Whenever an act of violence makes the news and the perpetrator happens to be a Muslim, the #1 responsibility of law enforcement and the media is to reassure the public that the two things are completely unrelated.
Sure, the guy might’ve written a manifesto outlining how he planned to kill a bunch of people, and yeah, okay, maybe he peppered it with a bunch of “behead the infidels” and “praise Allah” and whatnot. The last time I checked, this was a free country and you were allowed to practice any religion you like. One thing has nothing to do with the other. Total coincidence.
As is this. Rob Parsons and Brianna Calix, Merced Sun-Star:
New details that have emerged about the 18-year-old computer science student who was shot and killed by police after stabbing four people last week at UC Merced have led authorities to hand control of the criminal investigation to campus police and the FBI, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke confirmed…
A law enforcement official, who spoke to the Sun-Star on condition of anonymity, said the information included questions about the manner in which Mohammad was dressed during the Nov. 4 attack and the types of websites he may have visited in the weeks and days before. Additionally, the official said, investigators found a printout of an image of an Islamic State flag among Mohammad’s belongings.
But don’t go jumping to any crazy conclusions, wingnuts:
The significance of the items, and any possible connection to the attack, is unclear and remains under investigation, the official said.
Got that? Unclear. Maybe it’s significant, maybe it isn’t. Maybe there’s a connection, maybe there isn’t. It simply isn’t clear.
Maybe the kid just liked flags. Some folks really get into flags, right? People collect all sorts of nutty things. Would you freak out if he had an ISIS… I dunno, an ISIS bottlecap?
Or maybe he was Googling this and got confused:
Maybe that’s “the manner in which he was dressed.” Maybe that was his Halloween costume, and he forgot to change clothes before he went to class.
I think we should go with that one. He was dressed up as the Mighty Isis, and the other students were making fun of him, and things just got out of hand. It was a regrettable (but understandable) overreaction to transphobia.
Can you prove that’s not what happened, teabaggers?
(Hat tip: Fox News)