Wolves travel in packs, not alone... and other thoughts on hate vs terrorism

Yes, it's been a while. For my sanity, I backed off my blog. But holy hell people, what is happening to us?

I was thinking about posting something about the shootings in S Carolina, then Chatanooga happened. Then I was getting ready to post about that, when Lafayette happened. What the everloving fuck, America?

Also, how many black people have to die in police custody before we are ready to do something about it? When a hashtag #IfIDieInPoliceCustody has to be a thing, we have a very serious problem. And a heartbreaking one. And when the media doesn't even report on it? Yeah, crushing and a very big statement on how we value (or not) certain lives over others in this country.

Speaking of valuing lives, we obviously don't. We obviously place guns above lives. I am sick to fucking death of hearing about the "crazy, mentally ill lone wolves" out there. That pack of wolves is getting really freaking big. Wolves are by nature social, not solitary. They thrive on being with their pack - those that are like them. So by even calling these terrorists "lone wolves" we are already perverting the natural order. (Yeah, I went there. Just for you, Rick Santorum. And Mike Huckabee. And Ted Cruz. And Scott Walker.)

The killer in Louisiana bought the gun legally in a pawn shop. He was a far right wing ideologist who loved the Tea Party and Hitler. He didn't have a restraining order request against him because he was mentally ill. He had a restraining order request against him because he was violent with his family. Something all too familiar.

The conversation shouldn't be around "crazies" because any rational person would consider it "crazy" to commit mass murder. We all look at that and think, "That's fucking crazy!" The media throws out phrases like "obviously had 'mental problems'" like they're the fucking DSM. Armchair diagnoses do not help drive an educated conversation. So stop it, ok media? Just cut it out.

Also, people with mental health disorders are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, so that argument doesn't hold water and I'm so sick of hearing it. It both devalues the conversation that should happen in this country around mental illness as well as devaluing human lives taken by gun violence.

The conversation instead needs to center around why we value guns more than lives in America. If we weren't willing to make changes after all those little precious kids killed at Sandy Hook, we just need to admit we value guns more than lives and find a way to move on. But I don't ever want to hear anyone who values guns more than children's lives call themselves pro-life, because that's a flat out bullshit of a lie.

So anyway... AG Loretta Lynch has announced that Dylann Roof (of S Carolina racist bullshit mass murder fame) will be tried on federal hate crime charges. Not on terrorism charges.

The FBI defines Domestic Terrorism thus:

"Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics:

• Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;

• Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and

• Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S.

18 U.S.C. § 2332b defines the term "federal crime of terrorism" as an offense that:

• Is calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct; and

• Is a violation of one of several listed statutes, including § 930(c) (relating to killing or attempted killing during an attack on a federal facility with a dangerous weapon); and § 1114 (relating to killing or attempted killing of officers and employees of the U.S.).

When asked why the hate crime charge instead of the terrorism charge, the AG said, "As you know, there is no specific domestic terrorism statute," and that Roof's act of racially motivated violence was "the original type of domestic terrorism."

Then call it that.

It matters.

It matters that we are trying Roof for hate crimes instead of terrorism.

Hate is an acceptable thing, especially for white men. Especially in America.

Terrorism is not.

Let’s recap. Hate = White and AOK. Terrorism = Brown and Bad.

So trying Roof on hate crimes makes him completely unexceptional in America today. In America, everybody hates. By definition, hate isn't illegal. It'seems a protected (and highly coveted) 1st amendment right.  By making Roof so unexceptional, we tacitly condone his crimes and make them completely acceptable; no different than any other crime.

Trying these people as the terrorists they are would take the conversation to a different place. Trying these people on terrorism charges would make it unacceptable to kill others who don't share your political views. It would put them on the same level as "RADICAL ISLAM" and "THOSE THAT WOULD DESTROY OUR WAY OF LIFE". Ask anyone who lost a loved one inside that church in S Carolina if that day destroyed their way of life. I’d bet the answer would be a resounding yes.

But we are unwilling to put white "lone wolf" men on the same playing field as "THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY OUR WAY OF LIFE". So, unwilling to identify them as "THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY OUR WAY OF LIFE", we try them on hate crime charges, and as a result we continue to see the same terrorist activity.

Over & over. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Because it's no big deal to hate in America. In fact, for these people, it’s a fucking badge of honor.