Looking at some of the mass shootings that have occurred recently in the United States has left me scratching my head. The latest atrocity occurring in San Bernardino is even more puzzling two Muslims one a foreign national in the US on a visa and both attired in body armor and possessing pipe bombs is a real poser. If this is an act of terrorism per se which seems unlikely then one has to wonder what was the goal? One might suppose that in light of the Syrian refugee talk that is occurring throughout officialdom that once again immigration the issuance of visas and the like is certainly going to continue to be a topic of discussion in the political sphere.
The San Bernardino shooters were also a husband and wife team unusual to find that it's not a lone nut but dual nuts. Of course this is not the first time we have seen a couple engaged in this activity together. Just last year we had the shooting in Las Vegas by Jared Miller and his wife. Some of the conclusions presented by the official investigation had it that they viewed the police as an oppressive Nazi like force. If the official story is to be believed then the Las Vegas shooting can be seen as broadly anti-government. Amazingly with some equanimity (not really) the police don't go quite so far as to call the Las Vegas couple Nazi or white supremacist although it's clear they wanted to, that can be concluded simply by virtue of the fact that they mention them not being either of those two things. In the case of San Bernardino so far there is little evidence of motive in this case but we should watch closely at what motive is eventually brought forward. If there is a distinct anti-government motive brought forward by the official investigation one then can wonder if there might be some connection between this couple and the couple in Las Vegas last year.
Mr Farook in San Bernardino is a natural born US citizen but his wife is here on a visa from Pakistan this certainly complicates the issue as to whether there any wider terrorist implications. I believe that there is at once a great desire among certain people to label any act involving anyone who is Muslim to be ipso facto terrorism and there is a distinct criticism launched against Obama and the current administration that he will label nothing terrorism and instead labels it workplace violence like the Fort Hood shooting. Without certainty as to whether they represent acts of broader terrorism or workplace violence or possibly other motives.
Of course there is the question of Islam and the nature of that faith in relation to the actions of those that say they are acting in accord with it. I think when you look at all major western religions you see a history of atrocious acts supposedly done in the name of the faith. Therefore it is perhaps better to say that Islam is a religion, Christianity and Islam both have histories of violence and atrocities, therefore Islam is bad but because it is a religion and not for its particular brand. One thing that might make Islam unique is that it has what we are told is an almost open war between two factions. However, Christianity had schisms that resulted in violence, is Islam unique then? Does the actions of any Christians call us to question the religion they follow? I'd imagine that the majority of prisoners in the US would identify as Christian of one type or another. Is that a good reason to question what Christianity is all about? So the question is; is Islam any worse or better than any other religion in relation to the actions of those who belong?
One of the things that typically makes it into the headlines and becomes a new political hot potato in the wake of these mass shootings is of course gun control. The right wing spin masters have been eager to label Obama as a "gun grabber " because that's what they like to do to people they have been told are leftist commies ( never mind the truth which clearly shows that Obama is well right of center in nearly every policy category and has been completely unsuccessful in trying to enact new gun control policies, indicative to me that it's just a perfunctory action on his part to talk about it in the first place). None the less the Alex Jones crowd will eagerly jump on this once again in a futile effort to label him as a Marxist destroyer of America, of course being completely blind to the truth that he is a corporate and Wall Street slave whose business is to enrich the oligarchy the banks and multinational corporations while continuing to stomp a boot on everybody else in this country particularly all of the lower classes. His record is quite clear for anybody who is not a lunatic.
There is also the fear mongering surrounding such shootings particularly with people who have foreign sounding names like in the case of San Bernardino that these individuals are working for the nefarious and deadly international conspiracy that is Isis. So we need to ask ourselves how likely it is that we are really potential victims of the terrorist activities of the group that is known as Isis. If one were to look at the FBI's record when it comes to thwarting plots by what they represent as terrorists we should feel quite safe, if we ignored the fact that in nearly every case the FBI instigated the actor to engage in his attempted terrorist act somewhere along the line. The fact that the FBI and intelligence agencies have a hand in instigating so-called terrorists, going so far as to supply materials and money to the suspected terrorists to help them with their plots means that we can have no true accounting of just how dangerous things are for us in this country when it comes to terrorists of the ISIS variety. I'm not going to digress into an analysis of exactly what Isis is here.
So we have official government agencies engaged in helping perpetrators of what is to be regarded as terrorist acts and in almost every case they have been following these people well before they reached the point of action then we can have no certainty as to whether any terrorist acts would occur in this country if it were not for that interference and instigation.
For my part I am NOT concerned at all that I will be the victim of any terrorist act by anybody who is unequivocally associated with Isis or any other terrorist group. I will not be living in fear of a dreaded Muslim attacker taking out my workplace or an official government function that I might happen to be attending or even a theater a shopping mall or a grocery store or out on the street. I'll not be concerned about someone coming to grab my guns either. It's not part of the agenda. Selling fear certainly is part of the agenda and one thing we all can do to not fall prey to it is to really take a moment to examine the situation and guage just how likely it is for you to become a victim.
