Apparently this guy has an extensive track record of racism, hate crimes, burglaries, weapons charges, attempted kidnapping, run-ins with the federal government, and a long history of associations with neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. His history is so bad that "officials and others who track conspiracy theorists have long been familiar with Mr. von Brunn [the gunman]."So my question is this: Why are we spending so much money to wage a war against terrorism abroad when anti-Semitism, bigotry, and hatred is strong enough in this country to compel a man to shoot innocent people within the walls of a somber memorial that reminds us of how far hatred can go in claiming the lives of millions?
Ignorance, lack of education, poverty, indifference, apathy, misunderstanding (I could go on) are the real threats of terrorism in the United States. The scariest part is that they're in our backyards, not thousands of miles away.
Just my thoughts. What do you think?
The full NY Times article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/us/11shoot.html?th&emc=th
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2 comments:
because American's don't like to talk about race.... wait, that's wrong. Sorry. WHITE
Americans don't like to talk about race, let alone wage a war on bigotry.
People think MLK won that war, all is now rosy... except those darn minoritys who just keep complaining.
What? someone got shot? Oh no its not a sign of racism thats just one crazy guy... it means nothing right?
Assuming "White" America is reflected in TV news coverage, we talk about race all the time. There was this election thing that happened, some race talk there, an electoral cartoon with a monkey, some race talk there, Don Imus, some race talk there.
What do you mean by "talking about race"? Is the talk a discussion or lecture? Does this talk include Indians, Chinese, Pakistanis, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, or just one minority group?
Nobody thinks King won that war, although everyone thinks he was a great champion.
Yeah, white Americans are all about bigotry, and no minorities harbor any degree of racism.
Look at the facts here and see what they say: The man was 88 years old. A good candidate for senility and mental illness. Perhaps some people have preconceived biases leading them to discount the effects of mental illness. Second he may represent antiquated ideas that are naturally on the way out.
Either way, we don't know enough to assume the man was "compelled" to shoot by strong elements in society. If he is insane, no real compelling would be necessary. If he is sane he simply chose as any other person could.
Shooting terrorists is something governments can do effectively. Relatively. We've got a great industrial-military complex to see to it. Helping people make good choices is a vastly more difficult job, riddled with complications of personal, moral, and family life.
However, I would bet the costs (in $) of poor education, apathy, and poverty probable are greater than defense spending.
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