It seems that a man in Oklahoma beheaded a former coworker. When you read about this, much is made of the fact that this guy had recently converted to Islam, and was trying to convert others as well. Apparently authorities are investigating his background.
When you read about this story from a variety of sources, several words and phrases jump to the forefront. “Muslim”, “Islam”, “Sharia Law”. What you aren’t seeing, and what seems blatantly obvious to me, is “Mentally Ill” and “Untreated”. Why is no one talking about this? This guy is a nut job. He needs help. Pure and simple.
The fact that his particular brand of crazy was focused on twisting a religion and taking it to a violent extreme is not, repeat, NOT an indictment of that religion. Yes, he spouted a lot of religious stupidity on his Facebook page. He could have just as easily decided he was the next messiah and that the rapture (another twisting of a religion, not mentioned even once in the Bible) had to be brought on through his own personal actions. He could have decided that he was an alien from outer space, and that it was his job to turn us all into the Venusian version of chicken pot pie.
The real story here is that he is yet another mentally ill individual who was showing all kinds of warning signs, and yet nothing was done to help him, with horrifying, tragic results. This could be an opportunity for the media to delve into the problem of mental illness in this country, ways to increase security in the workplace, and come up with a more effective system to get people the help they so desperately need.
Instead, this horrible story has been twisted into an attention grabbing sound bite about the evils of Islam. More and more, news is taken into this strange corporate machine, is twisted, bent, embellished and turned into a product that will draw attention, incite fear, and further an agenda. I long for the days of responsible journalism. If they ever really existed.
The View from a Drawbridge 
Well said Friend. A cry for attention is often a cry for help. Those that are close to a family member, friend or co-worker, that begin to notice an extreme change in behavior should feel obligated to try and convince the person to get help, or intervene, It is a challenge, but it is not only for the person’s safety but their own as well.
Sadly, so many people find it easier to just avert their eyes.
This is so true and sad that its true.
Tragic.
I agree 100 percent. Thank you for the post. More than half of the world’s problems are accenturated by journalists.
Problems make great reading. Unfortunately.
I think there is a tendency for people who are marginalized or left out of society, or who feel trapped and with no hope for the future, as well as some who are just not that bright or maybe a little unstable, to fall prey to the people in any religion who use the religion to control people and get them to follow their agenda. Unfortunately, there are a lot of Muslim extremists who are very good at doing this. And if he was manipulated by hate messages he picked up anywhere, in spite of his mental health, yes, there is some blame attached to that religion. Moderates need to stand up and stop letting the peaceful aspects of their religion be corrupted.
Extremists in general are good at doing this. Look at Hitler. But just because these extremists decide to don the false cloak of a religion that they so obviously warp and twist to fit their agenda does not mean that the religion itself is bad. And Muslim moderates DO stand up. But that doesn’t make interesting news, so their voices aren’t allowed to be heard in the American media.
If a person with mental health issues joined the Nazi party and then gassed a Jewish person, his ties to Nazism are going to come up. This guy may have had mental health issues. But without the extremists to imitate, he might have killed the person some other way. There is a tie in.
But the primary purpose of the Nazi party was to exterminate Jews. The primary purpose of Islam is not to behead random ex-coworkers.
I think if you had asked most Nazis, it would have come as a surprise that the extermination of Jews was a stated goal. It wasn’t common knowledge… they didn’t put out mass media saying: Hey, come on all you Nazis, kill more Jews. However, many notable religious leaders of the Muslim faith have stated publicly that all non believers should be killed.
And even more of them state that they should not. And I think if there was any doubt as to purpose of the Nazis, kristallnacht in 1938 was a strong indication.
I have studied this pretty deeply for a lot of years. You can get people to go along with hating people. Gassing them by the millions isn’t as easy. It wasn’t an automatic leap. Sending them away, putting them in camps. You think everybody knew they were all going to their deaths? Many people figured it out by the middle of the war. It was never a publicly stated policy.
And most individuals in a mob won’t take responsibility for their part in it, either.
I hate to break it to you, but to many people in other parts of the world, we are all guilty of killing people by predator drone strike. We all know it is happening. It is being done by our government.