According to recent statistics, nearly twice as many people have been killed on American soil by so-called right-wing extremists since 9/11 than by jihadists. A report by The New America Foundation “shows” that in the almost 14 years after that singular act of terrorism, 26 people died during “deadly jihadist attacks,” whereas 48 died during “deadly right-wing attacks.”‘ I really, really hate it when the mainstream media uses stats; it’s SO flawed… and then everyone tries to use these stats to prove a point….For example, they had purposefully left out the one BIG act of terrorism: 9/11 which cost nearly 3000 lives. And by the way, 3000 deaths due to terrorism over the last decade is still pretty low when compared with OTHER stats that we’ll examine soon….
Instead of crying ” oh no, Right Wingers are Worse Than Terrorists”….. Maybe we could just agree that ALL of this media attention is a strategy to divide the majority of people against a easily-stereotyped minority? First, it was the Muslims, because Bush wanted Iraq. Now, it’s “home-grown lone-wolf radical-Islamic/ radical-right-wing/ veterans”- because the people in general are unhappy with things… Things like the fact that the rich have absorbed all of the so-called “recovery” in recent years (actually a wealth-transfer to the rich). And hey, this new categorization allows them to throw nearly everybody under the bus… do we even KNOW who a “right-winger” is? And just how extremely right-wing does one have to be to be considered an extremist? The broadness of the definition is a concern.
An example of this fear-mongering can be found in a piece written by Refinery29:
“Last week’s violent assault on a church in Charleston, SC, during which nine churchgoers were allegedly shot and killed by extremist Dylann Roof, is listed as the most lethal of 19 right-wing plots since 9/11. The most deadly jihadist attack was the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, TX, when a U.S. Army Major and psychiatrist named Nidal Malik Hasan was convicted of murdering 13 people.
There is little reassurance in these numbers, but they may be more indicative of a popular misunderstanding — that all terrorists attacks come from Muslims who want to harm innocent Americans — than of an undiscovered threat. Jacob N. Shapiro, Ph.D. an associate professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and the author of The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations,explains that law enforcement has long been aware that homegrown terrorism of all facets exists and that most plots have been thwarted before they’ve begun.
So, statistically speaking, is what happened in Charleston surprising? “No, not at all,” Shapiro says. Roof’s shocking violence and hatred does not necessarily mean that his purported act was random. “
Right. The author makes two mistakes here: first, she asserts that there is an “undiscovered threat” that the police were militarizing and training hard to prepare for. Guess what? YOU’RE the threat they are preparing for. The police have been prepped up so well to take care of home-grown terrorists that they are punching pregnant women and murdering Black kids everywhere as practice.
Second , he states that the law enforcement has been thwarting homegrown terrorist acts before…. Where, when? What acts can they cite, besides ones that they had basically brainwashed a kid into picking up a “bomb” made by our law enforcement themselves?
The author then cites a study that I am in full agreement with: Ian Lustick, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on Middle Eastern politics, writes in his essay “Trapped, or Not, in the Legacy of the War on Terror,” that between 1999 and 2007, 385,601 people died in the United States from traffic accidents, and 273,162 had committed suicide. By contrast, terrorism took 2,973 lives (FYI, THIS study probably includes 9/11… albeit a lower death toll than seen in other studies). Lustick writes that “to move toward a more sensible assessment of the terrorism threat, we must first appreciate just how distorted are American public perceptions.”
The author then wrote: “by believing that terrorist attacks like 9/11 are highly likely threats and, moreover, that these threats will be carried out only by Muslims, we are deceiving ourselves.” So, she’s rightly telling us that we should not fear terrorism. In the same breath, she says that we should be fearful of everyone. Clever.
I tend to think that this need to hype terrorism of any kind is most unproductive, when the intent is merely to divide us. Particularly when we could be focused on preventing the major causes of death. Like maybe, suicide? Or drinking and driving? Big Pharma and Big Alcohol are doing such a fine job….
Terrorism is a threat, but let’s view it through the lens of rationality. There are real criminals to apprehend, it’s pointless to fund The Military Industrial Complex to blow up shadows. Shadows who inevitably turn out to be weddings and little kids. It was bad enough overseas, one hopes that the average American thinks a little harder when they bring the drones home.
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These statistics might be true for the US, but globally there are many more people killed by Islamic terrorists. I don’t like how Anonymous try to downplay that terrorist fighting in the name of Islam are a threat to many people and have already killed thousands worlwide.
Umm, I don’t think you can expect American domestic terrorists to expand their reach much further.
Winner of the internet right here!!!
A comical reply whilst talking about terrorism!
Priceless!
Agree. I’m not saying every Muslim is a murderer because that would be a lie, but in recent history there has been horrible acts committed by people of Muslim faith in the name of Islam. Radical Muslims today would be compared to the Catholic Church and imperialist, European countries of the last 4 centuries.
Nathaniel, ofcourse you would talk shit about Muslims. Your a jew…..
Mark, let’s see, to date around 4,000 People have been killed by Muslims on American soil. Please inform us of how many kiliings have been done by right wingers….. Crickets.
By the way you Liberal fool, Jews don’t hate Muslims, it is the other way around.
Seriously? First stats exclude 9/11. Then go visit http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
You’ll sse just HOW WRONG that article is. You guys need to do better if you want people to take you seriously.
maybe you missed that part where the Christian armies of the West were bombing and invading Muslim countries that ended up killing 100s of thousands.
Actually, most Muslims believe in the idea that Jihadists aren’t Muslim. Islam is a peaceful religion, just like Judaism, and Christianity, and Buddhism, etc. “A few bad apples spoil the bunch.”
actually most people that are killed is because of the USA military doing something like invading countries.
Some people are just a pure reflection of this article: u’re missing the point by focusing exclusively on what you think is truth, which is the definition of stereotyping;
Your beloved “leaders of the free world” are doing all above counted by different vicious means of brain washing, manipulation and force – all of us are subjected to it every day, for the purpose of establishing a full control of EVERYONE and EVERYTHING.
FWI, there is no such a thing as moderate Islam and radical Islam, nor moderate Christianity and radical Christianity etc. – radicalism is a religion of it own, it is very old and based on what we today call “the theory of evolution” (the concept is much, much older than Darwin-it only got widespread when Marx & Co decided to promote i), which teaches kill or be killed, if you are weaker you deserve to die – and in this analogy we are all just expendable resources to them, there to be used and easily discarded when no longer required.
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