By now you’ve heard about the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando. The killer was a Muslim named Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, from a family of Afghan immigrants. As I write, 50 people have died (including the jihadi himself). The count will almost certainly rise, as many are gravely wounded.
Nobody should be surprised by this, and it’s hard for me to think of anything to say that shouldn’t already be obvious. The obvious is now taboo in the West, however, and so I will say a few obvious things:
Many are scurrying to make this a gun-control issue. It is not. Americans have owned guns — lots of guns — throughout the nation’s history, and gun laws were formerly far more lax than they are now. I grew up in rural western New Jersey. Everyone had guns, generally completely unsecured, yet somehow we didn’t slaughter each other. Even today, Vermont, which has almost no gun laws at all, has one of the lowest gun-homicide rates in the nation. Homicide rates have fallen for decades, even as millions and millions of guns have been added to the nation’s private collections. Subtract the gun-homicide rates among urban blacks and Hispanics, and the U.S. gun-homicide rate drops to European levels.
Moreover, the shooting in Orlando, like so many other spree killings, happened in a place where guns are already illegal. Would-be mass shooters know that when they target a “gun-free zone” they will be able to run up the body count before they are stopped. The Pulse nightclub — like Virginia Tech, or that Colorado theater — was one of these soft targets.
In a post about a year ago, I wrote this:
…as someone who has spent his adult life troubleshooting complex systems, I can say this with confidence: unless and until you understand what really causes a problem, you will never reliably fix it.
If you see a system beginning to fail, you must ask yourself: what has changed? If you are asking this about the state of Western society, and particularly American culture, one thing should be very clear: it is not access to guns.
When you alter a formerly organic and mostly homogeneous society by introducing large, and largely unassimilable, alien populations with wholly incompatible ideologies, folkways, biases, religions, axioms, customs, and tribal affinities, the effects will be disharmony, loss of social cohesion, erosion of public trust, faction, disintegration of civil society, and conflict. When one of those populations is Islamic, that conflict will almost certainly include violence and terrorism. Duh.
Am I wrong? Am I being mean to Islam? Thought experiment: Imagine what the world would be like if Islam simply did not exist. Imagine Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan. Imagine Europe. Imagine Lower Manhattan. Imagine London, Brussels, Paris, Marseille. Imagine this page not existing. Imagine your airport. Imagine your daily paper. Imagine the Pulse nightclub.
Too unrealistic? OK, then: at the very least, imagine what the West might have been like without a half-century of mass Muslim immigration. Imagine Islam in Islamic countries, and Westerners in Western countries. We had that choice, and we blew it.
Taboo, taboo. I really shouldn’t be saying these things!
OK, I will say this, then: how many conflicting ideas can you hold in your head at once? Here is a tricky triad. See if you can make it all hang together:
1) Our society should celebrate, and encourage, sexual diversity in all its forms of expression.
2) Our society should celebrate, and encourage, multicultural diversity in all its forms of expression.
3) Our society should celebrate, and encourage, peace and harmony and happiness.
Like I said: tricky! This will be on the final. Don’t forget to show your work.
37 Comments
Malcolm,
[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3QqO8EXd-II/S-pvw4qVxZI/AAAAAAAAzcU/yzYrkPhjnS4/s1600/einstein-2dquote-2d3.jpg[/img]
Malcolm,
But will there be math?
Well.
Obama will be along in about six minutes to straighten you out.
That FL guy was plainly junior varsity.
Sadly, these are some thoughts that spring to my mind:
This is news?
Oh, shit; here comes the gun-control avalanche.
It’s probably Bush’s fault.
How are they going to link this to global warming?
Imagine a world without Leftists. As if …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBlwxqqAprQ
JK,
Thanx for sharing that vid.
May I have another plateful of crazy, please?
Maybe there is also an HBD-based explanation for this. Is it the religion that draws than to terror more than genetics? Probably some combination of both
JK,
I am no longer interested in explanation for it. I want termination of it. If necessary, with extreme prejudice.
