I go away for a little while, and people go bonkers. Behold these two news stories that occured in rapid succession:
1) Someone shoots abortion doctor George Tiller in his own church in Kansas.
2) Muslim convert shoots up an Army/Navy recruitment center in Arkansas, killing one.
One of these stories is getting a lot of national blather. The other, not so much. Now, for all intents and purposes, they are the same story: an American uses his religion as an excuse to go and murder someone who is comitting no crime. But in one of these stories, the killer is the sort of stereotype that left-wingers like to yammer on about (anti-abortion, probably “gun nut”); in the other story, the killer is the type that the left prefers to not yammer on about (a convert to the Religion Of Peace), and even supprt (opposed to “the war”). Go on and guess which story will get more coverage.
3 Responses to “Compare and contrast”
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Muhammad ended up charged with first-degree murder, plus 15 counts of committing a terroristic act within hours of capture. 15? What is that one per bullet?
Scott Roeder ended up with plain old murder 1 and a pair of felony assault charges for a political assassination in a church.
Yeah, you’re right, I do see an asymmetry in how we treat terrorists around here.
It’s stuff like this that makes you wonder how good of an idea freedom of the press is. When the media is pushing their own agenda almost exclusively how is that a good thing? I’m not suggesting a state controlled media, and I don’t have any magic solution, but the current arrangement is certainly lacking.
> I do see an asymmetry in how we treat terrorists around here.
Most actual “terrorist” acts in the US seem to disappear from the media’s radar in short order… unless said terrorist is a “right winger” (or can be described as such).
As to how these two douchebags should be treated by the law…both cases, if a trial by jury finds them guilty, would seem to merit a short walk around the back of the courthouse, a .22 to the temple, and the carcass hauled off to the local sewage treatment plant, or to some nearby garbage heap mwhere the crows, buzzards or seagulls can pick the eyes out and flesh off, leaving only a collection of bones to be buried under a hundred thousand tons of used Huggies and Stayfrees.