Joy-Ann Reid broadens what most would call terrorism
What is terrorism? When do we call an event terrorism. Joy-Ann Reid explains why it is necessary to get the terminology right.
“You cannot define terrorism by the religious sect of the killer,” Joy-Ann Reid said. “Not by the act and by the fact of the terror that is involved in the act. So.. And we have a huge problem when people who are just as terrorized at a Planned Parenthood clinic don’t get the moniker. It is not that the moniker brings back the dead. It is that the policy response is different when you are talking about terrorism. The Timothy McVeigh attack on the [Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building] was actually terrorism despite the fact that he was not a Muslim. It is possible for terrorism to take place if it is the Klan who are professed Christians, if it is an anti-abortion terrorist. It is all terrorism.”
Understanding what Joy-Ann Reid is trying to get across is more important than just her words. When the attack in San Bernardino on the Inland Regional Center occurred, there was a discernible shift in the coverage when it was realized that the perpetrators were Muslim. Nothing about the vile act changed. Just the realization of who the perpetrators were. The fear became a fear with a string of hate for not just the perpetrators but a people of a particular religion. Muslims.
This is dangerous for two distinct reasons. The first, when any group feels under attack, some within that group who would otherwise just go on with life as usual, act out sometimes with violence. It has happened with people of all religions, cultures, ethnicities, and races. Secondly, it causes one to take ones eyes off of the real problems. The problem with mass killings in America has very little to do with Islamic terrorism. It has much more to do with the availability of guns and the destruction of the social fabric brought on by a society whose economic system is creating a rot from within. Fix our easy access to weapons of mass destruction (many types of guns) and fix our economic system where everyone’s real worth can be realized and we will have a fixed America.