Good thing we're covering this nonstop in the news, and we don't cover 12 deaths a day in Iraq and Afghanistan with anything more than a 2 second mention.  Kudos to the press to keeping us ignorant!

I am not in America, I'm in Korea, and I don't get the inundation that you who live in America do.  I do think that it's odd that the media is covering this more than all the deaths that happen, to the US military, all over the world.  Soldiers in combat zones are taking hits all the time, but where is their sensationalist media?  The media is always looking for a shocking story to display in front of the American public, and so they have yet another tragedy to report.  It's a no brainer, the media is in the business of making money, not giving news.  The news can be boring if it isn't sensationalist.

As a former soldier, and Airman, this whole things makes me crazy.  Men and women who intended to serve their country, to protect their families against foreign enemies, are instead attacked by domestic terrorists.  When I was in the Air Force I saw this firsthand as my Marine buddies were attacked, with knives, in Pennsacola, Fl, because they were military, and their attackers (gang members) wanted respect from their fellow gang members.  It doesn't matter where we go, there is always going to be violence against us.  We look outward for our enemies, but they exist at home as well, around every corner (if you truly want to be paranoid about it.  However, it does us no good to be so paranoid), so military members must be mindful at all times. 

I have read that the individual that committed the crimes was 1. an officer 2. a muslim and that he had been given orders to deploy to Iraq.  Jihad Watch has already started linking "devout Muslim" to his recent actions.  I urge caution in drawing these conclusions, even as I think, in the back of my mind, that we can never trust a "true believer" of any religion. 

Not just  that...

How many times ive been flicking thru channels and stop on American news for a couple seconds to see Micheal Jackson, Jon and Kate, and the Octomm while small 1 inch wide banners quickly flow by at the bottom of the screen saying "18 killed in Afganistan," "7.2  earthqake hits China 238 killed", etc....

Fox just makes me puke.

Good thing theirs the daily show and colbert report to bring you the truth.

Interesting take on that. And one from a professed soldier no less.

One aspect to this is that we in the US have an all volunteer force. Presumably, when one signs up, one is aware that the position is not without the risk of dying in a war overseas (even if the original plan was to wear a smart uniform only until qualifying for free college). So yah, soldiers die. It is always terrible when they do and as a people, we should mourn their passing. Hell's bells but how does anyone imagine that we are free to engage in all of the silly behavior that happens in the US and would simply not be tolerated in many other nations?

In any case, the populist media tried to play the “OMG! A soldier died today” card over and over at the beginning of the current war. Yes, soldiers die. While it is a sad matter, it is part of the job, the same as a police officer being shot by a gang member or a firefighter being crushed by a burning roof beam. It is of course appropriate to mourn the passing of all our nation's men and women in uniform.

Then too, we can be a callous people and it gets tiring after a while to hear the same thing day in and day out from a populist media trying to steer our emotions to support a specific agenda. When that angle became played out, they turned to the banner on the aircraft carrier that said “mission accomplished”.

That was supposed to be a positive thing for the people who served on that specific mission. Yet the media tried to turn that into “OK, the war is over now”. And began trying to track the day when more soldiers had died “after the war was over” than civilians had died on 9/11. Umm, no.

According to icasualities.org, 4,677 coalition soldiers have died in Iraq since the invasion. Every one of them is a tragic loss and should not be minimized. Even though it is really doubtful that Iraq was ever all that much of a threat to anyone (outside of Iran and Israel), one must remember that every one of those deaths was was someone sacrificing their life for their nation.

That being said, an average of about two deaths per day is hardly a river of blood. For comparison:

Approximately 17,000 men died in less than an hour at the battle of Cold Harbor.

Approximately 25,000 men died taking the beaches on D-day.

I could go on with historical death tolls but I believe that my point has been made.

 http://www.rationalresponders.com/Fort_Hood

o_O? what exactly are you reffering to? "Worse than Hitler" ?

If so, Gene didnt add it... it was taken directly from the family guy episode where Brian is outed as an atheist and gets slandered on the local news (which is that pic)

Context help at all?

