Hicham Maged's blog Acquiring knowledge lead to the acquisition of power

Underneath the Shooting

Few days passed since the tragedian shooting took place in Fort Hood and it is clear that ignorance by ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslims’ is the theme of this period. Nevertheless, I am not going to participate in the “attacking/defending” scenario which I described in my previous post.

I am rather concerned by going behind Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's action without any intention for legitimating since what happened is labelled under crime and betrayal from someone that requires punishment by the corresponding authorities regardless his faith and his race.

Analyse That

Let me start by highlighting that despite we still know nothing about what is really inside the shooter's head till investigation show up, I have three points to ponder with you and welcome your insights if you wish, which are:

1. his citizenship status;
2. his ranking position;
3. his linking to radicals.

Point One: He is an American citizen with high education, good job and was raised on the soil of the states not just an immigrant which means that this has nothing to do with hating America because of his roots or religion but rather something else went with him.

Point Two: Initial reports told about problems he had because of the pressure applied on his shoulder either for being anti-war or harassment. In fact, I do not fully buy this not only because many people are anti-war who will have other ways to express this but mainly because of his career as a physician in army who is supposed to be trained for facing this and cure people from non-physical troubles. Nevertheless, even if he had mental troubles that let him went to the end like this, how come that his leaders did not notice any kind of symptoms in any ‘follow-up report’ since he is not a civilian but an army officer?

Point Three: Initial reports also mentioned that FBI was investigating his suspicious internet activity as an army officer so why do not this lit a red alarm? I do not know whether he is following the ideology of radicals or the worst that he has been in touch with them, however again I wonder about the ‘follow-up reports’ since he is an army officer not a civilian!

The Division Bell

I think this tragedy is an evidence for error(s) that happened; something that need more investigations to understand and thus to prevent in the future by fixing the error(s), not just braking at both his roots and religion. What happened with all tragedian aspects of the shooting cannot be a way to condemn and portray millions of Arab and/or Muslims American citizens who are living on the soil of the states either being civilians or serving the army of their country.

On the other hand, if people want to educate themselves away from stereotyping, do not just rely on the media and go for resources either books, Islamic centres, or trustworthy sites about Islam. No problem if you know nothing since nobody knows everything about whatever subject(s) but the worst is when you just follow the wave of generalising.

Finally, I am placing these ramblings in a loud voice since our dear folks on different media-outles have not spent good effort for analysing what happened in a rational way but rather their efforts and enthusiasm were targeting to ring the fake bells of stereotyping which I elaborated in the previous post entitled “Tragedy and Stereotype”.

“There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings.” ~ Dorothy Thompson

Related Posts

• Tragedy and Stereotype

Related Sites

• I-MAG Magazine

[image source]