The Cost of the Politics of Fear
Terrorist???
Can Hate Crimes really be considered Terrorism? I guess it depends on your perspective. Personally, I consider any crime that is committed to create fear in a population of people for the sake of political or financial gain an act of terrorism. I honestly do not believe in Hate Crimes. A crime is a crime – regardless of an individual’s biases.
Terrorism however, is very different. When a terrorist strikes, it is an attempt to create an environment of fear. The terrorist hopes to use that fear to create a shift or change in society, further a political agenda or oppress a group of people.
It is this belief that leads me to the conclusion that so far there have been two shootings perpetrated by terrorists in this country in the past few weeks:
The first was the public assassination of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services. His killer, Scott Roeder, has no regrets – and has declared “victory” since his actions led to the closing of Dr. Tiller’s clinic.
The second – the brutal killing of Pvt. William Long and the shooting of Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula at a military recruiting center in Little Rock. The shooter, Abdulhakim Mujahid, had apparently identified other targets to attack in addition to the recruiting center.
Today we have another high profile shooting. An 88 year old White Supremacist named James von Brunn attacked the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. He shot and injured one of the security guards before being wounded by other guards.
Is this shooting an act of terrorism? Honestly, I don’t know yet. Is this just a racist nut-job who finally cracked? I guess we will find out. Regardless, one thing is clear – terrorism – especially home grown terrorism – is becoming much more prevalent in our nation. In my opinion, it is a direct result of the Politics of Fear that many politicians and pundits use to demonize their competition.
No political party is innocent of this practice. Ever since 9/11, many people in this nation have been told to fear Muslims – and that fear caused an unprecedented spike in crimes against Muslims across this nation. The abortion battle has waged in this country for more than thirty-eight years – yet the tone of the debate has become more fearful since the election of President Obama may mean additional Supreme Court justices that support abortion rights may be appointed to the bench.
Fear begets hatred. Hatred begets violence. Violence begets terrorism. While the politicians in Washington debate the fate of the Gitmo detainees, they ignore the fact that we are creating home grown terrorists amongst our own citizens!! If left unchecked – we may one day look back on the days of Al Qaeda as the good -ol’ days.
