Gather Ye Muslims While Ye May*
As Americans mourn the loss of more than dozen people murdered by alleged shooter Nidal Malik Hasan thoughtful people are asking thoughtful questions and the crazies are coming out of the woodwork.
Hasan apparently left signs all over the place that something just wasn’t quite right; A PowerPoint presentation on suicide bombers, attempts to contact Al-Qaeda, his voicing of objections to Muslims serving in the military, etc. Hasan exhibited all the signs of someone who should have been monitored and brought in for questioning because he engaged in a certain type of behavior. And reasonable people will want to know how he slipped through the cracks.
What’s frustrating however is that the incident at Ft. Hood has opened the door for the crazies and religious bigots to come out of the woodwork and question not only the loyalties of Muslims serving in the military (which is my brother and up until 1996 was my Dad). As a radio talk show host I get the calls and e-mails calling for everything from deportation to internment camps.
Of course the one thing advocates of the positions don’t think about, along with all the other things they don’t think about, is the only way to make sure American Muslims don’t attack anyone is to put everyone in camps. You can’t just tell who’s a Muslim by looking at him. And you can’t go by names alone, because it would be just like a terrorist to be named Al, Peggy, Bud or Kelly to avoid detection.
And you couldn’t just go after people who attend services at a mosque. All the terrorists would do is stop going or for that matter they would attend the most evangelical, holy rolling, tongue speaking church they could find. So I guess they would have to be rounded up also.
Yes, I know all this is ridiculous. But then again when reasonable suspicion turns into irrational fear, what do you expect?
*My apologies to Robert Herrick.
