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[/column] A man identified as Alton Nolen ran into his workplace Sept. 25 in Moore, Okla. He killed a 54-year-old woman, beheading her using a knife. This horrific act of violence was continually covered by the media for more than two weeks. According to the New York Times, “He recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.” This one statement changes the story entirely. Now, we think of him as a terrorist who killed a woman and injured another man because he is Muslim. We don’t think of him as a troubled being who had been fired from the company and then committed a heinous crime. Since 9/11, if any Muslim commits any act of violence at all, the press reports it in a way that ties the violence to Islam whether it is related to religion or not. Anyone who reads the news every few days would know about this Oklahoma man, but almost no one knows about what happened just three weeks before in Britain. On Sept. 4 a 25-year-old man beheaded an 82-year-old woman in London. The event was covered for just a few hours and then the media went silent about it. In fact, not even the name of the man who committed this act of violence was released. A BBC article published on the same day quoted John Sandlin, detective chief inspector, saying, “Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was, I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related.” Of course he isn’t a terrorist. He isn’t Muslim. But when Nolen committed the same crime, the media immediately pointed fingers at Islam, trying to put the blame on the religion of the man and not on the man himself. It was not only the media that tried to tie Nolan to “Islamic” terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Our very own FBI was immediately on the case, attempting to find a tie between Nolen and Islamic State. No one even attempted to find a relationship between the 25-year-old British man and IS because doing so is ridiculous. People commit violence; and most who kill do not do so because they are part of a terrorist organization. Murder existed before Al-Qaeda and IS and will continue to exist after they are gone. How about the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, the man who attempted to kill Jewish people in a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and instead killed two Christian men, a 14-year-old and his grandfather. His motives were clearly based on the way he interprets his religion, Christianity. However, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement about the incident, saying, “It is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime.” According to the New York Times, “The police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the attacks were a hate crime.” After the shooting, he yelled the phrase, “Heil Hitler,” but it is still not a hate crime according to the police. In Nolan’s case, people immediately began saying he is part of IS and is a Muslim extremist. When it came to Cross, people began defending him by saying that he did not commit a hate crime. With the British man who was never named, people just stopped talking about him. This double standard is unacceptable. Cross’s hate of Jewish people and his rampant white supremacy motivated his violence, so he committed an act of terror. On the other hand, as the facts stand now, it was not religion but that he had recently been fired which motivated Nolan. Cross actually committed an act of terrorism, while Nolan did not. Before making blanket statements about acts of terrorism, one must read the case and look up the facts to see what happened and whether or not the person was motivated by a bigger cause. Only then can we truly be a just nation.
By Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi
art by Maddy Mueller
A man identified as Alton Nolen ran into his workplace Sept. 25 in Moore, Okla. He killed a 54-year-old woman, beheading her using a knife. This horrific act of violence was continually covered by the media for more than two weeks. According to the New York Times, “He recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.” This one statement changes the story entirely. Now, we think of him as a terrorist who killed a woman and injured another man because he is Muslim. We don’t think of him as a troubled being who had been fired from the company and then committed a heinous crime. Since 9/11, if any Muslim commits any act of violence at all, the press reports it in a way that ties the violence to Islam whether it is related to religion or not. Anyone who reads the news every few days would know about this Oklahoma man, but almost no one knows about what happened just three weeks before in Britain. On Sept. 4 a 25-year-old man beheaded an 82-year-old woman in London. The event was covered for just a few hours and then the media went silent about it. In fact, not even the name of the man who committed this act of violence was released. A BBC article published on the same day quoted John Sandlin, detective chief inspector, saying, “Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was, I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related.” Of course he isn’t a terrorist. He isn’t Muslim. But when Nolen committed the same crime, the media immediately pointed fingers at Islam, trying to put the blame on the religion of the man and not on the man himself. It was not only the media that tried to tie Nolan to “Islamic” terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Our very own FBI was immediately on the case, attempting to find a tie between Nolen and Islamic State. No one even attempted to find a relationship between the 25-year-old British man and IS because doing so is ridiculous. People commit violence; and most who kill do not do so because they are part of a terrorist organization. Murder existed before Al-Qaeda and IS and will continue to exist after they are gone. How about the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, the man who attempted to kill Jewish people in a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and instead killed two Christian men, a 14-year-old and his grandfather. His motives were clearly based on the way he interprets his religion, Christianity. However, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement about the incident, saying, “It is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime.” According to the New York Times, “The police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the attacks were a hate crime.” After the shooting, he yelled the phrase, “Heil Hitler,” but it is still not a hate crime according to the police. In Nolan’s case, people immediately began saying he is part of IS and is a Muslim extremist. When it came to Cross, people began defending him by saying that he did not commit a hate crime. With the British man who was never named, people just stopped talking about him. This double standard is unacceptable. Cross’s hate of Jewish people and his rampant white supremacy motivated his violence, so he committed an act of terror. On the other hand, as the facts stand now, it was not religion but that he had recently been fired which motivated Nolan. Cross actually committed an act of terrorism, while Nolan did not. Before making blanket statements about acts of terrorism, one must read the case and look up the facts to see what happened and whether or not the person was motivated by a bigger cause. Only then can we truly be a just nation.
By Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi
art by Maddy MuellerA man identified as Alton Nolen ran into his workplace Sept. 25 in Moore, Okla. and killed a 54-year-old woman, beheading her using a knife. This horrific act of violence was continually covered by the media for more than two weeks.
According to the New York Times, “He recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.” This one statement changes the story entirely.
Now, we think of him as a terrorist who killed that lady and injured another man because he is Muslim. We don’t think of him as a troubled man who had been fired from the company and then committed a heinous crime.
Since 9/11, if any Muslim does any act of violence at all, the press reports in such a way as to tie the violence to Islam whether it is related to religion or not.
Anyone who reads the news every few days would know about this Oklahoma man, but almost no one knows about what happened just three weeks before in Britain. On Sept. 4 a 25-year-old man beheaded an 82-year-old woman in London. The event was covered for just a few hours, then the media went silent about it.
In fact, not even the name of the man who committed this act of violence was released. In the BBC article released on that day, they quoted John Sandlin, detective chief inspector, saying, “Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related.”
Of course he isn’t a terrorist. He isn’t Muslim.
But when Nolen committed the same crime, immediately the media was pointing fingers at Islam, trying to put the blame on the religion of the man and not the man himself. It was not only the media that tried to tie Nolan to “Islamic” terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Our very dear FBI was immediately on the case, attempting to find a tie between Nolen and ISIS.
No one even attempted to find a relationship between the 25-year-old British man and ISIS because doing so is ridiculous. People commit violence; and most who kill do not do so because they are part of a terrorist organization. Murder existed before Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and it will continue to exist after they are gone.
How about the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, the man who attempted to kill Jewish people in a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and instead killed two Christian men, a 14-year-old and his grandfather. His motives were clearly based on the way he interprets his religion, Christianity. However, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement about the incident, saying, “ it is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime.”
According to the New York Times, “The police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the attacks were a hate crime.”
After the shooting, he yelled the phrase, “Heil Hitler,” but it is still not a hate crime.
In the case of Nolan, people immediately began saying he is part of ISIS and is a Muslim extremist. When it came to Cross, people began defending him by saying that his action was not a hate crime. With the British man who was never named, people just stopped talking about him.
This double standard is unacceptable.
Cross’s hate of Jewish people and his rampant white supremacy motivated his violence, so he committed an act of terror. On the other hand, as the facts stand now, Nolan was not motivated by his religion and was motivated by the fact that he had just gotten fired.
Before making blanket statements about acts of terrorism, like the case of Cross, who actually did an act of terror, or the case of Nolan, who just committed workplace violence, one must read the case and look up the facts to see what happened and whether or not the person was motivated by a bigger cause. Only then can we truly be a just nation.
By Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi
art by Maddy Mueller
[/column] A man identified as Alton Nolen ran into his workplace Sept. 25 in Moore, Okla. He killed a 54-year-old woman, beheading her using a knife. This horrific act of violence was continually covered by the media for more than two weeks. According to the New York Times, “He recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.” This one statement changes the story entirely. Now, we think of him as a terrorist who killed a woman and injured another man because he is Muslim. We don’t think of him as a troubled being who had been fired from the company and then committed a heinous crime. Since 9/11, if any Muslim commits any act of violence at all, the press reports it in a way that ties the violence to Islam whether it is related to religion or not. Anyone who reads the news every few days would know about this Oklahoma man, but almost no one knows about what happened just three weeks before in Britain. On Sept. 4 a 25-year-old man beheaded an 82-year-old woman in London. The event was covered for just a few hours and then the media went silent about it. In fact, not even the name of the man who committed this act of violence was released. A BBC article published on the same day quoted John Sandlin, detective chief inspector, saying, “Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was, I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related.” Of course he isn’t a terrorist. He isn’t Muslim. But when Nolen committed the same crime, the media immediately pointed fingers at Islam, trying to put the blame on the religion of the man and not on the man himself. It was not only the media that tried to tie Nolan to “Islamic” terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Our very own FBI was immediately on the case, attempting to find a tie between Nolen and Islamic State. No one even attempted to find a relationship between the 25-year-old British man and IS because doing so is ridiculous. People commit violence; and most who kill do not do so because they are part of a terrorist organization. Murder existed before Al-Qaeda and IS and will continue to exist after they are gone. How about the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, the man who attempted to kill Jewish people in a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and instead killed two Christian men, a 14-year-old and his grandfather. His motives were clearly based on the way he interprets his religion, Christianity. However, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement about the incident, saying, “It is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime.” According to the New York Times, “The police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the attacks were a hate crime.” After the shooting, he yelled the phrase, “Heil Hitler,” but it is still not a hate crime according to the police. In Nolan’s case, people immediately began saying he is part of IS and is a Muslim extremist. When it came to Cross, people began defending him by saying that he did not commit a hate crime. With the British man who was never named, people just stopped talking about him. This double standard is unacceptable. Cross’s hate of Jewish people and his rampant white supremacy motivated his violence, so he committed an act of terror. On the other hand, as the facts stand now, it was not religion but that he had recently been fired which motivated Nolan. Cross actually committed an act of terrorism, while Nolan did not. Before making blanket statements about acts of terrorism, one must read the case and look up the facts to see what happened and whether or not the person was motivated by a bigger cause. Only then can we truly be a just nation.
By Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi
art by Maddy Mueller
A man identified as Alton Nolen ran into his workplace Sept. 25 in Moore, Okla. He killed a 54-year-old woman, beheading her using a knife. This horrific act of violence was continually covered by the media for more than two weeks. According to the New York Times, “He recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.” This one statement changes the story entirely. Now, we think of him as a terrorist who killed a woman and injured another man because he is Muslim. We don’t think of him as a troubled being who had been fired from the company and then committed a heinous crime. Since 9/11, if any Muslim commits any act of violence at all, the press reports it in a way that ties the violence to Islam whether it is related to religion or not. Anyone who reads the news every few days would know about this Oklahoma man, but almost no one knows about what happened just three weeks before in Britain. On Sept. 4 a 25-year-old man beheaded an 82-year-old woman in London. The event was covered for just a few hours and then the media went silent about it. In fact, not even the name of the man who committed this act of violence was released. A BBC article published on the same day quoted John Sandlin, detective chief inspector, saying, “Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was, I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related.” Of course he isn’t a terrorist. He isn’t Muslim. But when Nolen committed the same crime, the media immediately pointed fingers at Islam, trying to put the blame on the religion of the man and not on the man himself. It was not only the media that tried to tie Nolan to “Islamic” terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Our very own FBI was immediately on the case, attempting to find a tie between Nolen and Islamic State. No one even attempted to find a relationship between the 25-year-old British man and IS because doing so is ridiculous. People commit violence; and most who kill do not do so because they are part of a terrorist organization. Murder existed before Al-Qaeda and IS and will continue to exist after they are gone. How about the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, the man who attempted to kill Jewish people in a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and instead killed two Christian men, a 14-year-old and his grandfather. His motives were clearly based on the way he interprets his religion, Christianity. However, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement about the incident, saying, “It is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime.” According to the New York Times, “The police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the attacks were a hate crime.” After the shooting, he yelled the phrase, “Heil Hitler,” but it is still not a hate crime according to the police. In Nolan’s case, people immediately began saying he is part of IS and is a Muslim extremist. When it came to Cross, people began defending him by saying that he did not commit a hate crime. With the British man who was never named, people just stopped talking about him. This double standard is unacceptable. Cross’s hate of Jewish people and his rampant white supremacy motivated his violence, so he committed an act of terror. On the other hand, as the facts stand now, it was not religion but that he had recently been fired which motivated Nolan. Cross actually committed an act of terrorism, while Nolan did not. Before making blanket statements about acts of terrorism, one must read the case and look up the facts to see what happened and whether or not the person was motivated by a bigger cause. Only then can we truly be a just nation.
By Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi
art by Maddy MuellerA man identified as Alton Nolen ran into his workplace Sept. 25 in Moore, Okla. and killed a 54-year-old woman, beheading her using a knife. This horrific act of violence was continually covered by the media for more than two weeks.
According to the New York Times, “He recently started trying to convert some of his co-workers to the Muslim religion.” This one statement changes the story entirely.
Now, we think of him as a terrorist who killed that lady and injured another man because he is Muslim. We don’t think of him as a troubled man who had been fired from the company and then committed a heinous crime.
Since 9/11, if any Muslim does any act of violence at all, the press reports in such a way as to tie the violence to Islam whether it is related to religion or not.
Anyone who reads the news every few days would know about this Oklahoma man, but almost no one knows about what happened just three weeks before in Britain. On Sept. 4 a 25-year-old man beheaded an 82-year-old woman in London. The event was covered for just a few hours, then the media went silent about it.
In fact, not even the name of the man who committed this act of violence was released. In the BBC article released on that day, they quoted John Sandlin, detective chief inspector, saying, “Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related.”
Of course he isn’t a terrorist. He isn’t Muslim.
But when Nolen committed the same crime, immediately the media was pointing fingers at Islam, trying to put the blame on the religion of the man and not the man himself. It was not only the media that tried to tie Nolan to “Islamic” terrorist organizations in the Middle East. Our very dear FBI was immediately on the case, attempting to find a tie between Nolen and ISIS.
No one even attempted to find a relationship between the 25-year-old British man and ISIS because doing so is ridiculous. People commit violence; and most who kill do not do so because they are part of a terrorist organization. Murder existed before Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and it will continue to exist after they are gone.
How about the case of Frazier Glenn Cross, the man who attempted to kill Jewish people in a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City and instead killed two Christian men, a 14-year-old and his grandfather. His motives were clearly based on the way he interprets his religion, Christianity. However, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement about the incident, saying, “ it is too early to label these shootings as a hate crime.”
According to the New York Times, “The police said it was too early in the investigation to determine whether the attacks were a hate crime.”
After the shooting, he yelled the phrase, “Heil Hitler,” but it is still not a hate crime.
In the case of Nolan, people immediately began saying he is part of ISIS and is a Muslim extremist. When it came to Cross, people began defending him by saying that his action was not a hate crime. With the British man who was never named, people just stopped talking about him.
This double standard is unacceptable.
Cross’s hate of Jewish people and his rampant white supremacy motivated his violence, so he committed an act of terror. On the other hand, as the facts stand now, Nolan was not motivated by his religion and was motivated by the fact that he had just gotten fired.
Before making blanket statements about acts of terrorism, like the case of Cross, who actually did an act of terror, or the case of Nolan, who just committed workplace violence, one must read the case and look up the facts to see what happened and whether or not the person was motivated by a bigger cause. Only then can we truly be a just nation.
By Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi
art by Maddy Mueller
Nikol Slatinska • Nov 10, 2014 at 8:32 pm
This story had really good evidence to back up the main point, like the story of the British man and Frazier Glenn Cross, which made the main argument credible.
Grace Dorsey • Nov 9, 2014 at 5:05 pm
This article raises a serious point. I agree that this double standard is unacceptable and this really gave me a new perspective, your view was well backed up by evidence.
Joy Park • Nov 7, 2014 at 9:33 pm
Nowadays, society easily blames races and countries with misconception and stereotypical ideas of terrorism. For example, many people think of the Middle East, Islam, and Arab world as the “same nation”, however they are not. The angle, explanation, and the use of many scenarios proved the article’s main message well.