Fort Hood

I was just reading Time Magazine’s Cover Story about the Ft. Hood incident, in the actual printed version, and was really shocked by a few things – basic presumptions that people have about religion. I think the author’s main point was to question the treatment of this act under the question of “Is it terrorism?”. I recognize the administration’s point of refusing to label it terrorism, the power of that speech-act would be huge. It is not a refusal to admit anything, it is a refusal to give it power. I just wish that point was better made. What caught me were these basic assumptions that never get talked about or questioned.

#1 Being PC

Everyone seems to assume that being politically correct is a good thing. The way I see it, being politically correct is by no means “the desire to protect diversity” – as the author put it. Being politically correct shows that you only care about following the rules, not meaningfully interacting with that diversity. It is the perfect way to show someone you don’t care what they’re saying.

#2 Valuing Religious Traditions

The author described Hasan’s valuing Shari’a law above the Constitution as an alarm bell. If the journalist did his homework he would recognize just what a volatile issue this remains at the level of society. Specifically in Britain and France it has ignited concerns. So much so that Archbishop Rowan Williams discussed the very idea of allowing Muslims in Britain to live under Sharia civilly and the government should find a way to accommodate that. Of course the media misunderstood the issue then, just as they do now.

The refusal to give a true allowance of space to people to practice their religion in public life is one cause of all of these issues. Giving that space would cause society at large to meaningfully interact with these ideas. It is the blase PC treatment of difference, hand-waving it as “permissible” which removes religion as a distinctive for identity. Underneath we are all “Americans” striving towards the same ideal, when clearly we are all different – and still Americans. These individuals and community want to be distinctive. They do not find their sole identity in an “American” story, but also in the story of Islam.