The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Over the weekend, Wade Page, who appears to be a neo-Nazi who listened to music with hate-filled lyrics, entered a Sikh place of worship in Wisconsin and murdered seven people. He was then killed by police. Apparently, law enforcement had been aware of the killer's propensity to violence.
This was a horrible event. Given the killer's background, it's reasonable to infer that he killed these innocent people out of some sort of antisocial animus against a group that was "different." There have been suggestions that he thought he was killing Muslims; if true, this suggests that we're not dealing with the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Now the president weighs in with this bizarre comment: “I think all of us recognize that these kinds of terrible, tragic events are happening with too much regularity for us not to do some soul-searching and to examine additional ways that we can reduce violence."
What precisely does this mean? Major Hasan, Jared Loughner, James Holmes, and now Page have committed multiple murders in the last three years. Hassan was a radical Islamist who killed American soldiers out of a perverse political/religious ideology; heaven only knows what prompted Loughner and Holmes; and Page was a Nazi. None appear to be related to each other in any way.
Why do I (as part of the "we" referred to by the president) need to engage in "soul-searching" over these events? I did that a long time ago. I abhor Islamism. My father fought and was badly wounded by soldiers of the Nazi state. I have not even the slightest animus against Sikhs (what little I do know is that they are a peaceful, accomplished people and that Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina, has a Sikh heritage, a fact that speaks well of them). I am unalterably opposed to randomly shooting members of Congress and the people speaking to them and I have never had the slightest temptation to kill people at the showing of a Batman movie. I even favor concealed carry laws so that we can protect ourselves from these kinds of evil men.
I'm sorry, Mr. President, I didn't commit any of these acts; all of them are morally repugnant; the perpetrators should be tried and punished. I believe that nearly 100 percent of Americans agree with me on this. So please explain why any of us need to search our souls? There are a goodly number of things I should be searching my soul about, but this isn't one of them.
Once we're through our soul-searching exercise, what will we learn? I suggest that it won't be a single thing, because everyone who would go through the exercise of searching their souls on this kind of violence are the kinds of people who would never murder another person. If anyone must search their souls, it would be Major Hasan, Loughner, Holmes, and Page (given his demise, someone may be helping him right now with his soul-searching session).
Mr. President, why is it you insist on collectivizing the guilt? Of the incidents described, the nation is not guilty: there are four people who are guilty. I suggest that they search their souls as the await their fates on death row.
Mr. Obama: why did you not make the same comments after the Fort Hood shootings, and why isn't your government willing to acknowledge a fact that is obvious to a three-year-old: Hasan killed people because he's an Islamist and the victims were American infidels? Did you ask Muslims around the world to "search their souls" about how we can prevent further violence? If you did, I don't remember it.
Finally, why is it that Major Hassan has not been tried? We're well past 2 1/2 years since he killed 13 Americans soldiers.
None of these events requires the citizens of the nation to search their souls. They require speedy justice and punishment commensurate with the crimes.
Is there some reason you are incapable of uttering anything other than meaningless platitudes? Real leaders provide clarity.
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Comments:
Oct '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
We have a Ricochet member (pardon me for forgetting your name, sir) who lives in that town. He wrote yesterday or the day before that the Sikh temple looks nothing like a mosque, that there's a sign declaring that it is a Sikh temple, and furthermore that there is a rather large mosque a short distance away.
Oct '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
tabula rasa:
Hassan was a radical Islamist who killed American soldiers out of a perverse political/religious ideology, heaven only knows what prompted Loughner and Holmes, and Page was a Nazi.
Holmes and Loughner are mentally ill. It really frustrates me that people absolutely refuse to acknowledge this. They committed their horrific acts because they are mentally ill.
Oct '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Obama's call for soul searching annoys me the same way that it annoyed me when Eric Holder said we were a nation of cowards in regards to race.
Jan '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Obama doesn't want all of us to do some soul-searching.
He wants people who own guns to do some soul-searching, but he can't bring himself to say that openly. So he broadens it to everyone.
What does he think is going to happen? Does he expect a regular gun-owner is going to V8 slap his forehead, and exclaim, "Gee, maybe it's the guns that are driving all this violence!"
And in turn, you see what his true attitude is. He thinks that gun owners just haven't reflected enough on the issue, and if they only thought about it, everyone would come to their senses. And that's the adolescent political perspective he lives under, namely that people disagree with him because they simply haven't thought about it properly, or haven't thought enough.
Jun '10
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Albert Arthur
tabula rasa:
Hassan was a radical Islamist who killed American soldiers out of a perverse political/religious ideology, heaven only knows what prompted Loughner and Holmes, and Page was a Nazi.
Holmes and Loughner are mentally ill. It really frustrates me that people absolutely refuse to acknowledge this. They committed their horrific acts because they are mentally ill. · 4 minutes ago
Loughner is deeply, profoundly ill (and probably will never be tried: Ok, that's our system). I'm not sure I know enough about Holmes to reach the same conclusion, but the signs point that direction. Whether he'll be tried is unclear. I'm all for letting justice be done.
But, like you, I'm baffled why this means you and I need to search our souls. I'd like to understand the nature of evil (or illness), but, quirky though I may be, I don't think I'm mentally ill and I try every day to avoid evil acts.
There is something about the liberal/leftist mind that cannot allow an event to stand on its own: it must be collectivized to make it consistent with liberal pieties.
Mar '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Mr. President, I've searched my soul and decided that I want current gun ownership laws enforced to the fullest extent of the law, and I want these criminals prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. I reaffirm that I am now, as I have always been, staunchly against crazy people murdering innocent people.
I also find that like every other non-crazy American, I feel sorrow and sympathy for the dead and injured innocents and their families, and pride in all the police officers who put their lives on the line to end these massacres.
