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Originally Posted by kindlekitten
no, this shooting does not seem like most of the other mass shootings. he wasn't mistreated or alienated by his coworkers.
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Pretty much every article I read on him or see on TV about him talks about his complaints about being harassed by other soldiers for his being a Muslim. So either you haven't actually read very much about this, or you are being disingenuous.
http://news.google.com/news/search?a...Hasan+harassed
which would surprise me in no way whatsoever, given:
http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/h...talism-miltary
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...enAGMSPeoCsImQ
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and this was, make no doubt about it, a religiously inspired attack. the last mass murderer we have had that was evenly remotely religiously motivated was McVeigh. short of shouting PRAISE JESUS AND PASS THE AMMUNITION!!!, I don't know how much more clear his motivations could have been.
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Here's where I'm coming from-- I'm an unapologetic atheist. I think Christians AND Muslims are deluded by superstitions. But at least I know something about the conventions of both cultures. In Muslim culture, saying Allah Ackbar (or however you wish to spelling) is a common, normal phrase-- well, just read the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takbir
much like Muslims use some parenthetical exclaim of praise after the name of any deeply important religious figure. That is as automatic an exclamation in Islam as is saying "god bless you" after someone sneezes in some western countries. Christianity doesn't have a near-reflexive phrase like that (except for maybe people who say "god willing" after just about every statement) so you don't see Christian shooters using it. There is nothing in his using a very common phrase used a hundred million times a day by Muslims around the world (and that isn't hyperbole) that automagically makes it a cut-and-dry "religiously motivated" "terrorist" attack. I still don't see much difference between Hasan and the office shooter in Florida the next day (other than Hasan being much more successful.) That each one had different personal grievances that they were trying to get revenge for is a difference in degree, not type.
It may turn out that he did, indeed, intend a "terrorist" attack-- but there is no
proof of that yet-- you are drawing absolute conclusions that are far from justified or warranted by the scant information available.
Here's a quote from a shooter from a few months ago. Are you going to say that he was religiously motivated?
"Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell," ... "I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them."-- George Sodini
http://i.abcnews.com/US/story?id=8255530&page=1