Understanding Why Nidal Hasan Did It Makes Us Stronger:
God, we liberals are such fucking pussies, aren't we? Our vaginas just ache in sympathy with the most heinous people, like Major Nidal Hasan, who massacred soldiers at Fort Hood. Just look at how vile we are behaving: questioning why Hasan did it, attempting to learn from his crime in order to prevent others, wondering if the treatment of Muslims in the military might have a deleterious effect on the mental stability of some soldiers. What's wrong with us? We stink of lamb-like sensitivity when we should be tearing through this world like 'roided out lions.
Right wing pundits offer prima facie evidence of how awful we are as human beings. Like Cal Thomas, who minces, "[W]e tolerate virtually everything, indulge in political correctness and subscribe to a bogus belief that if radical Islamists can see we mean them no harm, they will mean us no harm." (Although the Rude Pundit will stick to his belief that if we offer milkshakes and blow jobs to al-Qaeda members, the wars would be over. Seriously - there's your choice: goat fucking and suicide bombing or milkshakes and blow jobs. Give it 30 seconds.)
And how can we be such quivering little cocksuckers that we don't understand the case is cut-and-dried, dyed-in-the-wool over, with all facts readily available in the media. "It was an act of terrorism by a man with a record of expressing virulent, anti-American, pro-jihadist sentiments. All were conspicuous signs of danger his Army superiors chose to ignore," writes Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal (motto: "Who knew Rupert Murdoch's taint would taste so deliciously tangy?"). Pat Buchanan is Sam fuckin' Spade (even if he'd find that name insulting), creating an entire narrative and psychological profile of Hasan: "Hasan was conflicted by a dual loyalty—to the country he had sworn to protect, and to his perceived duty as a Muslim." What we learn from all this is that right wingers think that Law and Order is reality and not just a TV show. (By the way, Buchanan goes total bugnuts by mid-column, using Hasan to condemn minorities for not being whiter.)
What a little bitch-ass president, they tell us, with his milquetoast reaction, not-so-secret Muslim plot to destroy us all, and his failure to serve in the military. Ann Coulter practices her cuntistry when she notes, "President Obama’s response to the slaughter of 13 Americans by a Muslim at a U.S. military installation was to instruct Americans not to 'jump to any conclusions.' There was a risk that right-wingers would start playing the old 'Blame The Perpetrator' game." When Obama first spoke, Hasan was unconscious from his wounds. No one knew if he acted alone, had help, was the start or end of something. But, man, when you need to jump, ya gotta jump, unless you're a pussy. You're not a pussy, are you?
Which, of course, leads to Kevin McCullough, conservative spoogebag, who writes, "In the hours following the shooting at Ft. Hood, President Obama demonstrated resolute apathy to the greatest issue of our time." (Bonus points for McCullough's abuse of quotation marks: "[Obama] gave 'shout-outs' to his 'homies' in the crowd." Obama did say "shout-out." He did not say "homies." But, you know, he's black.)
They're disgusted because less than three hours after the shooting, Obama went ahead with a scheduled speech at the Tribal Nations Conference. He commented there on the shooting, "What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed, and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence. My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the fallen, and with those who live and serve at Fort Hood...I hope in the meantime that all of you recognize the scope of this tragedy, and keep everybody in their thoughts and prayers." His "response" when he asked people not to jump to conclusions was given the next day. It was actually just an update. He didn't need to repeat his horror and outrage, which he had communicated the day before.
Who are these fantasy liberals that conservatives create out of straw? Where do they live? Where do you see anyone not a nutzoid Muslim fundamentalist supporting Hasan? Shit doesn't occur in a vacuum. Life ain't a movie; Hasan, from the meager bit we know about him, wasn't just blankly evil. No one in the liberal camp is forgiving him, but for citizens in and out of the military, it's crucial that we understand Hasan. Skepticism and inquiry aren't ludicrous luxuries. A desire to understand other cultures isn't mere political correctness. That's a shorthand way to dismiss a crucial step forward in a world that has changed significantly in the last few decades.
And the real wimps and weaklings are the ones who resist and refuse to offer anything beyond an assertion of smug superiority. Because, as anyone in any Darwinian enterprise will tell you, they are the long-dying members of a society or species.