That's all you were suggesting, Mr. President, right?
Jun '12
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
To Whom It May Concern: This post needs to be on the main feed. :)
Jun '10
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
KC Mulville: Obama doesn't want all of us to do some soul-searching.
He wants people who own guns to do some soul-searching, but he can't bring himself to say that openly. So he broadens it to everyone.
What does he think is going to happen? Does he expect a regular gun-owner is going to V8 slap his forehead, and exclaim, "Gee, maybe it's the guns that are driving all this violence!"
As usual, you go right to the real agenda.
I just searched my soul about my 9mm Beretta handgun.
My conclusions: (1) it's really a cool handgun, (2) while Italians don't have a great economy, they are great at high-end sports cars, handguns, and food, (3) this gun has destroyed many targets and soda cans, (4) this gun, safely in its gun safe, has never harmed a human being, and (5) the fact that I own it has nothing to do with any of the massacres.
Two other conclusions are: (1) crazy, hateful people murder other people (and Islamists do it a lot) and (2) we need to do a better job of law enforcement.
Mr. Obama: assignment complete.
Oct '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
tabula rasa
Albert Arthur
tabula rasa:
Loughner is deeply, profoundly ill (and probably will never be tried: Ok, that's our system). I'm not sure I know enough about Holmes to reach the same conclusion, but the signs point that direction. Whether he'll be tried is unclear. I'm all for letting justice be done.
But, like you, I'm baffled why this means you and I need to search our souls. I'd like to understand the nature of evil (or illness), but, quirky though I may be, I don't think I'm mentally ill and I try every day to avoid evil acts.
There is something about the liberal/leftist mind that cannot allow an event to stand on its own: it must be collectivized to make it consistent with liberal pieties. · 13 minutes ago
Yes, I agree to some extent that no souls need to be searched. I do think that public policy towards mental illness needs to be addressed. Homes' psychiatrist was so concerned about him that she broke doctor-patient confidentiality and reported him to the police...who did nothing, probably because they didn't want to get sued by the ACLU.
May '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
My son and I did some soul-searching over the weekend about firearms. We decided we needed to use our guns to help save the planet. I think Obama would be proud. Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKviiyUtgGg
Jun '10
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Albert Arthur
Yes, I agree to some extent that no souls need to be searched. I do think that public policy towards mental illness needs to be addressed. Homes' psychiatrist was so concerned about him that she broke doctor-patient confidentiality and reported him to the police...who did nothing, probably because they didn't want to get sued by the ACLU. · 6 minutes ago
This is a good point. I've been around long enough to have followed the ACLU/leftist campaign for the rights of the institutionalized that resulted in clearing out mental health facilities across the country.
Were there abuses? Yes. It was the government running these institutions, after all. But the result, I am convinced, has been a dramatic increase in human misery (go to the downtown area of any American city and you'll see people with severe mental illness wandering the streets; they're confused, ill-cared for, and often angry).
Bottom line: I think the president wants gun owners to have an epiphany that they should hammer their guns into solar panels, when the national conversation we should be having is about mental illness.
Jan '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Soul searching completed. Findings: if more people would arm themselves (concealed or open-carry) one of two positive outcomes are the likely result -- scumbag deterrence or taking out the scumbag before the death toll increases needlessly.
Jul '12
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
One of the differences between liberal and conservative thought is that liberals believe everyone is basically good and therefore the only reason bad things happen is because of outside pressures, whether they be chemical or social. In this manner they easily dismiss personal guilt in the hands of the perpetrator of these events. It always has to be someone else's fault.
Part of their project is convincing others that personal evil does not exist, it is only society that causes evil behavior.
Edited on August 7, 2012 at 7:03pmDec '11
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Some have said that conservatives believe that liberals are stupid while liberals believe that conservatives are evil. If at least the latter portion is true, then it would follow that we conservatives are in need of soul-searching, in order to rise above our supposedly evil beliefs.
That the grief and guilt must be collective is in perfect alignment with the progressive tendency to replace personal responsibility and accountability with entitlement and victimization: "It's not Loughner's fault ... it's our fault! We made him this way. He's a victim of a [fill-in-the-blank] culture that concentrates power in the hands of [insert corporate villains du jour here]."
The bigger question is why do so many Americans fall for this ... er ... stuff?
Jun '12
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
I concur.
Jun '12
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Lack of education in critical thinking.
Jun '10
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Superb post, TR. Thanks for assembling my thoughts exactly into a cogent essay.
May '12
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Obama rarely says outright what he means, except when there is no telemprompter and 'spread the wealth around' and 'you didn't build that, somebody else did...' comes out.
When he said we need to do some soul searching he is asking us to question why do we have and revere the 2nd Amendment. If he can find a way to start a debate about its repeal or blessing his ignoring it, he will take that shot.
May '12
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
A key tenant of progressives is to impart their policies on free individuals via those same free individuals guilt. Examples:
1. There are people in the world who have less food/clothing/wealth, etc. than you so progressives are doing you a favor by confiscating your property (taxes) and distributing it as they see fit. How can you possibly drive that new car, eat out, etc. and be OK with that unless progressives take a good portion of your earnings and streamline the opportunity to relieve you of your guilt.
2. Progressives believe guns are the cause of mass murder and we should feel guilty that others are dead and we are alive . Progressives will comfort our guilt by repealing the 2nd Amendment and confiscating our guns for us so we won't feel bad that we weren't killed.
We Americans are generous and compassionate. If a progressive can lay a guilt trip on us so we will cede our property and liberty for them to help 'save us from ourselves' - game on.
Jun '10
Re: The Sikh Massacre: Obama Collectivizes the Guilt
Time spent in your soul-searching? +/- 45 seconds?