cultural and “I’m spiritual but not religious”) varieties, any religious believer who as a passion about their belief is automatically suspect.
Thank you for quoting me Bob. As you cited, I said “murderous” and “heinous” are accurate descriptions of Hasan’s actions.
Victimhood belongs first to those who were shot by Hasan and their families.
“All Volunteer Force” – yes, it’s voluntary for the instant before you sign on the dotted line, at which time it becomes legally compulsory.
Some gladiators were well paid, celebrities even – it doesn’t excuse the brutality of the society that demands them as entertainment. As I mentioned, slave revolts are romanticized, but you seem to have ignored that when you signed off with “Spartacus my eye”. The revolt of Spartacus was a bloody murder spree – we should not consider it a compliment, historically speaking, to describe anyone as a modern day Spartacus. I prefer the more modern comparison to Nat Turner.
Excuse me for asking Brian, but where do you work, and why do you do it? You seem to take an extremely “acts follow attitude”, where no worker caould possibly put out good work, because the surrounding environment is so awful – and it all the fault of the evil Capitalist I suppose. Hard Leftists are so very predictable.
With your attitude I imagine you must of necessity be self-employed.
American trade unions have accomplished a lot, and I do not think it fair to minimize their contributions to our society. While our workplaces certainly are not perfect, they are far cray from being slave camps or the Collusium where old Sparticus was forced to fight.
No, this Hassan fellow is just crazy and in his mania chose to drag his religion through the mud.
There is much to discuss regarding all this (Muslims in America and maniacs who abuse that religion), but comparing the American work force to slaves is laughable.
The status of the worker is bound to that of the workplace. I’m fortunate to have a job in a workplace that respects my humanity, although in the past, I worked for a corporation that disappeared in the recent crisis. The CEO retired with $300 million and when we all arrived to work that morning, the doors were locked and we were told to go home.
Yes, American workplaces aren’t the same as actual labor camps and workplace massacres are still the exception to the rule. modern workplaces and schools do, however, provide an environment that seems to offer no options to a small number of people who may violently lash out. This does not give them a “get out of jail free” card, as some people seem to think I’m saying. It’s a reason, an explanation, NOT an excuse.
“it’s all the fault of the evil Capitalist I suppose. Hard Leftists are so predictable.” Well, I doubt that it’s the fault of the poor!
Those on the Right (and “center”) are also quite predictable – seeing human being as atomistic moral agents walking a razor’s edge between Heaven and Hell. As an exercise, I often ask them to honestly think of the situation of black Americans. Why are our prisons full of them? Are they just naturally criminal? Certainly, those who are in prison are there for committing crimes, so what’s the answer?
Ken also wrote,
“comparing the American work force to slaves is laughable.”
It’s not laughable since once upon a time much of the American work force actually WERE slaves. Once slavery was abolished, immigrant labor was welcomed. When the grandchildren of immigrants mobilized to improve their working conditions, capitalists offshored labor to the third world. In the future, historians will sum up the history of our United States as “the search for cheap labor”.
Without in any way making a comparison between Dr. George Tiller, the abortionist who was murdered, and the soldiers at Fort Hood, there does seem to me to be kind of a similarity between Nidal Hasan and Scott Roeder, who killed Tiller. How much was each one representing an ideology, and how much was each one a mentally ill person whose illness was more a driving factor of his actions than his ideology was?
“What is needed is a new and more just social and economic order.” The break-down of the Family is a major factor in the inability to provide a more just social and economic order. –
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Crime/BG1026.cfm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsQ5uzsPFSI
Well Brian, you raise quite a few issues. As for your final question “What’s the answer?”, thanksfully we know that.
You and I are both Catholic and so we know God is “the answer”; God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
One thing I’m certain of is this: the American culture is saturated with violent images produced by the media, and the violent images send the message that problems can solved by violence. Such images are part of the sequence which is a violent action.
I used to be a great upholder of freedom of speech, but I have watched this country become ever more unsafe, unsafe to the extent that my freedom of movement is affected. I can’t walk around the block at night without real fear.
So I’m starting to wonder whether there should be some legal limits to the publication of violent images just as there are limits to violent speech. Cumulatively the effects of such words and images are the same.
No, I have no idea of what such laws might be.