Casualties reported after New York 'shooting'

[NoRest4Wicked]

Why not both? Van of free peace.

Good point. I love it when my peace is free.

[primalmatter]

Was this a van of peace or a van of freedom?

Van of peace this time.

[kail]

yeah... but if we are pretending to be honest the john does of the world are not causing this.

One did quit recently.

Was this a van of peace or a van of freedom?

Well it was a truck, so neither.

[mage21]

Well, of course it was a terrorist act...his skin wasn't white.

I think this is a great opinion piece by Ben Shapiro on the dichotomy between the media representation of Muslim terrorism and White Supremacist terrorism.

Imagine that a white supremacist had driven a truck onto a bike path filled with minority innocents, killing eight of them. Imagine that the white supremacist had emerged from his truck carrying aloft a Confederate flag.

Imagine that the media had leapt to the defense of those flying the Confederate flag, explaining that only a tiny minority of those who did so had engaged in any sort of racist violence. Imagine that all of America’s major political leaders said the same, and told those who connected the terrorism with the Confederate flag that their viewpoints represented bigotry. Imagine, too, that CNN ran a chyron reading “WITNESSES: SUSPECT WAS CARRYING SOUTHERN VERSION OF AMERICAN FLAG,” and then hosted panels assuring audiences that the Confederate flag was simply a symbol of Southern pride.

Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Yet that was precisely the chain of events that took place after yet another Islamist terror attack on American soil. Leftist media darling and terrorist-sympathizer Linda Sarsour tweeted, “Every believing Muslim says Allahu Akbar every day during prayers. We cannot criminalize ‘God is great.’ Prosecute the criminal not a faith.” The media did its typical rush to prevent cruel Americans from engaging in “Islamophobia,” expressing that radical Islamic terrorism had no connection to actual Islam. Most of America’s political leaders quickly agreed. CNN ran a chyron reading, “WITNESSES: SUSPECT WAS YELLING ‘GOD IS GREAT’ IN ARABIC.”

Precisely the reverse takes place after white supremacist terror attacks, of course. When white supremacist Dylann Storm Roof committed a massive terror attack on a black church, the media quickly uncovered photos of him with a Confederate flag, and led a month-long discussion on whether the Confederate flag ought to be banned from public places. When a white supremacist in Charlottesville murdered an innocent woman, the media held a month-long discussion on whether Confederate statues ought to be removed. This week, a Latino interest group ran an ad attempting to connect a Republican gubernatorial candidate with a white supremacist march he had openly condemned, and created an ad showing a Confederate flag-flying white supremacist with that candidate’s bumper sticker attempting to run down minority children.

Now, we can have solid discussions about Confederate monuments and the Confederate flag. Those discussions are worthwhile. But why is it that we leap to discuss those issues when a white supremacist terrorist kills innocents, but we leap to defend Islam when an Islamist kills innocents? Why the difference? Isn’t radical Islam just as horrifying as white supremacism? And isn’t white supremacism just as statistically non-representative of Confederate flag-owners throughout the South as radical Islam is of observant Muslims across the country?

[Independent voter]

Actually the number one victim of muslim terrorism is other muslims, so... so much for your "homogeneous society" idea.

Additionally, people are far, far, FAR more likely to be murdered by a fellow countryman for the change in their pocket or something similar than they are to be killed in some terror attack.

There has always been crime, these attacks form radical Islamists are new and added on. The Islamists want to bring back the Caliphate and see terrorism as the way to do that.

[primalmatter]

Pretty sure you're more likely to die by a dog attack than a terrorist attack in the US. So, it's really not much of a problem.

You realize that is terrible logic right?

It is like saying murder isn't a issue since its unlikely to happen to you.

[kail]

You realize that is terrible logic right?

It is like saying murder isn't a issue since its unlikely to happen to you.

On the large scale, murder is an issue. More than 10,000 are murdered in the U.S., but you want to focus on what accounts for a dozen or two?

[Theodarzna]

On the large scale, murder is an issue. More than 10,000 are murdered in the U.S., but you want to focus on what accounts for a dozen or two?

Should one take any steps to prevent these sorts of attacks? I mean, this seems like a really high price to pay for liberal urbanites culinary pleasures.

[Saucexorzski]

Folks, this was just an Islamic guy driving a truck, its fine, what we need to be careful of are those white right wingers driving cars...they are dangerous!

[OrcsRLame]

Serious time for a moment: In the short term, there is no way to stop these attacks. For better or worse the die has been cast.

