51吃瓜

The attack on Planned Parenthood was an act of terrorism by a coward who didn鈥檛 have the confidence or integrity to use speech.

It鈥檚 bleak out there for the right-wing in America. The Paris climate conference is yielding scathing testimonies on our聽. What may be the largest聽聽of a black teenager has recently come to light. Students are聽buildings, and聽聽at the #BlackLivesMatter protest, possibly with police complicity.

Then came a gruesome attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic, the sixth in four months. On November 27, three individuals, including a policeman, were聽 at the Colorado Springs聽Planned Parenthood and nine others were injured. The prime suspect, 57-year-old white man called Robert Dear, represents聽a new for violent and scary聽behavior. This is particularly awkward for the right for two reasons. First, the Republicans have been whipping up anti-refugee hysteria by stoking fears of terrorism. And second, Dear鈥檚 motivation appears to be consistent with lies peddled by the right about Planned Parenthood.

Fortunately, the right hasn鈥檛 had to deal with a聽 where three people were murdered聽with a gun since, let鈥檚 see, a month ago. Lax gun laws contributed to the carnage, yet the mayor did not want to tighten 鈥渙pen carry鈥� laws.

The Standard for White Christian vs Brown Muslim Terrorism

This latest Colorado Springs incident has many antecedents. Abortion clinics and providers have been targeted聽, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings and 186 arsons since 1977.

One would imagine that Dear鈥檚 act would be聽an obvious case of terrorism: The use of violence or threat of violence to achieve a political or ideological goal. Yet the media and the right-wing mostly suffer from 鈥淲hite Terrorism Falsehoods (puzzlement or sadness response).鈥� Sadly, WTF (posr) is not yet in the聽, because it鈥檚 well-worth us paying聽聽to cure it.

More seriously, we must have a broader, 鈥減ro-life鈥� discussion that uses consistent language and standards versus blatant fear-mongering. Terrorism has been the top US priority in the new millennium, with our 鈥淕lobal War on Terrorism鈥� and its aftermath ringing up a $6 trillion price tag to supposedly save many American lives. Yet that wasn鈥檛 the case: Millions have died globally, the world has become more dangerous, our privacy and civil rights have been eroded, and our ability to fund basic services here and abroad greatly diminished. Yet it has distracted us from focusing on an equal, if not more important priority of right-wing terrorism at home.

The farcical media and political response is illustrative. They鈥檝e twisted themselves in knots in their attempts to avoid classifying the act as terrorism, blatantly demonstrating their double-standard for using the term. A public killing in the West by a Muslim man or men is immediately called terrorism. Media outlets do not, en masse, cast doubt on the聽聽of the shooting by multiple Muslim men. So why wouldn鈥檛 the 鈥減ublic violence鈥� bar be high enough for a white man (particularly when聽聽at least twice as many Muslim extremists)?

Even worse, this was the targeting of a nonprofit institution subject to increased violence as its activities have been intensely (and often inaccurately) debated. Can we imagine any case in which a Muslim man would target a highly politicized institution, killing several individuals, and it would not be deemed terrorism? Finally, explicitly stating one鈥檚 motive is rarely, if ever, necessary to describe an attack by a Muslim(s) as 鈥渢errorism.鈥� Yet saying 鈥渘o more baby parts鈥� in this case is apparently not sufficient. Can one imagine a deeply Muslim guy shooting several policemen and others at a prominent US synagogue saying, 鈥淣o more Jews鈥� and the media refusing to call it terrorism?

Let鈥檚 focus specifically on the target of this violence.聽, an organization that provides a spectrum of women鈥檚 health needs including abortion (which), is the most politicized institution in America. The Republicans were聽willing to threaten a 聽over federal funding for Planned Parenthood, despite the last one costing $24 billion. A聽have tried to cut off funding for the organization.

Carly Fiorina聽lied about a supposedly damning 聽in the September Republican debate. Subsequently, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards was called to testify before Congress, where she was interrupted 44 times by Republicans and berated by Representative Jason Chaffetz over a聽Planned Parenthood that didn鈥檛 exist. Various investigations have not found any illegal activity, despite US presidential candidates鈥� repeated and defamatory suggestions to the contrary. Fortunately, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders correctly and importantly tied the apparent motives of the attack to Republican rhetoric the next day; Petula Dvorak and others have聽

The Response of the Media and the Right

Broadly speaking, the right has trotted out the explanation they use when white men commit terrorist acts against the minorities or groups they revile daily. The shooter is 鈥渄eranged鈥� and 鈥渕entally ill鈥� (though the threat of removing guns conversely is used to rile up their base.) From the 听迟辞听迟丑别听, the media echoes that we don鈥檛 know the gunman鈥檚 motive. One almost expects the mainstream media to speculate that he said, 鈥淣o more baby stroller parts,鈥� accidentally ending up at Planned Parenthood instead of Babies 鈥淩鈥� Us.

