Tuesday, June 16, 2015

America's Worst Terrorist Threat

Is not radical Islam, but right wing extremism:
Last year, for example, a man who identified with the sovereign citizen movement — which claims not to recognize the authority of federal or local government — attacked a courthouse in Forsyth County, Ga., firing an assault rifle at police officers and trying to cover his approach with tear gas and smoke grenades. The suspect was killed by the police, who returned fire. In Nevada, anti-government militants reportedly walked up to and shot two police officers at a restaurant, then placed a “Don’t tread on me” flag on their bodies. An anti-government extremist in Pennsylvania was arrested on suspicion of shooting two state troopers, killing one of them, before leading authorities on a 48-day manhunt. A right-wing militant in Texas declared a “revolution” and was arrested on suspicion of attempting to rob an armored car in order to buy weapons and explosives and attack law enforcement. These individuals on the fringes of right-wing politics increasingly worry law enforcement officials. . . .

Since 9/11, an average of nine American Muslims per year have been involved in an average of six terrorism-related plots against targets in the United States. Most were disrupted, but the 20 plots that were carried out accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13 and a half years. In contrast, right-wing extremists averaged 337 attacks per year in the decade after 9/11, causing a total of 254 fatalities
I'm not saying that we should worry more about right-wing nuts -- I don't think they pose any real threat to us. But it is interesting to compare the level of journalistic attention and public alarm these guys get compares to the distant threat of al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

1 comment:

G. Verloren said...

"But it is interesting to compare the level of journalistic attention and public alarm these guys get compares to the distant threat of al Qaeda and the Islamic State."

Xenophobia sells, and self-criticism doesn't.

People are always afraid of the "Other", never of the "Same".

It's why people are afraid of letting strangers interact with children, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of child abusers are their direct family members.

It's why comfortable middle class people get anxious and nervous in poor working class neighborhoods, despite far greater odds of being victimized by white collar crime in their lifetimes than by blue collar crime.

It's why for some, riding in an automobile most every day of their lives is unconcerning while triding in an airplane every once in a long while is absolutely terrifying, despite flying being by far the safest way to travel and driving being by far the most dangerous.

So why does the media circus prance and sing about radical Muslims instead of radical Americans? Because familiar things like right-wing nutjobs are boring, while exotic foreigners who speak and dress and think strangely are mysterious and attention grabbing.