The definition of “terrorism” is “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.”
Yet over and over again when mass attacks against civilians are perpetrated by white westerners the media avoids the terrorist label, which is almost exclusively reserved for Muslims. The recent brutal murder of the British Member of Parliament Jo Cox, a wife and mother of two little girls, by 52-year-old Thomas Mair has not been characterized as a terrorist attack by the media in spite of the fact a witness heard him yelling “Britain First” (the name of a right-wing fascist anti-Islamic group) while he was engaged in the horrific deed.
The police discovered “Nazi regalia” in the killer’s home and it has been revealed that he had links to neo-Nazi organizations for decades. But he is being billed, or should we say excused, as being mentally ill. If Mair had been a Muslim and, say, Daesh paraphernalia was found, his deranged state of mind would have hardly been worth mentioning.
The murder was clearly politically-motivated and, therefore, an act of terrorism. Jo Cox campaigned to remain in the European Union and spoke passionately in support of the migrants and refugees heading to Europe’s shores. Mair on the other hand subscribed to a South African pro-white magazine. By all accounts, the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had mental issues as well but they’ve been downplayed.
Mateen’s former wife said this lone wolf, who the police say had no ties to terrorist organizations, was mentally ill, but America was quick to judge him as a terrorist! And worse, the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, is bent on barring Muslim immigrants and monitoring American-Muslims based on the actions of this sick individual who at one time or another boasted his allegiance to terrorist groups with diametrically opposed ideologies.
You may be surprised to learn that white Americans have killed more innocents on American soil since the 9/11 attacks than Muslim extremists. A study by the New American Foundation think tank found that whites committed 18 attacks during the period 2004-2015 as opposed to nine committed by radicalized Muslims.
The list of white mass killers is long and includes the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh who robbed 168 of their lives, the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Jared Loughner who killed six people during his attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killer of five police officers, white supremacist Richard Poplawski.
The Norwegian Islamophobe, Anders Behring Breivik, who went on a shooting spree killing 93, according to most media outlets, was not a “terrorist” but a mentally ill “gunman” or “mass-murderer” even though he held to a far right-wing political agenda. He wasn’t caged in a Guantanamo-type gulag without access to legal representation as so many Muslims officially declared innocent of all charges have experienced.
On the contrary, he was secured in a three-cell suite, complete with a TV, a laptop, video games and his own exercise equipment. His insanity didn’t prevent him from attending court earlier this year where he made a Nazi salute to argue convincingly that solitary confinement breaches his human rights. Insane or not, the judge agreed with him and ordered the Norwegian government to pay the terrorist’s legal fees.
The double standard here is glaring when white mass murderers are considered to be suffering from insanity and Muslims are automatically treated as terrorists whatever their mental issues. A terrorist should not be defined by religion, nationality of skin color but by the act itself together with his affiliations, regardless of whether he was disturbed or had a troubled childhood or acted under the influence of substances.
Note too that Christians and Jews who commit acts of terrorism are rarely, if ever, referred to as Christian terrorists or Jewish terrorists even when their crimes are religiously or racially motivated.
Finally, it should be remembered that the lives of many more Muslims have been cut short by terrorism than those of westerners. We see so many banners on social media reading “We are all French” or “We are all Belgians” and there was rightly a worldwide outpouring of grief for the Orlando victims with minute silences held in European capitals. But when Iraqis, Syrians or Palestinians are being shot or bombed almost weekly, how many times do we see “We are all Arabs”?
Yet over and over again when mass attacks against civilians are perpetrated by white westerners the media avoids the terrorist label, which is almost exclusively reserved for Muslims. The recent brutal murder of the British Member of Parliament Jo Cox, a wife and mother of two little girls, by 52-year-old Thomas Mair has not been characterized as a terrorist attack by the media in spite of the fact a witness heard him yelling “Britain First” (the name of a right-wing fascist anti-Islamic group) while he was engaged in the horrific deed.
The police discovered “Nazi regalia” in the killer’s home and it has been revealed that he had links to neo-Nazi organizations for decades. But he is being billed, or should we say excused, as being mentally ill. If Mair had been a Muslim and, say, Daesh paraphernalia was found, his deranged state of mind would have hardly been worth mentioning.
The murder was clearly politically-motivated and, therefore, an act of terrorism. Jo Cox campaigned to remain in the European Union and spoke passionately in support of the migrants and refugees heading to Europe’s shores. Mair on the other hand subscribed to a South African pro-white magazine. By all accounts, the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had mental issues as well but they’ve been downplayed.
Mateen’s former wife said this lone wolf, who the police say had no ties to terrorist organizations, was mentally ill, but America was quick to judge him as a terrorist! And worse, the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, is bent on barring Muslim immigrants and monitoring American-Muslims based on the actions of this sick individual who at one time or another boasted his allegiance to terrorist groups with diametrically opposed ideologies.
You may be surprised to learn that white Americans have killed more innocents on American soil since the 9/11 attacks than Muslim extremists. A study by the New American Foundation think tank found that whites committed 18 attacks during the period 2004-2015 as opposed to nine committed by radicalized Muslims.
The list of white mass killers is long and includes the Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh who robbed 168 of their lives, the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Jared Loughner who killed six people during his attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killer of five police officers, white supremacist Richard Poplawski.
The Norwegian Islamophobe, Anders Behring Breivik, who went on a shooting spree killing 93, according to most media outlets, was not a “terrorist” but a mentally ill “gunman” or “mass-murderer” even though he held to a far right-wing political agenda. He wasn’t caged in a Guantanamo-type gulag without access to legal representation as so many Muslims officially declared innocent of all charges have experienced.
On the contrary, he was secured in a three-cell suite, complete with a TV, a laptop, video games and his own exercise equipment. His insanity didn’t prevent him from attending court earlier this year where he made a Nazi salute to argue convincingly that solitary confinement breaches his human rights. Insane or not, the judge agreed with him and ordered the Norwegian government to pay the terrorist’s legal fees.
The double standard here is glaring when white mass murderers are considered to be suffering from insanity and Muslims are automatically treated as terrorists whatever their mental issues. A terrorist should not be defined by religion, nationality of skin color but by the act itself together with his affiliations, regardless of whether he was disturbed or had a troubled childhood or acted under the influence of substances.
Note too that Christians and Jews who commit acts of terrorism are rarely, if ever, referred to as Christian terrorists or Jewish terrorists even when their crimes are religiously or racially motivated.
Finally, it should be remembered that the lives of many more Muslims have been cut short by terrorism than those of westerners. We see so many banners on social media reading “We are all French” or “We are all Belgians” and there was rightly a worldwide outpouring of grief for the Orlando victims with minute silences held in European capitals. But when Iraqis, Syrians or Palestinians are being shot or bombed almost weekly, how many times do we see “We are all Arabs”?
