I knew the comparisons would come. Laurie Dhue, on FNC last night, asked a Korean VT student if he feared backlash because Cho was Korean–she prompted him by noting that there was tremendous backlash against Muslims and those of Middle Eastern descent following 9/11.

Big difference here: South Korea has never to my knowledge declared its intent to destroy America and kill every last one of us. There isn’t even a group of “extremist” South Koreans declaring that intent. Cho was just a crazy dude acting on his own, not a crazy dude acting on behalf of a worldwide organization that spends its time chanting “Death to America” and building bombs to achieve that goal.

Yes, we would have treated this much, much differently had the killer turned out to be a jihadist. Then it would have been another act of war.

Big. Difference.

aero on April 23, 2007 at 10:46 AM

Hateful as the cleric is in condemning American culture for violence as Islam glorifies it and Christinaity condemns it, he does have a point. Had the murderer been a Moslem clearly animated by Islamic beliefs, the conservatives here would have trumpeted it, especially as a wildly disproportionate share of attempted and successful mass murders in the past few years in the U.S. have been undertaken by Moslems claiming to act on their beliefs. On the other hand, the liberals in the press would have done their best to downplay any connection between Islam and the murder of innocent Americans as it does done in the past.

On the other hand, if the murderer had been a non-radical left wing white male, the left wing media (which is to say the bulk of the MSM), would have gone into a frenzy in condemning our culture, using exactly the words the cleric used, and calling for the banning of guns and conservative speech. As the murders did not fit any narrative it wanted to promote, especially since it is obvious the killer was deranged even when living in Korea, the media here has not used the killer as a metaphor for “what is wrong in America.”

ptolemy on April 23, 2007 at 10:57 AM

He says we’ve been quiet about the affair, that no one is talking about it. So what is it that i’ve been hearing on the radio and seeing on the TV for the last week?

ritemama on April 23, 2007 at 11:38 AM

I was thinking about this last week, while watching VT students in their evening gathering. How different it was from the scenes from the West Bank or Gaza or Lebanon or even France. No one shouting Death to anyone. No one shooting up into the air. No hauling bodies through the streets/crowds. No blood lust or calls for revenge. The only fires were from memorial candles, not blazing cars or buildings. And none of that stuff ever happened here, even when it was someone claiming the jihadist cause.

How blind this preacher is.

Catseye on April 23, 2007 at 12:15 PM

I was thinking about this last week, while watching VT students in their evening gathering. How different it was from the scenes from the West Bank or Gaza or Lebanon or even France. No one shouting Death to anyone. No one shooting up into the air. No hauling bodies through the streets/crowds. No blood lust or calls for revenge. The only fires were from memorial candles, not blazing cars or buildings. And none of that stuff ever happened here, even when it was someone claiming the jihadist cause.

How blind this preacher is.

Catseye on April 23, 2007 at 12:15 PM

You know what the churches in the area did? They brought in a top notch Asian teologian/minister to help reach out to the Asian community and show them God’s love to those people. It is a stark difference between the two religions.

Tim Burton on April 23, 2007 at 12:20 PM

Oh and the reason I know that is what happened, even though the media isn’t reporting it, is because my father has known him for a few years and spoke to my dad about leaving town to head there.

Tim Burton on April 23, 2007 at 12:23 PM

Here’s a double standard for you…

When the IRA dropped a bomb at at Catholic Girls school it was universally condemned by the entire Christian world.

When a muslim group deliberately targets and murders civilians, children, and babies it is universally applauded by the entire Islamic world.

CrazyFool on April 23, 2007 at 1:03 PM

Well, he wrote that “Ismail” stuff on his arm and on the tape he sent to NBC, and the mainstream press laid off it. So we already know the answer.

Had he been from a predominantly Muslim region, the Beeb would have called him “Asian”, and our domestic media would have avoided his ethnicity as if it were the plague.

The Monster on April 23, 2007 at 2:20 PM

He said Cho killed for no comprehensible reason. But killing for Allah IS comprehensible to him.

Connie on April 23, 2007 at 3:40 PM

I don’t get the contempt for this video. Do you think he was lying when he said he was sad and upset at the VT news? Do you think he is an anti-Semite or is that your personal prejudice? Just asking? Guessing you are Jewish. Everyone knows about the holocaust, who could forget, because a Jew will remind you every 10 minutes (Ref: Seinfeld episode). I mean 10 million Chinese where killed by Japan, you don’t hear much about that do you?

Its hard to watch, its hard to take. I DID NOT LIKE IT ONE BIT. It’s the view of other people, from other parts of the world with different religion and culture. Instead you get all defensive; you might want to listen and actually think about it. I do worry about violence and immorality in our society. Don’t you? Well if you are 20 something you really don’t have a clue and still working on your fresh pubes, but you will when you get older and have some wisdom. He’s warning his congregation to beware of sin. Good point. Using VT to make his point is not very appealing. However when 140 Iraq civilians are killed in one day do you think twice about it? He talks in great generalize, like when you say Liberals this and that or when Rush Limbaugh says the gunman was a liberal. NOW THERE IS A COMPLETE IDIOT.

There is SOME truth to this preachers comments. Of course he did not say………well than there was that 9/11 thing and……….we did. The sermon was about the evil of sin and how great Islam is. In my church or your church if you have one, we pray to the one true God and praise his son, Jesus. Get your brain and engage. It was interesting and fascinating. The only way we will win VICTORY and get to MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, is understanding these people, not demonize them. The thing with the web and satellites, information can travel fast. The world is shrinking. We better learn how to talk to the world. The Bush “Bring It On” and call them evil and ignore them approach to foreign policy is not working. Duuh you think. The Decider is the decision maker who makes decisions on deciding. Just ask him. We are in trouble and hate towards them and Liberals is not going to help. Independent G out.

gmcjetpilot on April 24, 2007 at 4:19 AM