'Going Muslim'

[akv]

'Going Muslim'

Tunku Varadarajan, FORBES11.09.09, 12:00 AM EST
America after Fort Hood.

The difference between "going postal," in the conventional sense, and "going Muslim," in the sense that I suggest, is that there would not necessarily be a psychological "snapping" point in the case of the imminently violent Muslim; instead, there could be a calculated discarding of camouflage--the camouflage of integration--in an act of revelatory catharsis. In spite of suggestions by some who know him that he had a history of "harassment" as a Muslim in the army, Maj. Hasan did not "snap" in the "postal" manner. He gave away his possessions on the morning of his day of murder. He even gave away--to a neighbor--a packet of frozen broccoli that he did not wish to see go to waste, even as he mapped in his mind the laying waste of lives at Fort Hood. His was a meticulous, even punctilious "departure."

We are a civilized society. One of our cardinal rules of coexistence is that we (try always to) judge people only by their actions and not by their identity, whether racial, religious or sexual. This is our great strength as a society, and also, in the present circumstances, our great weakness: How to address the threat posed by the fact that, of the hundreds of thousands of Muslims in our midst, there are a few (perhaps many more than a few) who are so radicalized that they would kill their fellow Americans? Must we continue to be neutral in handling all people from different groups even though we know that there are differential risks posed by people of one group? The problem here is a heightened version of the airport security problem, where we check all people--including Chinese grandmothers--regardless of risk profiles. But can we afford that on a grand, national scale? (And I mean that question not merely in a financial sense, but also in terms of the price we'd pay in failing to detect a threat in time.)

This being America, we will insist on going a long way to preserve the appearance of equality, and that is no bad thing in terms of moral principle. But like all values, the appearance of equality is not infinite in its appeal--especially if it flies in the face of common sense and self-preservation. A short time after the shootings at Fort Hood, President Obama asked us not to jump to conclusions. To many Americans, this was a grating request, of a piece with the political correctness that was responsible--it has emerged--for the hands-off treatment by the Army of Maj. Hasan. How else could he have been left in the position of treating U.S. troops, given the stories we've now heard about his incendiary statements and apparent incompetence?

This is the same mindset that led the FBI to deny the possibility that the Fort Hood massacre was linked to terrorism even before they could have had any idea that was the case. We don't have to be paranoid about Arab males; we just have to avoid the opposite: Being fearful of coming across as Islamophobic, and thereby failing to look straight at a situation.

This is part of a larger--and too-hot-to-touch--American problem, which is the privileging of religion, and its frequent exemption from rules of normal discourse. Muslims may be more extreme because their religion is founded on bellicose conquest, a contempt for infidels and an obligation for piety that is more extensive than in other schemes. President Obama was as craven as a community college diversity vice-president when he said that no one should jump to conclusions. Everyone did, and he lost credibility with people who cannot stand civic piety in the face of the murderous kind.

Muslims are the most difficult "incomers" in the ongoing integration challenge, which America has always handled with pride--and a kind of swagger. We're the salad bowl/melting pot. Drive through Queens to see how we do this.

America differentiates itself on integration from Western European countries, which are far more cringing and guilt-driven in their approach. But can the American swagger persist if many Americans come genuinely to view Muslims as Fifth Columnists? The integration compact depends on a broad trust that the immigrant's desire to be American can happily co-exist with his other forms of racial/cultural/religious identity. Once that trust doesn't exist, America faces a problem in need of urgent resolution.

Have we reached that point of breakdown in trust? Not yet, I think, and not by some distance; but a few more murderous incidents of the Maj. Hasan variety--a few more shouts of "Allahu Akbar" as Americans are shot dead--will push many Americans on to a dangerous cusp.

I will end on a practical note. The PC--political correctness--problem is an obvious and thorny issue that the U.S. Army, at least, has to tackle. The Army had a self-identified Islamic fundamentalist in its midst, blogging about suicide bombings and telling everyone he hated the Army's mission; and yet, they did, or could do, nothing about it. In effect, the "don't-jump-to-conclusions" mentality was underway long before this man killed his colleagues.

So, first, it should be part of the mandatory duty of every member of the armed forces to report any remarks or behavior of fellow service members that could be construed as indicating unfitness for duty for any reason.

Second, there should be a duty to report such data up the chain of command, regardless of the assessment of the local commander.

Third, there should be a single high-level Pentagon or army department that follows all such cases in real time, whether the potential ground for alarm is sympathy with white supremacism, radical Islamism, endorsement of suicide bombing or simple mental unfitness.

Let the first lesson of the Hasan atrocity be this: The U.S. Army has to be a PC-free zone. Our democracy and our way of life depend on it.

Tunku Varadarajan, a professor at NYU's Stern Business School and a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/08/for...radarajan.html

[Dirt Gallo]

PC-free zone....if only.

I remember the very first 'Sergeant's Time' I took part in when I first arrived to permanent party. It was a vulgar language class. Following that, despite the many grumblings of the NCO's who realized there were many more valuable things to focus on, we attended many versions of sexual harassment, hate crimes, gang violence, etc classes. Attending some hip-pocket training of any sort of a tactical nature was a rarity.