JK, Henry…awful events like today, hired “rent a reds” to break up Trump campaign rallies, more attacks on gun rights, the list goes on. When the backlash comes, it won’t be pretty and it may be extreme.
Yes, the plates are straining now. But I must caution once more against happy anticipation of what may happen when they slip.
This is a bad enough situation already. I do not look forward to watching it get worse.
Multicultural society is an oxymoron. Thus if you try mixing totally antagonistic cultures, for example, those of the loony politically correct West, and the primitive Islamists of the Middle East, you inevitably create chaos. This is obvious. Therefore, one must conclude that chaos is what the US/EU elite wish to create.
Nevertheless, the timing of recent apparent Islamic acts of terrorism and hooliganism in the West coincide so well with Donald Trump’s warnings about Muslim immigration that one might wonder whether Trump is, in fact, only the tip of a deep state iceberg that is using synthetic terror to drive regime change in America.
If “synthetic terror” implies that Trump, et al., are somehow manipulating a “vast right-wing” conspiracy to make it “look” like the Islamists are pursuing worldwide terrorism in support of their religious beliefs, then I have one question only — how in hell have the conspirators managed to get a billion Muslims to announce to the world that this is precisely what they are doing?
Malcolm,
There is really no need to caution sane people about “happy anticipation” of general mayhem. I think it is a teeny bit demeaning. Expressions of outrage and frustration do not “happy anticipation” imply. Among sane people, they imply yearning for sanity in a world gone insane.
If “synthetic terror” implies … how in hell have the conspirators managed to get a billion Muslims to announce to the world that this is precisely what they are doing?
Nine-Eleven, perhaps?
The events of 9/11 got a billion Muslims to announce that this is something they approve of in support of their religious beliefs?
I fail to see the logic in such a claim.
Henry,
I don’t mean for it to be demeaning at all. It’s perfectly natural, in times of such general anger and frustration, to want to see the whole tottering thing burn to the ground, so that we can get on with building whatever is going to replace it. To watch your civilization slowly rot before your eyes, to see all that once was sacred trodden into dust by barbarians, is grievously painful, and moves many on the outer Right to sentiments of vehement reaction. As H.L. Mencken put it:
For what used to be considered normal men, these are such times. I feel it is occasionally necessary, though, to remind people that should this happen, it will not be a swashbuckling adventure. It will be very unpleasant indeed, and is nothing to look forward to.
Malcolm,
Of course you didn’t mean it to be demeaning. I know you are not that kind of person. I was merely hinting, albeit clumsily, that it sounds a bit defensive and unnecessarily so.
Look, I have been following your commentary for several years now (with admiration, I might add). I think I have a good grasp of where you’re coming from and where you’re heading (most of the time). And I did not fail to notice that you had been challenged to deny any such “happy anticipation”, by another commentator, recently.
The events of 9/11 got a billion Muslims to announce that this is something they approve of in support of their religious beliefs?
I made no such claim.
Who was responsible for what happened on 9/11 remains unclear, according to 9/11 Commission members, the Commission’s co-chairs and the Commission’s legal council. Moreover, the US Government has shown little interest in finding out who was responsible.
Nevertheless, millions of Muslims have been killed or maimed as a result of the Western response to 9/11, the War on Terror. It would be astonishing, therefore, if many Muslims have not been driven to hatred of the West in the belief that 9/11 was a phony pretext for wars of aggression against Muslim states.
Or as you say in the subsequent post “Be of good cheer”, i.e., the words of Bishop Latimer to “master Ridley,” Bishop of Rochester, just as they were to be burned at the stake at Oxford on 21 March 1556.
CanSpeccy…quite a blog you have up there. Nice layout.
CanSpeccy,
You made that claim implicitly because you quoted my question and then gave your response to my question. That is to say (according to you), the events of 9/11 caused the Muslims to announce that it is their intention to launch terrorist attacks in support of their religious beliefs.
