Awful responses to the Boston Bombings: a roundup
As a blog that’s about 4/5th or so out of Boston, NPS is closely feeling the impact of today’s tragedy. And as the only contributor not from the area, I’m extraordinarily thankful that all my friends are safe. The aftermath is horrifying (warning, lot’s of blood), and our sincerest well-wishes and compassionate thoughts are extended to everyone affected by what happened today. We encourage readers to help any way that they can.
Even though tragedies can often serve to bring people together in a time of crises, showcasing human sentiment at it’s best, there are the predictable and depressing responses—conspiracy extraordinaire Alex Jones has been blaming the government for the attacks, and the Westboro Baptist Church has blamed homosexuality (to everyone’s disappointment but no ones’ surprise).
But more mainstream voices are already finding a way to blame Islam and Muslims for the tragedy. A weakly sourced and as-of-yet unconfirmed report from the New York Post claims that a Saudi Arabian National is responsible for the explosions that killed at least two and injured dozens more. This report which as of now resembles little more than rumor-mongering has already been seized up by the regular cast of bigoted voices.
Anti-friend of the blog, Pamela Geller, has already taken to her blog and Twitter to blame Muslims. Salon reports:
In [Geller's] take, the alleged suspect becomes a “Jihadi” and there isn’t any doubt in Geller’s mind that he did it. She wrote on her blog, Atlas Shrugs under the headline, “Jihadi Arrested in Horrific Boston Marathon Bombing:”
“Jihad in America. 12 dead, 50 injured. My deepest condolences to their loved ones. Monstrous.”
On Twitter, she elaborated on her certainty about the attack and shamed those who dare doubt her. “Blood on your hands,” she tweeted at Eli Clifton of the American Independent News Network, who responded to her tweet. “Shame on you, carrying water for murderers,” she said to a human rights law student. “Another spokesman for killers,” she responded to another. “‘Holy war’ means dead people,” she added. “Savages,” she said to another, by way of explanation.
Even more horrifyingly, a frequent Fox News contributor Erik Rush tweeted that “Yes, [Muslims are] evil. Let’s kill them all.”
Comments like these are depressingly common, and in light of the general climate towards Mulsims in this country, I am even more unsure how an otherwise smart man like Sam Harris can tell Glenn Greenwald that:
There is no such thing as “Islamophobia.” This is a term of propaganda designed to protect Islam from the forces of secularism by conflating all criticism of it with racism and xenophobia. And it is doing its job, because people like you have been taken in by it.
Criticism of Islam and responses towards Muslims are often very much racist and xenophobic, and to deny that it exists because it may—at times—be overstretched to categorize criticisms of Islam that Harris (may deem to be) appropriate does little more than make life harder for Muslims who face regular discrimination and bigotry because of their religion or race.
The facts are still coming in, and it’s too early to tell whether the government, gays, or Muslims are responsible for what happened today. But it’s not too early to note that where we leap, and how quickly we buy it, can speak volumes about our biases.
Update 10:36 AM: Thanks to reader and friend-of-the-blog Andreas Rekdal for pointing out that the New York Post’s report about the Saudi National “suspect” has been disconfirmed. Gawker writes:
The “Saudi national” touted by the New York Post (among others) as a suspect all day yesterday is a student who is fully cooperating with police and denying all involvement. He has a clean record, and suffered burn injuries during the explosion. According to CBS News’ John Miller, the man was tackled by a civilian because he was “acting suspiciously” and, uh, running away from the explosion.
Vlad Chituc is a lab manager and research assistant in a social neuroscience lab at Duke University. As an undergraduate at Yale, he was the president of the campus branch of the Secular Student Alliance, where he tried to be smarter about religion and drink PBR, only occasionally at the same time. He cares about morality and thinks philosophy is important. He is also someone that you can follow on twitter.