Mass murder in public settings has been going on forever. A guy blew away several people from a clock tower on a University campus in the 60s. He wasn't a Muslim. An unemployed nutcase went into a McDonalds and murdered 20 some odd people in San Diego in the early 80s. HE WASN'T A MUSLIM. Columbine mean anything? Lubies cafiteria in the 90s, 20 some odd people murderd there too, that guy wasn't a Muslim. The guy at VA tec wasn't a Muslim.

And there have been collectively throughout all our wars, domestic violence from vets who have come home and suffered PTSD. More murders and suicides happen in the military because of combat stress. This guy wasn't suffering from that. His violence has to do with his own insecurities in his life.

Not all Muslims who serve are going to end up like this nut. The media shrinks have already hinted as to why this guy snapped. He felt like his life wasn't going the way he wanted to, and he got a bad job review. This wasn't so much him being a Muslim as much as it was his own ego and selfishness.

All these nuts have in common are insecurity. They feel they have no other way to get attention and feel like failures so they take others out to make a name for themselves because they couldn't make it in real life.

I am not going to say that religion didn't play a role. I am merely saying that mundane human psychology caused him to do what he did the same way that the Colimbine killers did what they did. Why Bin Ladin did what he did, why Charles Manson did what he did. ALL OF THEM did not take criticism or rejection well. Bin Ladin's beef was not that there were non-Muslims in the world. HIS OWN FAMILY didn't like his views on how they were dealing with the west. His revenge was not aimed at the west. His revenge was based on his own rejection of his own family.

This nut got a bad review and used it as an excuse to play victim.

Religion DID play a part in that this nutcase used it as an excuse. But the main goal of all of these people is a cry for attention. They couldn't make it by non-violent means, so they did the only cheap thing they could do to make a name for themselves.

Religion is a weapon.

  You have truly left me baffled.  Are you serious ? 

   Get a grip for god's sake. Please.

First of all, Hitler was just a man. He was hardly the epitome of evil. Plenty of people qualify as "worse than Hitler" in my eyes. Which is not to say he was a nice guy.

Second of all, this is hardly a moslem only occurrence. Plenty of people have flipped out in the military and killed their fellow soldiers throughout the centuries. White, black, purple and green. Christian, jew, moslem, and zuesian. Israeli, American, Canadian, and Chinese. No religion, ethnicity, or nation has a monopoly on insanity. Period.

Basically yes. However, you did not mention the fact that Brian would not have been outed as an atheist if not for the Kirk Cameron tie-in.

Well when the troops are on base they are unarmed. I'm guessing the MP's are armed but there probably weren't any around. All weapons are locked up in the armory so by time anyone could get any the shooting would probably be over. No one expects to be shot in their own base on their soil, so you can't blame them for being abit slow to react. When they're in combat they are fully armed and expecting to be shot. When you're on home soil you wouldn't be so alert.

My father(ever the open minded christian) was saying how stupid Americans are for allowing muslims in their army. I support religous freedom, otherwise we are no better than theist dictators. I think the main question is was this a 'jihad' shooting, or was he just sick of everything and snapped? I also have to wonder, if a christian snapped and went on a shooting spree would the story get half this amount of attention?

Hitler was just a man, that is true. And if people hadn't worshiped him like people worship gods, he couldn't have done what he did. But Europe and America after WW1 only have themselves to blame. If Germany had not been left to rot economically Hitler most likely would have just been a nutcase conspiracy theorist handing out pamphlets on a street corner. Hitler worked the same way Kim Jong Ill works, the same mental mind trap that makes god belief work. If someone feeds you, don't bite the hand that feeds you. Problem is if you allow yourself to be lead by the nose, you can most certainly be lead off a cliff. Hitler worked, not because he was sane, he worked because he promised a utopia to people that didn't exist.

I wouldn't say I regard it the same as any other religion. I do think islam to be the most dangerous belief in the world at the moment. And you could say the same thing about christianity.. no one could literally follow the bible and be a functioning member of society.

"Your lack of understanding of islam is clearly why you see islam as no different from any other religion. Pick up the quran, read it, then read a few accompanying books that explain why it's a totalitarian cult not just a religion. You cannot be a good moslem AND a member of a democratic country."

Neither can you be a good christian and a member of a democracy. The only difference is that christians have gone through the "age of enlightenment" with most of the Western hemisphere. Moslems didn't go along for the ride. Ironically an argument can be made that they actually did have their own age, but then the crusades came and fucked it all up.

