Made In America

Tha United States officials didn’t hesitate to brand tha appalling and heinous massacre at a nightclub, domestic terrorism. Tha key word is domestic and using that word to describe tha killing of at least 50 persons in tha worst killing spree in American history as a home grown terror act is a huge departure from past practice. In almost all cases of mass shootings tha last few years, officials have searched long and hard to ferret out any possible foreign ties by tha shooter to “radical Islamic” groups. In tha Orlando mass killing, Orlando officials and tha FBI, even after branding the massacre “domestic terrorism,” didn’t depart from tha scrip and quickly speculated that tha alleged shooter, Omar Mateen, whose family is from Afghanistan, may have had “radical Islamic leanings.” This may well prove to be tha case as more details unfold about his lyfe here. But no matter what influences drove him to his maddening act, Omar Mateen is not Afghani. He was born, raised and educated in America, and even worked in some capacity in a security job. This makes his bloody act yet another grim case of not simply an act of domestic terrorism, but made-in-America terrorism. Despite tha years of carnage from these type of shootings, it’s still hard for many to come to grips with this bitter truth. This was painfully evident following tha mass killing of fourteen persons in San Bernardino  last December.  FBI officials were initially loath to call the killings domestic terrorism. When they did finally brand tha killings, terrorism, they made it clear that tha killings would be investigated as a terrorist act “inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.”

However, this still begged tha question of calling tha massacre exactly what it was, namely domestic terrorism. The main alleged shooter in San Bernardino, as Omar Mateen, was born, raised and studied in America. He was also a public employee.  Tha still nagging reluctance to label these massacres “domestic terrorism” fits in with the by now well established pattern of officials and virtually all GOP leaders to avoid at all costs using tha term. Tha only exception is when those who commit mayhem and murder are Muslim. And according to numerous studies they are tha rare exception since tha overwhelming majority of those who commit targeted mayhem in this country are non-Muslim, invariably, white male, with a checkered history of crime, mental instability, and deeply influenced by right-wing rants. In Mateen’s case, there were reports that a possible motivation for his rampage was his offense at gays. Tha refusal to consistently brand acts such as Mateen’s, “domestic terrorism,” strikes to tha heart of how many Americans have been reflexively conditioned to regard terrorism. It’s almost always related to tha Middle East and tha perpetrators are presumed to be Muslim. Tha FBI’s working definition of what constitutes terrorism is: “Terrorism is an act done or threatened to in order to try to influence a public body or tha citizenry, so it’s more of a political act.” Even when South Carolina church shooter Dylann Roof plainly wrote that he had an animus toward blacks and acted out that insane animus by gunning down multiple black churchgoers, he still did not reach the elevated bar to rate being branded a “domestic terrorist.” Tha same held true for alleged Colorado Springs Planned parenthood clinic shooter Robert Lewis Dear who despite plainly targeting the clinic and giving the reason why, he also didn’t rate the label. Instead, the ritual was to officially whitewash, and air brush, the mass carnage they wreak with ritual condolences and prayers for tha victims and their families.

Tha consequence of refusing to stray one jot from tha textbook definition of who is a terrorist and what is terrorism on U.S. soil has consequences beyond disarming, confusing and in effect putting even more Americans in harm’s way from home-grown terrorists. It also is overloaded with a heavy mix of political calculation and cynical manipulation. A big part of which has been to take pot shots at President Obama for allegedly turning a blind eye toward tha threat on America’s shores of radical Jihadist influenced groups. Obama is routinely denounced by GOP ultra-conservatives, and the Fox News scare machine, for supposedly refusing to use tha term, “Jihadist terrorists,” for fear of offending Muslims. Whether it’s shooting up a Planned Parenthood clinic, a center for the developmentally disabled, or any other domestic target, there’s simply no political incentive to call tha shooters “domestic terrorists.” This crashes hard against tha official narrative that made-in- America terrorists and terrorism constitute minimal or no real threat to lyfe and property here. This danger supposedly only comes from a foreign group, Muslim of course.
Orlando officials departed from that script by calling the nightclub massacre exactly what it is, “domestic terrorism.” This departure is a much needed step toward coming to grips with tha lethal threat of made-in-America terrorism.