Quote:
Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
We only doubt peoples' word in this specific context. If a guy is murdered in his home, and his neighbour says he did it because he wanted to steal his money, or because he hated the guy, we don't doubt them for a moment. When a right-wing facist kills a black guy and says he did it for the glory of his race, we don't doubt him. When an evangelical blows an abortion doctor's head off with a shotgun, we don't doubt his motivations. Just here.
Now, maybe he was crazy, or a schizo. We don't know that. If the evidence comes out that that's the case, that there's good reason to disbelieve what his own account of his reasons are, that's one thing. But there's none. We have a guy who says he killed people in support of the Caliphate. The Caliphate endorses his actions in their name. This is one of the things they do - try to inspire lone-wolf attacks. They explicitly CALLED for those attacks during Ramadan this month, for believers to take matters into their own hands on US soil.
If there's a psychological failing here it's the refusal to accept what's right in front of you.
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I'm willing to accept whatever the reason is... once it's proven. Not enough is known about this case at this time to draw any conclusions regarding motive either way IMO. He said some crap, he killed some people. That's all we know for now.
I do agree though, many people don't want to accept that religion, Islam in particular, could make someone do something like this, despite the fact that murdering in the name of religion has defined humanity for millennia. Maybe defined is the wrong word, but violence and religion have been part and parcel for so long that this shouldn't really surprise anyone. I guess the difference is that Christianity has *mostly* outgrown it's barbarism whereas Islam is still an unruly teenager as far as major religions go. People hear about it this kind of violence so often, and it is so hard to relate to as a westerner, that it can be eaiser for proclaim that they are all just crazy psychos. Obviously there is more nuance to it than that but the average person doesn't put a tremendous amount of thought into stuff like this. They get outraged and then they move on with their lives.
For whatever reason, Muslims aren't given the same benefit of the doubt that, say a Christian would. Some people say "it's just an excuse, they're just psychopaths", but I'm not sure how wide spread that line of thinking really is. It doesn't mean this guy wasn't crazy though.