Long term, the way to stop these attacks is to de-legitimize any ideology that demands your moral disgust for other people. Mid term, that means ideologically smashing Islam into the dirt, the same way Christianity has been smashed into the dirt. It still exists, but no one takes it seriously. Atheism and modern science has won every debate against Christianity for a very long time now. It was made a mockery of. That's why we don't get organized Christian crusades anymore. This will necessarily entail shredding the pride of many religious people.

To be absolutely clear, this does not stop with Islam and I don't really put the blame on Muslims. Muslims are just regular people that have been infected with bad ideas. Long term, I think every quasi-religious moral disgust based ideological framework needs the Christianity treatment. Modern examples that come to mind are Nazism, communism, and social constructivism. All of these ideas need to be hit over the head with the reason bat so many times that anyone would feel silly to express these beliefs in public. And any time a new form of ideological claptrap shows up, we need to immediately give it the Christianity treatment.

[Theodarzna]

We do take steps to prevent them. We just don't outright ban all immigration that some people want because even then, there would still be attacks comparable to terrorist attacks. There's really nothing you can do to prevent all such attacks. Our immigration process is already pretty good considering the number of terrorist attacks since 9/11.

No one is saying "open the border" like a lot of right wingers on the forums like to imply.

So far the only steps taken are to deny there is anything peculiar to these sorts of attacks or the community that seems to be a major vector for them in Europe especially.

[Kaleredar]

Why doesn't Japan get those attacks then? Or Eastern Europe for that matter.

Well I mean parts of Eastern Europe seems to be on a "persecute the gays" kick right now; sure you want to idolize them as the perfect society?

Or do those not count as "terrorism?"

[PickleballAce]

I think this is just another case of a doctor or engineer not knowing how to drive a truck.

[Kaleredar]

Serious time for a moment: In the short term, there is no way to stop these attacks. For better or worse the die has been cast.

Long term, the way to stop these attacks is to de-legitimize any ideology that demands your moral disgust for other people. Mid term, that means ideologically smashing Islam into the dirt, the same way Christianity has been smashed into the dirt. It still exists, but no one takes it seriously. Atheism and modern science has won every debate against Christianity for a very long time now. It was made a mockery of. That's why we don't get organized Christian crusades anymore. This will necessarily entail shredding the pride of many religious people.

Yes I'm sure "athiesm" is why the Crusades ended 400 years ago.

To be absolutely clear, this does not stop with Islam and I don't really put the blame on Muslims. Muslims are just regular people that have been infected with bad ideas. Long term, I think every quasi-religious moral disgust based ideological framework needs the Christianity treatment. Modern examples that come to mind are Nazism, communism, and social constructivism. All of these ideas need to be hit over the head with the reason bat so many times that anyone would feel silly to express these beliefs in public. And any time a new form of ideological claptrap shows up, we need to immediately give it the Christianity treatment.

Is that why billions of people on the planet are still christian, or...

[Xandrigity]

Oh nice he worked as an uber driver

[Themius]

I think this is a great opinion piece by Ben Shapiro on the dichotomy between the media representation of Muslim terrorism and White Supremacist terrorism.

White supremacist and confederacy (literally people who fought for slavery) are two ideals with a clear negative that's only negative... Islam is a damn religion with a sect that is radical... just like the radical christians burning gay people to death in Africa and Jamaica.

The ideology of the entire religion isn't to fucking kill people.

[OrcsRLame]

Yes I'm sure "athiesm" is why the Crusades ended 400 years ago.

I have very little patience for this kind of... discourse.

I did not say atheism ended the crusades. I said that the humiliation of Christianity has prevented us from seeing modern day Christian crusades. If you think that the odds of a Christian crusade now are greater than or equal to the odds of a crusade happening before the enlightenment, you are delusional.

Is that why billions of people on the planet are still christian, or...

And virtually none of them outside of Uganda even hold to literal interpretations. It goes beyond a rejection of fundamentalism; most Christians would feel silly to even suggest that 80% of the things suggested in the bible are literally true or commands that must be followed. They take the fluff about being kind to your neighbor because those are the only parts that are still socially acceptable. Christianity has been totally emasculated and de-fanged. Islam has not had that happen to it yet.

[Blueobelisk]

I'm still alive guys. Don't worry.

Although I'm sorta worried/////////////////////

[primalmatter]

On the large scale, murder is an issue. More than 10,000 are murdered in the U.S., but you want to focus on what accounts for a dozen or two?

Why not?

Playing the greater concern ends with us realizing the sun will one day burn out and end all life. I rather worry about problems with feasible solutions.

[kail]

Why not?

Playing the greater concern ends with us realizing the sun will one day burn out and end all life. I rather worry about problems with feasible solutions.

But netting the lowest results. Banning Muslims alone is far from feasible if you think about it. Trump's ban is about as close as it gets but from what I understood (and agree with), it's not a Muslim ban.