Posts
Why I Hope the Boston Bomber is a White American
O’Reilly starts out by stating something every American almost
certainly agrees with: We should all be first and foremost hoping that
the perpetrator — whoever he or she is — is apprehended as quickly as
possible. Then he moves into an analysis of the future reaction. As
O’Reilly put it, “If this is an international terror attack, the
repercussions will be severe,” but, he added, “if it’s home-grown” that
will just “be another stain on American history.”
In stating such an obvious truth, O’Reilly has (inadvertently) spotlighted the double standard that drives so much of our public policymaking and our cultural attitudes toward national security.
As he said, if the bomber ends up being a foreigner there will be a “severe” response — and if history is any guide, that means potentially a full-scale mobilization of military assets, passage of draconian civil liberties legislation, police surveillance of entire demographic groups and even perhaps a scuttling of the pending immigration bill. By contrast, if the bomber is one of the many “home-grown” — read: white domestic terrorist — attacks we’ve seen in recent years, it will merely be chalked up as “another stain on American history,” but will not necessarily prompt any kind of societal mobilization against any one particular group.
A crazy White Far Right guy will not be a reason to start a new war or clamp down on the civil rights of us average citizens.
In stating such an obvious truth, O’Reilly has (inadvertently) spotlighted the double standard that drives so much of our public policymaking and our cultural attitudes toward national security.
As he said, if the bomber ends up being a foreigner there will be a “severe” response — and if history is any guide, that means potentially a full-scale mobilization of military assets, passage of draconian civil liberties legislation, police surveillance of entire demographic groups and even perhaps a scuttling of the pending immigration bill. By contrast, if the bomber is one of the many “home-grown” — read: white domestic terrorist — attacks we’ve seen in recent years, it will merely be chalked up as “another stain on American history,” but will not necessarily prompt any kind of societal mobilization against any one particular group.
A crazy White Far Right guy will not be a reason to start a new war or clamp down on the civil rights of us average citizens.
http://www.alternet.org/why-i-hope-boston-bomber-white-american?akid=10337.294211.Dcwgsr&rd=1&src=newsletter826540&t=9
No comments:
Post a Comment