There is no inherent difference between any of the major religions. They are all dangerous cults.

Brian, I couldn't have said your response to my quote any better myself, and I've tried.

Diversity is the only cure for racism, sexism, and other prejudices. I've lived in two of the four largest cities in Canada: Edmonton and Toronto. Neither had the divisions usually seen in large American cities (railroads, highways, etc.). The diversified populace was well mixed. I didn't even understand what racism was until I learned about it in school.
I later lived in smaller towns, predominantly white, and the difference is staggering. Racism abound. Gay haters, etc. I observe nations and communities with a large percentage of the population is of the same ethnicity, religion, and 'race', and to a T they are much less tolerant of differences.

When cliques are left alone, they simply become more cliquish. Ignorance breeds more ignorance. Living side by side shows that those people aren't as different as you thought they were. The most multicultural city in the world, Toronto, proves that all ethnicities can live in relative peace with each other.
Though FORCING people to do anything is generally a bad idea.

People arn't clones of me! GOD DAMN IT! WHY AM I ALWAYS THE LAST ONE TO KNOW!

"So your positive experience in multicultural Toronto trumps a few thousand years of historical evidence indicating that humans will turn on each other over almost any divisive factor ?   Wow, I'm convinced!"
Evidence is in my favour, not yours. Historically and currently.

"Note to Vastet, move out of your comfortzone.  Go to Watts in Los Angeles or Boyle Heights and walk around with your gleaming white skin.  You will experience an epiphany."

Yeah, way to prove my point about cliques, bring up New York while you're at it. Those cities are more like multiple towns of different ethnicities. You don't have a black guy and a white guy and a asian guy all living next door to each other, you have concentrations of ethnicities. A group of white guys living across the highway from a group of asians across the railway from a group of black guys.

WE, AS A SPECIES, ALL flock to that which is familiar. That is a fact. But it is NOT impossible for overlap or empathy.

If there was a balanced ratio of believers of all sorts, and atheists, in say a convention, just like the high school lunch room, lets not lie to ourselves. How many here would hang out the thumper vs a fellow atheist. BUT if we were jocks or computer nerds and shared that with theists, we would also hang out with them for different reasons.

I have nothing in common as far as belief with my co-workers. HOWEVER, what we do share is a "family" type atmosphere/ We all have great senses of humor. We all know each other's work habits, and as far as I am concerned, they are the best work crew I have ever worked with.

So again, it is not either or. You cant force people to like each other, but at the same time, it is not impossible to find common ground with others.

"Seriously, are you suggesting that you do not feel a type of prejudiceagainst the US ?"

A rational prejudice, much like the one I have against religion. And much like religion, eliminating your stupidity would eliminate my prejudice.

"Truthfully Vastet, if given the choice would you rather live in a neighborhood where all your neighbors are from Houston, Texas or where all your neighbors are from Toronto ? Are you saying it wouldn't matter to you ?"

Texas is too hot for my liking. But if you refer to living beside a bunch of red necks, I already do. I do prefer the multiculturalism, yes. Less racism. It's a lot harder to go around demeaning black people when they're right beside you.

"Canadians, you're the Master "Race" of the Western Hemisphere, eh ?"

Ridiculous in too many ways to count.

The first response got lost somewhere along the way.

"Hunh ? Dude, Watts and Boyle Heights are two different ethnic neighborhoods in the city of Los Angeles.     ....New York"

I figured as much, so I mentioned a city with the same problems.

" Yes those neighborhoodsare separate enclaves based upon ethnicity.  The various people group themselves along race or nationality because that's the way they have always chosen to live. ( y'know like China Town ? Those f**king Chinese racists !  "

More like government intervention. Like slavery, as an example. Immigrants education being ignored for another.

I wasn't referring to you specifically, but to Americans in general. For most of my life almost every time an American mentions Canada it's with a snarky attitude and a load of horseshit. Americans are directly responsible for the first part of my signature. Theists for the rest.
Edit, to add:
Often I can shrug it off, but the longer I experience it the less capable I am of doing so. And if I'm already in a mood, the gloves come off so fast it's like they weren't even there.