Muslims the world over celebrated the events of 9/11. Are you suggesting that they would not have been driven to hating the West if the United States had not retaliated for Osama Bin Ladin’s aggression in the name of his religion? To what then do you attribute Bin Ladin’s heinous acts if not hatred of the West?
@ TheBigHenry
That’s a rather broad statement. Some Muslims no doubt celebrated 9/11. How many? We really don’t know. The Palestinian authority, I seem to recall, offered their condolences.
It seems reasonable to assume that fewer Muslims would have been driven to hate the West if the United States had not launched or supported wars of aggression against various Muslim states on various dubious pretexts including R2P (Libya) 9/11 (Afghanistan), and non-existent WMD’s (Iraq).
And as for Osama bin Laden’s alleged heinous act, the FBI are said to have explained that 9/11 was not mentioned on their bin Laden “Most Wanted” page because they had “no hard evidence” of his responsibility. And as you may remember, when the Government of Afghanistan, in 2001 offered to hand over bin Laden if the United States would provide evidence of his complicity in 9/11, the US failed to provide the evidence.
So the relations between 9/11, bin Laden, and Islamic terrorism are not as obvious as you seem to suggest. That being so, many Muslims naturally assume the worst about the US (e.g., Saudi paper: US carried out 9/11 attacks) and thus adopt an antagonistic attitude toward the West.
But let’s not get drawn into an endless argument about 9/11. Folks who disagree on that will probably never agree.
@ Whitewall
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I try to figure out what I think by writing it down. I’m glad you find it not too crazy.
CS
https://20committee.com/2016/06/12/jihad-denial-kills-again/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-father-idUSKCN0YY109
@ CS
Ah, so. It’s just a self-fulfilling assumption. Got it.
It is a little bit about guns.This man should never have been allowed to carry one, let alone an assault rifle that can kill so many defenseless people, so quickly. I take your point about soft targets but as long as disturbed individuals, or even the apparently sane, can walk into a gun shop and buy a weapon like this they will find a way to use it. Do you know how this mad man got a large weapon into a gun-free zone? Are you also suggesting that a lot of young men, dancing around late at night, possibly intoxicated, or drugged up, should be allowed to bring in their guns on the off-chance that a mass murderer may happen to stop by? I’m not being sarcastic here, just asking a question because these very unfortunate people (or, more correctly, their families because it’s too late for them) who have needlessly died, require some answers.
Tolerance of homosexuality is part of western culture. We don’t throw gay men off tall buildings. I certainly recognize that sexual orientation is not a choice but I don’t think that we should promote “tolerance” of an alternative lifestyle to primary school children (unless there is a specific need) because I don’t think that they’re even aware. Maybe I’m wrong. Kids grow up so quickly.
BTW, I like “waka waka waka”. It’s different and clever. No-one is you, or remotely like you and some of those who think that they have “got it” really haven’t, and that does make me laugh. Slavish devotion is dangerous as it makes an unthinking fool of the devotee. It’s almost embarrassing. Maybe you should say something? I’m too easy a target to be the only one chastised.
I was reading the news headlines from around the world today. Apparently a Turkish newspaper proclaimed that “fifty perverts” were killed in Florida. I am ashamed to admit that I did find it funny for a grotesque moment, just until I realized how sick that really was, and pulled myself up. It’s not that it’s funny at all, but it is a stark illustration of the general sentiment in Muslim countries, that is not entirely at odds with some in your society. They don’t agree with murdering people but they don’t like how some people live their lives so if someone has to be a victim, better that it’s the “perverts” who are the victims. Just to be clear, that is not my view at all.
Diplomad is swinging the hammer of truth today…http://www.thediplomad.com/2016/06/the-magic-kingdom-meets-islamic.html
“The largest hate group in the world is Islam.”
Breaking just before the jihadist attack in Orlando…http://observer.com/2016/06/breaking-hillary-clinton-sent-information-marked-classified/
I guess Orlando will cover over HRCs criminality.
