All right contestants, you all know the rules. We’ll give you a series of clues about a famous person. When you think you know who he or she is, press your button. The first person to buzz in and correctly name our Mystery Guest wins the big prize. You get only one guess so be careful.
(Just in case you get stuck, there’s a picture of our Mystery Guest at the bottom of this story. No fair peeking!)
Johnny, tell our contestants about today’s Mystery Guest…
“Well, Lloyd, our guest is best known for…”
Being a loner
Voicing paranoid delusions
Receiving poor performance evaluations at work
Having zealous, often bizarre, religious views
Advocating that others with similar views be allowed to leave the military as conscientious objectors
Delivering a diatribe about heretics during what was supposed to be a medical lecture
Writing that suicide bombers were “sacrificing themselves to a more noble cause”
Maintaining close contact with a clergyman known to advocate terrorism
Attending a religious facility also frequented by two previously-identified mass murderers
Attempting to make direct contact with an internationally-known terrorist organization
Accusing returning combat soldiers of war crimes
Violating doctor-patient confidentiality by attempting to have soldiers prosecuted for war crimes based on things told him in confidence
Didn’t take you long to recognize the profile of Major Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood mass murderer, did it? Remember, every one of the clues above was known weeks, months, or even years before Hasan murdered 13 people and injured 30 others.
Now Congress is wringing its collective hands, grilling everyone in sight, asking “How could you miss these portentious signs?” “How could you allow this obviously unbalanced individual to hold a position of trust and responsibility?” “How could you be so stupid?”
Well, Mr. Chairman, the answer is simple and it’s largely your fault.
Over the past fifty years we Americans have been subjected to the kind of psychological conditioning that allowed Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood assassin, to stand in our midst while no one dared say a thing.
We have been conditioned by our schools, our employers, and, most importantly, our politicians and courts to avoid drawing conclusions about persons around us who were “different.”
Such behavior is offensive. It constitutes prejudice or “profiling.”
To even hint that there might be something wrong, or potentially dangerous, about a person whose race, creed, color, religious, or sexual orientation is out of the mainstream can place our jobs, our reputations, and possibly even our freedom at jeopardy. We likely will be labeled a racist and bigot, and may find ourselves being sent to a re-education camp. Well, here we call it Sensitivity Training.
“The American military and especially the Federal Bureau of Investigation were in great part inattentive because they were too sensitive.”
The Wall Street Journal
Everyone who knew this guy had concerns, if not outright suspicions, but dared not say a thing.
Notice that in none of the clues given above is Maj Hasan’s ethnic (Palestinian) or religious (Muslim) background mentioned. The profile above should have brought significant scrutiny on any individual, particularly an officer psychiatrist in the US Army.
Why didn’t it? Because Hasan wasn’t a white Christian.
Sen Susan Collins, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says “It appears we did have a failure to share critical information and a failure to ask critical questions. It reminds me very much of the siloed information that was available throughout the federal government in different agencies before 9/11.”
Wrong Sue. It wasn’t a problem of “siloed information” (that’s govspeak for people not talking to one another). Almost no one said anything about Hasan because they didn’t want to have to put up with bullshit accusations of profiling, prejudice, and political correctness.
US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan
Had anyone raised serious doubts about his fitness, Hasan immediately would have played the race and religion cards. His accuser would face far more serious consequences than would Hasan. Just because someone is ‘of color’ or holds different religious views or has a different sexual orientation does not make him a potential criminal; but neither should he get a free pass just for being “different.” Hasan’s profile should have drawn suspicion on a Catholic, Mormon, or Methodist from Cedar Rapids.
One good piece of news: Maj Hasan apparently is paralyzed from the waist down and will likely never walk again.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 8:25 AM and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Profiling, Prejudice, and Political Correctness
Will todays Mystery Guest please sign in…
All right contestants, you all know the rules. We’ll give you a series of clues about a famous person. When you think you know who he or she is, press your button. The first person to buzz in and correctly name our Mystery Guest wins the big prize. You get only one guess so be careful.
(Just in case you get stuck, there’s a picture of our Mystery Guest at the bottom of this story. No fair peeking!)
Johnny, tell our contestants about today’s Mystery Guest…
“Well, Lloyd, our guest is best known for…”
Didn’t take you long to recognize the profile of Major Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood mass murderer, did it? Remember, every one of the clues above was known weeks, months, or even years before Hasan murdered 13 people and injured 30 others.
Now Congress is wringing its collective hands, grilling everyone in sight, asking “How could you miss these portentious signs?” “How could you allow this obviously unbalanced individual to hold a position of trust and responsibility?” “How could you be so stupid?”
Well, Mr. Chairman, the answer is simple and it’s largely your fault.
Over the past fifty years we Americans have been subjected to the kind of psychological conditioning that allowed Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood assassin, to stand in our midst while no one dared say a thing.
We have been conditioned by our schools, our employers, and, most importantly, our politicians and courts to avoid drawing conclusions about persons around us who were “different.”
Such behavior is offensive. It constitutes prejudice or “profiling.”
To even hint that there might be something wrong, or potentially dangerous, about a person whose race, creed, color, religious, or sexual orientation is out of the mainstream can place our jobs, our reputations, and possibly even our freedom at jeopardy. We likely will be labeled a racist and bigot, and may find ourselves being sent to a re-education camp. Well, here we call it Sensitivity Training.
The Wall Street Journal
Everyone who knew this guy had concerns, if not outright suspicions, but dared not say a thing.
Notice that in none of the clues given above is Maj Hasan’s ethnic (Palestinian) or religious (Muslim) background mentioned. The profile above should have brought significant scrutiny on any individual, particularly an officer psychiatrist in the US Army.
Why didn’t it? Because Hasan wasn’t a white Christian.
Sen Susan Collins, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says “It appears we did have a failure to share critical information and a failure to ask critical questions. It reminds me very much of the siloed information that was available throughout the federal government in different agencies before 9/11.”
Wrong Sue. It wasn’t a problem of “siloed information” (that’s govspeak for people not talking to one another). Almost no one said anything about Hasan because they didn’t want to have to put up with bullshit accusations of profiling, prejudice, and political correctness.
US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan
Had anyone raised serious doubts about his fitness, Hasan immediately would have played the race and religion cards. His accuser would face far more serious consequences than would Hasan. Just because someone is ‘of color’ or holds different religious views or has a different sexual orientation does not make him a potential criminal; but neither should he get a free pass just for being “different.” Hasan’s profile should have drawn suspicion on a Catholic, Mormon, or Methodist from Cedar Rapids.
One good piece of news: Maj Hasan apparently is paralyzed from the waist down and will likely never walk again.
Like this:
This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 8:25 AM and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.