We have met the enemy ...
by Tom Sullivan
The shooting deaths in Chapel Hill, NC of three students sparked candlelight vigils last night:
Thousands gathered on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill on Wednesday night to pay tribute to three local students who were shot to death the night before.
Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her younger sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were killed on Tuesday evening in the couple’s apartment in a leafy suburb of Chapel Hill.
The hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter trended early on social media as users complained that media coverage of the shootings would have been greater had the shooter been Muslim instead of the victims. Coverage has since picked up from Sydney to London. In an emotional press conference, the family of the victims called on federal authorities to investigate the "execution style" shootings as a hate crime (video) directed at the three for their faith.
What strikes me are the reports that the alleged shooter had a history of angry confrontation with neighbors and had an obsession with parking and noise. He had a carry permit and displayed his weapon to the victims in a previous encounter. They and other neighbors were afraid of the guy. Enough so that someone previously called a meeting to discuss how to handle him (more video). The faith of these particular neighbors could have been the factor that allowed the alleged shooter to finally vent his rage on them rather than others.
But then there's this background on the suspect:
Hicks was known for his temper and confrontational behavior. His ex-wife Cynthia Hurley, who divorced Hicks about 17 years ago, said his favorite film was “Falling Down,” in which a disgruntled and unemployed defense industry worker played by Michael Douglas goes on a shooting rampage.
“That always freaked me out,” Hurley told the Associated Press. “He watched it incessantly. He thought it was hilarious. He had no compassion at all.”
After tragedies like this, our first reflex is to ask, why? Mental illness, maybe. Ethnic hatred, maybe. Too many guns, maybe. Those are our default answers. They're easy. But is there something bigger going on?
To put this violent incident into a larger context for a moment, just glance at the front page of Raw Story this morning. I found these headlines:
Tech mogul John McAfee reveals he now lives in Tennessee and is ‘constantly armed’Chris Kyle called man who killed him ‘nuts’ just before shooting: attorney
Tennessee man forces ex to carve his name into her skin with box cutter, then rapes her
Indian man paralyzed after Alabama cop body-slams him for walking in wealthy white suburb
Woman miscarries after Georgia cop who didn’t ‘appreciate her tone’ tackles and sits on her: lawsuit
Senseless violence is widespread in this country. Still, notice anything in common about the geography of those stories? What's that famous saying from Pogo?