Lessons learned from the recent events which occured in Boston, Mass and Newtown, Conn

Scarcely four months ago, December 14, 2012 to be precise, twenty year old Adam Lanza put Sandy Hook Elementary School on the map as the site of the “second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in American history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.” (Read more at Wikipedia).

Monday, April 15, 2013, and less then two hundred miles away from Sandy Hook Elementary School, it was Boston’s turn to experience its own brand of mass carnage as the sound of two bombs exploding rent the air resulting in extensive property and personal damage.  With his brother, and alleged co-conspirator dead, “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged on Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.”  Speculation as to what the future course of events may be can be found at the previously linked article.

The differences in the way the various American political factions chose to react to each event are extremely instructive, particularly in terms of what they say about how each faction views what it means to be an American.  Within days of the horrific events which took place at Sandy Hook those on the Left, including many elected officials, began to campaign for new and more restrictive legislation pertaining to gun ownership.  Barely one month later New York became the first state to enact such legislation.  Fortunately, for those who still support the rule of law and the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, Federal legislation designed to enact similar legislation failed to receive the necessary votes.

Interestingly, there were few on the Left who complained about the issue becoming “politicized” and most expressed great annoyance that the rights of the people had not been ignored.  President Obama was, of course, particularly peeved that this assault on the rights of ordinary Americans failed to gain enough support.

“It came down to politics,” Obama said, adding too many senators had worried a vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in the next election.

The underlying humor in this President complaining about a vote “…(coming) down to politics” apparently went over his head and if he truly wanted to rise above politics he might have been honest enough to have mentioned that it came down to the (un)constitutionality of the legislation, but that particular concern seems to be becoming increasingly irrelevant.  In any event, what we have here is the same knee-jerk reaction against Americans and American values that is the defining characteristic of those from the Left.

It is by comparing the reaction of those same people to the events in Boston that proves how anti-American those on the American Left have really become.  Perhaps the most infamous plea of all is the one which includes the words, “Please don’t let it be a Muslim”.  I suggest that Muslims would be better served by ensuring that in the future it is not a Muslim involved in tragic events such as the one Boston just experienced and it is they who are in the best position to do so.  It would seem that those who constantly pray that white males with ties to (non-existent) nefarious groups be found to be the perpetrators of these crimes are doomed to be disappointed more often than not.  There is a reason that most white male purveyors of this type of violence are found to be “lone wolf” types, while others, such as Islamic Jihadists are not afforded the same type of luxury.

The victim told police the two men said they “would not kill him because he wasn’t American,” according to a police report obtained by NBC News.

In a Salon article Wajahat Ali suggests the following:

The critical difference, however, is the powerful privilege of whiteness: when a white individual is accused of committing an act of terror he alone bears the brunt of responsibility for his crime, and the collective burden is not assigned on those who share his features. This privilege should belong to all citizens, regardless of ethnicity and religious identification, instead of being earned by surviving an unending gauntlet of pre-emptive and reactive questions, assumptions and apologies.

White people wear a Teflon cloak whereas minorities wear a flimsy, moth-eaten cape of kryptonite and a “Kick Me” sign. In other words, white people are like Bugs Bunny allowed to observe the chaos at a distance, eat a carrot and make witty quips — but never asked to prove their loyalty or investigate and defend their own whiteness. Minorities are like Daffy Duck, forever doomed to have the anvil fall on our heads regardless of our individual guilt or innocence.

Unfortunately, this is just not reality and, as someone with roots in Pakistan, he should know it very well.  As far as the United States is concerned the fact that he mentions white privilege should be enough for him to recognize the foolishness of his admonitions.  If in fact whites, as a group, are privileged what would be the reason for whites to attack their “own people”?   There is no point in denying that some horrific event may occur tomorrow perpetrated by some far out white group, but the chances are extremely slim that such an event would target civilians in any particular way due to the fact that “they are them”.  The problem in constantly “hoping” that the perpetrator will finally be a white American male is that the person entertaining such a hope is completely ignoring the various motives which underpin particular (re)actions.

The actual premise of “white privilege” is that the values expressed, although not always observed, are essentially American values.  I agree that all those who share those values, regardless of other characteristics, are, and should be considered, “real Americans”.  The interesting thing is that those on the Left seem to believe that it is those values which should be attacked.  Isn’t it interesting that those on the Left are making excuses and continuing to support open immigration in the face of events such as this.  The reality is that those in the minority should pray that the perpetrators of terrorist type actions are not white Americans as if they were it would no bode well for the country.  The fact that those on the Left are always so hopeful that this will be the time they will strike the final blow against American Values shows exactly whose side they are on.

Thank you.

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