A take on how the media is trying to spin Hasan:
The Narrative: Hasan Was Suffering From Mental Problems.
Subtext: So Are All Soldiers And It's Bush's Fault
Deviate and you are clearly inciting hatred.
Newsbusters has a few examples of the developing narrative.
Whatever you do, ignore the potential for jihad. Things like...
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not confirmed that Hasan made the comment.
Or this.
He gave a Grand Rounds presentation. . . You take turns giving a lecture on, you know, the correct treatment of schizophrenia, the right drugs to prescribe for personality disorder, you know, that sort of thing. But instead of giving an academic paper, he gave a lecture on the Koran, and they said it didn’t seem to be just an informational lecture, but it seemed to be his own beliefs. That’s what a lot of people thought.
He talked about how if you’re a nonbeliever the Koran says you should have your head cut off, you should have oil poured down your throat, you should be set on fire. And I said well couldn’t this just be his educating you? And the psychiatrist said yes, but one of the Muslims in the audience, another psychiatrist, raised his hand and was quite disturbed and he said you know, a lot of us don’t believe these things you’re saying, and that there was no place where Hasan couched it as this is what the Koran teaches but you know I don’t believe it. And people actually talked in the hallway afterwards about ‘is he one of these people that’s going to freak out and shoot people someday?’
Follow the link to Instapundit. There's more about Hasan including a report that he'd been reprimanded for "proselytizing about his Muslim faith with patients and colleagues".
Today President Shout-Out said we shouldn't jump to conclusions.
"We don't know all the answers yet. And I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts," Obama said in a Rose Garden statement otherwise devoted to the economy.
Funny but he was willing to reach conclusions within hours of the murder of abortionist George Tiller. Interestingly, it took Him 2 days to issue a statement when a Muslim terrorist killed a soldier at an Army recruitment office in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Seems some incidents call for restraint and others call for immediate conclusions.
Also, compare and contrast the media reaction.
Immediately Tiller's murder an act of domestic terrorism (here, here and here for just a few examples. Warning: liberal sites).
Now however, we must not even consider the idea that Hasan is a Muslim terrorist. Wouldn't want to spread fear and hate.
Just to be clear, jumping to conclusions is not what anyone is advocating. My problem with Obama and his courtiers in the media is that there are certain classes and subject which may not be speculated about but there are clearly some times when it's ok.
The media is most definitely jumping to conclusions, one unconnected to anything we know about Hasan while at the same time ruling out any consideration of a subset of the things for which there is evidence or at least indications.
.....
ace.mu.nu
....
Anyone See Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann Last Night? Regarding the Fort Hood massacre, Matthews and Olbermann kept trying to sell post-traumatic stress syndrome. When it was learned this guy had never been in combat, they tried to sell the idea that he had PTSD from listening to other soldiers' accounts of PTSD.
When it was revealed that he was Muslim, and hated the war, and was always screaming about the war, and hated Obama because he thought Obama would end the war, they continued trying to sell some kind of PTSD by proxy.
Matthews was particularly sick-making as he sounded very sympathetic notes about this poor, poor abused man, forced to deploy to a war he didn't believe in. Even after the facts were revealed, he was still trying to excuse this and blame this man's mass-murder on Bush's foreign policy
I guess I don't blame them for avoiding jumping the gun and blaming it on Sudden Jihad Syndome. I guess I can understand the reluctance to engage in that kind of speculation. (On the other hand, they sure were willing to speculate along the lines of every other conceivable motive.)
......
ace.mu.nu |