Donald Trump 漏 Shutterstock

To date, most politicians and mainstream media have avoided discussing the fact that 99% of mass shooters in America are men鈥攎any with issues about their masculinity. Even though journalist Amanda Marcotte tweeted: 鈥淎s soon as I heard about the shooting, I said, 鈥楳iddle-aged man, romantic failure.鈥� Why I was able to predict it.鈥�

The media also聽used the softer words for white 鈥�.鈥� A New York Times breaking news alert on December 1 titled their article, 鈥淭he suspect in the Colorado rampage was a聽, and mixed religion with rage.鈥� Ironically, the article itself discusses him raping a woman who wasn鈥檛 interested in him, violently abusing his wife on multiple occasions, buying a gun, gambling, expressing extreme anger and calling those who attacked abortion providers 鈥渉eroes,鈥� and saying they are 鈥渄oing God鈥檚 work.鈥�

Presidential Candidates鈥� Responses

The security-promoting Republican presidential candidates now have little to say on the relevance of terrorism or guns. This is despite one study that showed Americans are聽seven times more likely to be than a Muslim extremist, and another that found聽similar countries have 5%聽as many homicides using guns as the U.S.聽 America has averaged聽 a day in 2015.聽In 1996, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said, 鈥淲e do not want the American disease imported into Australia,鈥� and several months later he moved to implement measures for gun control.

Yet Republican contenders in American have gone from excoriating Planned Parenthood to more of the same and WTF (posr).

In the September debate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina talked about having seen the harvesting of fetal tissue while 鈥渁 fully formed fetus [lies] on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking.鈥� While this was shown to be a total lie, the Dear鈥檚 motive is entirely consistent with such a myth. Now, Fiorina calls the Planned Parenthood attack 鈥渁 tragedy, especially on a holiday weekend鈥� by someone who was 鈥渄eranged鈥� and talked about how the 鈥渓eft-wing鈥� should not be 鈥渄emonizing the messenger.鈥� As a messenger delivering lies to 23 million Americans about a clinic that has been the victim of numerous terrorist attacks, Fiorina deserves to be demonized.

She is among most Republicans candidates who choose to ignore an important reality: Fetal tissue, used for stem cell research, is valuable to doctors and survivors alike for its promise of curing Alzheimer鈥檚, diabetes and other diseases. In fact, Former First Ladylifting of restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump said 鈥渢he videos they鈥檝e seen with some of these people from Planned Parenthood, talking about [harvesting fetal tissue] like you鈥檙e selling parts to a car.鈥� While he said some tapes aren鈥檛 pertinent, he repeated that there are 鈥渕any [such] tapes鈥� without providing any references. (For the Trump campaign whose slogan may as well be, 鈥淢ake America Hate Again鈥� truth is no barrier鈥攅.g., his reversed white-on-white crime statistics or fake Muslim 9/11 celebrations.)

Ben Carson 漏 Shutterstock

Ted Cruz called Planned Parenthood a聽聽during a September Republican debate (a lie that might yet prove an accurate descriptor for his wife鈥檚 former employer, Goldman Sachs, who has settled for hundreds of millions, or Exxon Mobil). He appeared to back plans to shut down the government over funding of Planned Parenthood, amping up the rhetoric against it. Yet he now calls the shooting 鈥渦nacceptable, horrific, and wrong鈥� with a toll including the 鈥渙ne officer who lost his life [as] particularly tragic,鈥� apparently discounting the Hawaiian mother or African American Iraq War veteran who were also killed.

Ben Carson called it a 鈥渉ate crime鈥� and pushed for a 鈥渞ational discussion鈥� instead of wanting to 鈥渄estroy those with whom we disagree.鈥� This represents a new, softer stance for the neurosurgeon who now likes Syrian refugees who stay in the Middle East.

The Democrats have done better. Bernie Sanders came out first on November 28 in a statement about the 鈥渢he vicious and unsubstantiated statements鈥� which included, 鈥淚 strongly support Planned Parenthood and the work it is doing and hope people realize that bitter rhetoric can have unintended consequences.鈥� Hillary Clinton slammed Republicans from blocking a vote on barring those on the no-fly list to buy guns, and she called for background checks. She also voiced support for Planned Parenthood, two days after Sanders鈥� statement. Her contribution was positive albeit late, yet they were given聽聽and more space by CNN. We don鈥檛 know what our fellow citizens make of it as CNN has cut off comments, since commenters cited parent company Time Warner鈥檚 connection to Clinton as potentially linked to debate coverage strongly biased in her favor. Martin O鈥橫alley called the act 鈥渄omestic terrorism鈥� and highlighted other American gun massacres and the need for action.

Yet still not enough political and media leaders are calling it what it was: Terrorism by a coward who didn鈥檛 have the confidence or integrity to use speech. An act of barbarity by a person who appears to believe extreme rhetoric and widely propagated lies of the right. A man who had issues with his masculinity and committed domestic abuse and other violent crimes. Someone who is a caricature of the greatest terrorist threat to America: white, Christian, right-wing men who try to compensate for their weak grasp on politics and personal insecurity by brutally killing their fellow citizens.

This act should also open a larger discussion: on what we spend fighting terrorism at home vs abroad and why; on whether we spend on health, jobs, and education vs weapons; on聽access to guns in a culture that glorifies them and how to regulate聽and end these copycat sprees. A conversation on white men who are committing rampant violence in crimes of terrorism and hate, their twisted psychology and radical ideologies, and how to stop them.

In the meantime, undoubtedly to the chagrin of our backward right, Oregon and California are making聽birth control available聽over the counter.

The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.

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