I think it’s pretty clear the only reason Hassan’s act was labeled “terrorism” was because he’s Muslim. If he’s a terrorist, why isn’t Adam Lanza? or Seung-Hui Cho? or even Charles Whitman?
Never underestimate the depth of media prejudice.
I’m pretty certain there has never been a shooting at a gun-free school. Unless you’re counting BBs now?
If someone commits mass murder because they are a nut job it’s not terrorism. If they commit mass murder to further political ideology then it’s terrorism. At least in my opinion. But for the most part it doesn’t matter what you call it. Unless the victims are in the military and the designation changes how they are treated by the government.
An update as to what the suspect was being treated for and his military experience.
http://mobile.armytimes.com/article/20140403/NEWS06/304030040
The government hasn’t labeled the shooting spree as an act of terrorism. And you’re discounting his public statements, his testimony in court, and the fact that he communicated by email with a major Al Qaeda figure who had also been in contact with the September 11th hijackers.
The guy had a lot of mental and anger issues.
This is sounding more and more like a typical work place shooting. A disturbed person angry at his bosses and coworkers goes postal. It normally would be a local news story, but the connection to Ft Hood got extra media attention.
Military confirms this tragedy started from an argument.
tv news today said not nuts just angry.
No matter how angry you are, you have to be nuts to do something like he did.
Common usage doesn’t equal legal definition, of course. Yeah, you’d have to be nuts (common usage) to kill someone for…what?..wounded vanity; however, doing that, wounded vanity notwithstanding, may very well not fall under the legal definition of insanity.
Oh, I quite agree. In fact, “wounded vanity” or whatever the shooter was coping with would seem to work in the prosecution’s favor…well, had the coward not offed himself so he wouldn’t have to face the consequences of his actions.