Two big biases in Froma Harrop’s column, “When fragile egos turn to terrorism” about the bombings at the Boston Marathon risk focusing on the wrong issues in trying to prevent such attacks in the future. Evidence so far seems to suggest that “fragile egos” played a key role in turning these two brothers into bombers, but urging more restrictive immigration in general or specifically against Muslims reflects a combination of ignorance and prejudice more than sound policy advice.
Except for Native Americans, we are a nation of immigrants, and there is no evidence that when immigration has been more restricted, there’s been less violence in our society. Froma Harrop’s idea that “ordinary Americans” or “an assimilated American,” would not commit horrendous acts of violence is belied by so many assassinations and bombings in U.S. history that the ignorant bias of her view should be obvious to everyone.
We need only recall Timothy McVeigh’s bombing in Oklahoma City, David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and Jim Jones of the People’s Temple murder/suicide in Guyana, not to mention two centuries of religiously sanctioned slavery and “Christian” justifications of the disastrous U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, to remind ourselves that extremism and violence based on grossly distorted interpretations of Christianity have been a far more common part of our American experience than extremism based on distorted teachings of Islam.
Addressing nationalist and/or religious extremism is an urgent challenge, but we’d be wiser and safer if we started not by pointing fingers at others, but looking in the mirror at ourselves.
Ronald J. Young
Everett
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