This was 14 yrs ago....

I have not been on duty at any Active Duty installations for quite some time. Can any of the full-timers tell me how this evironment has changed over the last decade or so?

I hope it hasn't gotten any worse.

[afchic]

Originally Posted by Dirt Gallo

PC-free zone....if only.

I remember the very first 'Sergeant's Time' I took part in when I first arrived to permanent party. It was a vulgar language class. Following that, despite the many grumblings of the NCO's who realized there were many more valuable things to focus on, we attended many versions of sexual harassment, hate crimes, gang violence, etc classes. Attending some hip-pocket training of any sort of a tactical nature was a rarity.

This was 14 yrs ago....

I have not been on duty at any Active Duty installations for quite some time. Can any of the full-timers tell me how this evironment has changed over the last decade or so?

I hope it hasn't gotten any worse.

Gotten worse..... Now we have mandatory Sexual Harrassment Training, Suicide Prevention Training, be nice to women because they can screw up your career training, don't look at me funny because it will hurt my feelings training... You name it, we have training for it.

[Sigaba]

Given Mr. Varadarajan's odd take on Western history and the Armenian Genocide (source is here), it is difficult to take seriously his opinions on "political correctness," the proper balance between liberty and safety, and how the American armed services should maintain good order and discipline by insisting that "every member of the armed forces to report any remarks or behavior of fellow service members that could be construed as indicating unfitness for duty for any reason."

YMMV.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

Given Mr. Varadarajan's odd take on Western history and the Armenian Genocide (source is here), it is difficult to take seriously his opinions on "political correctness," the proper balance between liberty and safety, and how the American armed services should maintain good order and discipline by insisting that "every member of the armed forces to report any remarks or behavior of fellow service members that could be construed as indicating unfitness for duty for any reason."

YMMV.

I remember a few years back an E-4 from the 82nd got tatted up with swastikas, started acting strangely, and hung a Nazi battle flag on his barracks wall. His chain of command saw it, but ignored it. Eventually, he and another soldier went out and did a drive-by shooting of a black couple.

This led the Army to require all soldiers to be physically inspected for extremist tattoos, and to sit through training that emphasized the rapid reporting of extremist activity.

I wonder why Hasan was cut extra slack for his extremist activity and was not reported (or action taken) sooner. Could it be Islamic extremism, or other forms, are not viewed as the same as white extremism?

Hmm.

TR

[Richard]

Sounds like a job for HUAC. I think I'll go reread "The Crucible" - it's been awhile.

Richard

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I remember a few years back an E-4 from the 82nd got tatted up with swastikas, started acting strangely, and hung a Nazi battle flag on his barracks wall. His chain of command saw it, but ignored it. Eventually, he and another soldier went out and did a drive-by shooting of a black couple.

This led the Army to require all soldiers to be physically inspected for extremist tattoos, and to sit through training that emphasized the rapid reporting of extremist activity.

I wonder why Hasan was cut extra slack for his extremist activity and was not reported (or action taken) sooner. Could it be Islamic extremism, or other forms, are not viewed as the same as white extremism?

Hmm.

TR

TR--

My focus is on the blanket statement "any remarks or behavior that could be construed as indicating unfitness for duty for any reason."

If the armed services decide that existing guidelines need significant revision, that's one thing. MOO, what Mr. Varadarajan is suggesting sounds like something entirely different. I'm much more comfortable with armed service professionals leading the process of developing options on how to deal with these types of situations in the future than with civilians telling soldiers "Do it this way."

[LongWire]

Could and probably will be misconstrued as religious freedom gone wrong.

One mans religious freedom is another's religious extremism. (muslim extremism)

[LongWire]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

This led the Army to require all soldiers to be physically inspected for extremist tattoos, and to sit through training that emphasized the rapid reporting of extremist activity.

TR

Can hardly wait for the classes on this one, so that I can closely monitor all of my muslim buddies, to look for the first warning signs of SJS. I thought that the last Sexual Harassment class was bad enough, the next stage performance ought to be a real hoot!!!

[Dirt Gallo]

I remember that wave of classes, TR. I had just asked a tattoo artist aquaintance of mine to draw up a nice Celtic cross which I had place on my forearm. Soon after, I sat in said class up at Division. The Division EO rep was the one conducting the class. All it took to find myself in the hot seat was me raising my hand to ask a question, when he noticed my tat. I found myself locked up in the far back corner of the room with him, my squad leader, and platoon SGT all nailing me. Only upon looking at the class hand-out closer did I realize that my new tat, with some alterations, could pass for about 5-6 different skinhead groups being brought to the light in that class.

Going through this minor inconvience, I endorse the fact that individuals who bring attention to themselves undergo further scrutiny of the authorities that are looking for them. The community we volunteered to live in, and uphold, requires some to take on the role of watchdog...even among the sheepdogs. If you truly have nothing to worry about, and the system is working correctly, it will be nothing more than a pain the ass. Better that than have your ass being blow off when all you expected was an updated shot record.

This came off kinda preachy, but, I think it came out the way I wanted it to....pardon me if it is misunderstood.