A very serious question

[cthulu2016]

When the Sikh temple shooting happened did you, at any point, say to yourself, "Osama Bin Laden is responsible for this."

The mass-murder of Americans on 9/11 was certainly the "cause" of the spate of anti-Sikh violence after 9/11, and certainly a driver of any white-supremacist focus on Sikhs.

But I assume that you had pretty much the same reaction I did... that the problem was American white supremacy, and Fox news, and anti-intellectualism and George W. Bush and a whole lot of things other than whatever gibberish the shooter would cite as his motive.

Every nation has a lot of horrible people. We grant out own horrible people the dignity of considering them to be horrible.

If somebody started explaining here that the Sikh temple shooter came from a broken home, for instance, I cannot imagine that there would be much sympathy generated.

It is racist to think that all Muslims are the same and have the same feelings. It is distinctly possible that the majority of human beings in Libya hear about the consulate attack and think of it the way we think of the Sikh temple shooting. The work of evil people.

Grant foreign religious extremists the dignity we grant our own religious extremests... the dignity of being considered individual human beings making moral choices.

They are not children.

[pampango]

1. Nice post. Foreign religious extremists are 'aberations' just like our domestic religous extremists.

"It is distinctly possible that the majority of human beings in Libya hear about the consulate attack and think of it the way we think of the Sikh temple shooting. The work of evil people.

Grant foreign religious extremists the dignity we grant our own religious extremests... the dignity of being considered individual human beings making moral choices."

I would venture that it is not only "distinctly possible" but almost certain that "the majority of human beings in Libya hear about the consulate attack and think of it the way we think of the Sikh temple shooting. The work of evil people."

The majority of people in Libya and everywhere else just want to go to work, raise a family and make the world a better place.