Musey,
Yes, just as 9/11 was a little bit about box-cutters. A bomb would have done the job nicely here, too.
There was an armed guard outside the club. Apparently the attacker shot his way past him.
This raises important questions about how to implement effective security in places like this (also schools, etc.) A single guard, posted in plain view, is at a tactical disadvantage against a premeditated attack. There is a continuous flow of people coming and going, and the attacker can take advantage of a moment of distraction or inattention to fire at the guard.
Obviously guns and drunkenness are a flammable mixture. The best approach to security in a situation like this is probably to arm the staff, and/or to circulate discreetly armed security personnel among the crowd.
What will NOT solve this problem is to disarm millions of law-abiding citizens in the hope of preventing determined killers from making these attacks. There are over three hundred million guns in America. If you want one, you’ll get one.
Moreover, despite the renewed hysteria, there is nothing special about the AR-15 platform in terms of lethality. It is simply a semiautomatic firearm like any other, and in its most common chambering is not even particularly powerful. It doesn’t shoot any faster than any other semiautomatic weapon; it just looks a certain way. I saw one particularly idiotic comment somewhere in the wake of this shooting ridiculing the idea of armed civilian resistance: the commenter said “I’d like to see some gun-nut with his CCW try to go up against that AR-15!”
The Bataclan jihadis in Paris killed 130 people, and French gun laws didn’t prevent them from doing so. The problem, simply put, is that there are more and more people among us who will commit this sort of atrocity, even as homicide rates in general have been falling for decades. As mass Muslim immigration continues throughout the West, we can expect more and more of this.
CanSpeccy,
Islam has been at war with the West for 1,400 years. Have we annoyed them recently? I’m sure we have. Our very existence as unsubjugated infidels takes care of that. Parse their most recent grievances all you like, but as far as I am concerned it is sufficient simply to know that at the immutable core of Islam is an antipathy toward us that is ancient, bottomless, and implacable.
No question about that, Malcolm, which is why it is utterly insane to allow Muslims into the Western World, an insanity justified only by the lunatic PC assumption that a single society can be built on multiple simultaneously applied religious and legal traditions. Or as I said above:
Western leadership has stirred the bees nest and then opened the gates of Vienna, London, Miami, etc. and invited in the bees.
So the big question is why?
“So the key question is why is chaos and the destruction of Western civilization being driven by our own leadership?” The need for disorder and the lust for power to destroy order as well as those who believe in order to maintain a properly functioning society. It is the nature of Leftism itself.
There’s more to it than that. To really understand the acceleration of liberal antinationalist universalism in the last half-century, you have to examine the West’s forceful cultural reaction to Nazism, and the ideological mechanisms that were activated for the postwar re-education of Europe (in particular, Germany). The “Frankfurt School” of Marxist intellectuals in exile played no small part in this, both here and there.
“Moreover, the shooting in Orlando, like so many other spree killings, happened in a place where guns are already illegal. ”
Excuse me? The only reason that “guns are already illegal” is that the Pulse is a _bar_. Florida is a “Shall Issue” state, and in fact, the murderer has a CCW permit.
Perhaps Florida should revise it’s CCW permit restrictions to permit carry in bars, as long as the permit holder is not actually drinking alcohol. The “Designated Driver” should also be able to SHOOT BACK.
Re: Why?
The liberal-left and the Commies in academia want to destroy Western capitalist civilization and impose the dictatorship of the proletariat, under which they imagine themselves being part of the privileged nomenclatura.
The Money Power supports this effort in the knowledge that the PC multiculti agenda will undermine the power of the sovereign, democratic nation state, and make way for global governance by Trade deals negotiated by the largest capitalist entities (about 150 firms control most international business), and via international organizations such as the EU, WTO and the UN, which are easily manipulated by the money power using the usual mundane forms of bribery and corruption (for example, wasn’t UN Sec. Gen Kofi Annan on the take in the Iraq oil for food deal?).
@ Ken Mitchell
The applicable FL law is §790.06(12) to wit: