Insanity and Hate in the Face of Tragedy

ISSUE FIVE, MERRITT SKIDMORE-HESS “Micah ben Daniel” מריט סקידמר-הס “מיכה בן דניאל”

“Regardless of the results of the investigation it is important that we as a people do not repeat the mistakes of the past, where we as nation have harassed Muslims, Arabs, and people who we thought looked like the former groups as a result of the World Trade Center Attack. We must not allow our tragedy to be used for insanity and hate.”

It has been only three days since the Boston Marathon Explosion and the sickness has already begun. It is a sickness of the irrational and a sickness of hate. Just one day after the attack news broke that a college aged Saudi Arabian man was taken in for questioning[1] and in no time at all you had cable news harassing his roommate, Hassan Bada, over the supposed guilt of his roommate.[2] It should be noted that Hassan Bada’s roommate was also treated for injuries from the blast. In more blatant examples of bigotry there is Pamela Geller who has already begun to use the story of the Saudi questioning on her campaign of anti-Islamic bigotry[3] to promote the idea of an Islamic link [4] long before all the facts of the investigation are in. In addition to Geller there is also Erik Rush who stated on twitter among other things that all Muslims should be killed. Later he followed this statement that he was being sarcastic, but then added “It’s nice to see all the Islamist apologists standing up for those who would waste them in a heartbeat.”[5] He is also the author of such lovely articles such as “Yes, Islam is an Enemy”[6] in which he claims that Muslims cannot be part of American society because they are bigoted and gives a misleading account of Islamic theology. He has continued to use his twitter using such eloquent quotes such as “Islam had been killing, raping, and enslaving for hundreds of years before America even came into being” and “The history of Islam, and why the notion of “peaceful Muslims” is a LIE”[7] to promote a bigoted film on YouTube.[8] Regardless of the results of the investigation it is important that we as a people do not repeat the mistakes of the past, where we as nation have harassed Muslims, Arabs, and people who we thought looked like the former groups as a result of the World Trade Center Attack. We must not allow our tragedy to be used for insanity and hate.