It has become as inevitable as the sun rising in the east. Ever since the atrocious attacks at Charlie Hebdo in Paris the other day, there has been a lot of hand wringing, especially by the conservatives in the U.S. As you expect, they are even claiming that it was a lapse in intelligence by American Intelligence Agencies that allowed the attack in Paris. They are clamoring that the NSA needs even more power to snoop on everyone.
The right is arguing that this is a first step by the Islamic Terrorists and we can expect similar attacks in our own country. The Canadian Senator even said that the murders were “a reminder of the global threat we face.” Then on Facebook he said that they should be considered “an attack on us all.” I will admit that Fundamentalist Islam Terrorist attacks are something we need to be concerned about. The attack on Charlie Hebdo was atrocious, it was vicious, it was criminal.
However, the problem with fundamentalist terrorism is that it is not confined to Islam. As I have written before, fundamentalist terrorism is all around us and comes from all corners of religious beliefs. Something that has seemingly been lost because of the Charlie Hebdo attack, is that right here in America there was a bombing at a NAACP Office in Colorado Springs, CO. No one was killed or injured in the attack, but it happened. There were three White Supremacists arrested in Georgia for planning a terrorist attack in this country.
The right is saying nothing about either of these cases. Yesterday, the FBI released a sketch of the suspect at the Colorado Springs attack. I checked on Fox News website today, and there is nothing about the attack or the sketch. There are a bunch of stories about the Paris attack though.
Yes, I know that the Paris attack resulted in the deaths of 12 people, plus the deaths of three of the four suspects in the attacks. But, right here at home we have a terrorist attack against the country’s oldest civil rights group and the conservative’s propaganda machine doesn’t even run a copy of the sketch to help catch the terrorist.
As I wrote the other day, terrorism is a scourge of humanity. The attack in Paris was because the magazine ran what many believe to be offensive cartoons. Yes, Charlie Hebdo has a right in a democratic society to run such cartoons, and it is extremely criminal to attack them for that reason. The attack was carried out apparently by radical fundamentalist Muslims.
In Colorado Springs, a civil rights group was attacked. The sketch shows a bald white man in sunglasses as the suspect in the crime. In Georgia, three white supremacists were arrested for planning a terrorist attack. Why are they similar to the Paris attacks? Because white supremacists claim that the Bible says whites and “others” need to be segregated. Some may consider this a lame argument, but it is just as fundamental to white supremacist beliefs as similar attacks are to radical Muslims.
I would think that the right would be up-in-arms about a terrorist attack in Colorado Springs. Know what else is there? The U.S. Air Force Academy! Who can say if these white supremacists won’t target it next! The Academy is integrated, so it would seem to fair game for white supremacists as well.
If we are going to conduct a war on terrorism, we need to conduct that war against all terrorism. We cannot just pick an enemy because of religious differences. We need to work hard to erase all terrorism, regardless of who is using it. That includes white radical fundamentalist Christians as well as radical fundamentalist Muslims.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “the West” must respond to the massacre by ceasing to “appease leaders of Muslim organizations in our societies.” If that is true, then we must soon hear from someone like Glenn Beck that we should cease to “appease leaders of Christian organizations in our societies” as well. When the terrorist is a white Christian, one can take a long nap during the silence of Conservative Christian Leaders speaking up against that attack. Even if they do speak up against such an attack, they usually follow it up with some sort of rationalization for it. Like the “left caused the attack” by their policies.
We have had several cases of domestic terrorism carried out. There have been abortion clinics bombed, abortion doctors murdered, the Federal Building attack in Oklahoma City, and others too numerous to name. Terrorism does not know color or religion. All colors and all religions are just as guilty as any other.
Terrorism is terrorism. I don’t care who the terrorists are. If we are to really understand terrorism, we need to stop letting our politicians scare the shit out of us when a terrorist attack is carried out by a Muslim. We must ask them why that is more evil than a white Christian carrying out a terrorist attack on our shores. Shouldn’t we be just as afraid of them as the Muslims?
After all, the attack at the NAACP office in Colorado Springs was apparently carried out by a citizen of THIS country. I am thinking that citizens of Colorado Springs would consider this attack much more dangerous to us than the attack in Paris. Innocent bystanders could have been killed by this bombing right here at home. Where is the outrage?
